Vendors and subcontractors who worked on Miami Freedom Park say they're owed more than $13 million and have started filing lawsuits and liens against the project's developer to try to collect. The unpaid-work claims span electrical supply, HVAC service, and custom millwork, and they're piling up just months after Nu Stadium, the 25,000-seat home of Inter Miami, opened its gates.
The dispute was first detailed by The Real Deal, which reported that Tampa-based World Electric Supply has sued Miami Freedom Park Stadium LLC, alleging it's owed $2.8 million plus interest, attorneys' fees and costs. Wisconsin-based Glenn Rieder, a custom millwork and interior contractor, filed its own suit against Inter Miami Stadium, Miami Freedom Park Stadium, and general contractor Lemartec Corporation, seeking nearly $4.2 million in unpaid work, according to the same report.
Beyond the lawsuits, vendors and subcontractors have filed eight liens against the developer since May, seeking a combined $6.3 million in allegedly unpaid work, per the outlet's reporting. The largest of those came from Hill York Service Company, a Fort Lauderdale-based HVAC contractor that claimed $4 million in unpaid services out of a total of $28.4 million, with the underlying work completed in July.
A 90-Day Clock and a Ghosted Feeling
Florida law gives lien claimants a hard deadline: a claim of lien must be recorded within 90 days of completing work or providing services, labor or materials, and any foreclosure suit that follows must be filed within a year of that recording unless an owner's Notice of Contest shortens the window to 60 days, according to August Law. Miss that 90-day window, and a subcontractor permanently forfeits its mechanic's lien rights against the property owner. The Real Deal's reporting notes that more vendors are expected to file additional liens as their own 90-day windows expire, meaning the $13 million figure could grow.
Vendors told the outlet that Miami Freedom Park has effectively gone silent on them. Miami Freedom Park did not respond to requests for comment, nor did developer representative Javier Alvarez, Lemartec, or the Miami City Attorney's Office, per the same reporting.
Corporate Ties Add Scrutiny to the Dispute
The general contractor named in the Glenn Rieder suit, Lemartec, is owned by the Mas brothers. Jorge Mas is also connected to MasTec Inc., according to Florida Politics. That overlap between the stadium's ownership group and its general contractor gives the payment dispute an added layer of scrutiny, since the same family that co-owns Inter Miami also owns the firm accused of leaving contractors unpaid.
Miami Freedom Park itself is jointly owned by Jorge Mas and Jose Mas, David Beckham, and Ares Management, while the city of Miami owns the underlying land, per The Real Deal. The project sits on the former Melreese Golf Course site, where pre-construction environmental testing had revealed severe soil contamination from historic city incinerator ash, including arsenic levels more than double legal limits alongside elevated lead and barium, as reported by Courthouse News Service.
A Billion-Dollar Complex Still Taking Shape
Miami Freedom Park is billed as a $1 billion development covering 130 acres, with plans eventually calling for roughly 1 million square feet of retail, office and dining space, 750 hotel keys, and a 58-acre park with community athletic fields, according to The Real Deal's reporting. Developers are leasing a 73-acre portion of the site, tied to a 99-year ground lease the Miami City Commission approved in April 2022 with a starting annual rent of $4.3 million, per Florida Politics reporting. City voters had authorized officials to negotiate that non-bid lease agreement in a November 2018 referendum that passed by nearly 20 points.
Nu Stadium opened earlier in 2026 under a limited event permit before securing a temporary certificate of occupancy, the outlet's report notes. The venue has since become an active commercial hub even as the payment disputes play out: the club finalized a partnership with American Airlines this month to sponsor the stadium's premium West Club, as previously reported by Hoodline.
Public Benefits Debate Continues Alongside the Project
The broader Miami Freedom Park master plan also includes the city of Miami's new civic center, being developed by Adler Development and constructed by Moss Construction, after the city secured a permit for the facility this past summer, according to The Real Deal. Miami commissioners separately voted this month to keep city hall at the historic former Pan American World Airways seaplane terminal in Coconut Grove rather than relocate it to the Freedom Park site.
The site's public benefits package has drawn its own scrutiny in recent months. In February, Miami city officials proposed amendments that would cut the required minimum number of community soccer fields on site from 11 down to six, according to local reporting from Coconut Grove Spotlight — a reduction from the 11 fields that had anchored the original 2018 voter pitch. That followed a February 2025 vote by the Miami City Commission to redirect $10 million in park development funds that had originally been earmarked for off-site public parks across the city, instead steering the money back into the on-site 58-acre park, as reported by WLRN.
Whether the unpaid-work claims slow any of that activity remains to be seen. For now, the contractors' lawsuits and liens sit alongside a stadium complex that continues signing new sponsors even as the people who helped build it say they're still waiting to get paid.
