Sculptures, soccer, playground art due in Maurice Ferré Park

Animals – the painted metal kind – are on their way downtown. A pet sculpture garden is expected to be ready at Maurice Ferré Park by December. A soccer field, playground and other art displays are among subsequent projects targeted for the park.

Miami City Commissioner Joe Carollo, the man behind the idea, told Miami Today that the new pet sculpture garden will be ready before Art Basel art-oriented visitors arrive in December, a convenient time for the garden of sculptures of dogs and cats between Biscayne Boulevard and Biscayne Bay to show off Miami artists.

Some artists who will be featured were to be choose July 1 at the Bayfront Park Management Trust meeting.

The 21-acre Maurice Ferré Park opened in 1976 as Bicentennial Park, and later was named after Miami’s first Hispanic and first Puerto Rico-born mayor, who served from 1973 to 1985 and led the campaign to buy the land. In early years the park became a refuge for the homeless. In 2014, the park was renamed Museum Park, and in 2019 it was renamed again in Mr. Ferré’s final months.

This pet sculpture garden is meant to transform the park and attract people globally to Miami, art lovers and pet lovers alike. The idea formed when Mr. Carollo’s wife told him of a similar park in Cali, Colombia, called Parque El Gato De Tejada. This cat-themed park has one large cat statue among 15 smaller statues. The park was a huge tourist hit in Colombia and Mr. Carollo was inspired to bring something similar to Miami.

Once he brought this proposal to the Bayfront Park Management Trust, which he chairs, it was approved. The garden will go in a sculpture garden that has never been used that was built in the old Museum Park. Its name will be El Paseo de los Gatos y Perros – the Walkway of Cats and Dogs. The only condition was that Miami-Dade artists be featured.

“All of the artists that you are going to see are local artists,” said Mr. Carollo. “I will tell you, you are going to be amazed at just how beautiful some of the art that we got are.

“You’re going to be giving a lot of great opportunities for Miami artists to be exposed, to see their work out there where people are going to come from all over the world to see it,” he said. “We have a lot of great local artists that don’t get the opportunity to have that kind of exposure. We’re going to be giving it to them.”

To further attract art lovers, a sculpture exhibit will highlight works from Costa Rican Jorge Jimenez Deredia. “Beginning Oct. 15, we are going to be having one of the renowned best artists of Latin America and Europe that’s going to be having his sculptures placed in the park, at his cost,” Mr. Carollo said, “12 beautiful, huge sculptures that he’s going to be placing for people to see and enjoy.”

Art is not the only thing coming to the park. Outdoor facilities are coming for those who live an active life. A soccer field, a playground for kids and an area for outdoor exercise equipment are still in development, with no estimated time for when they will be ready.

The soccer field is planned for about 102 by 52 feet, with plenty of green space. The exercise equipment is expected to arrive sooner, though that is also still in its developmental phase.

“Probably the next space that we’ll have sooner will be the outdoor exercise equipment area,” said Mr. Carollo. “We’re looking at that now. What we could end up putting there is 20 new exercise equipment. Then we are looking at numerous types of playgrounds for toddlers through bigger kids.”

All these projects are to be funded by $2 million that the Bayfront Trust Management Trust gets from the Omni Community Redevelopment Agency.

This money can only be used at the Maurice A. Ferré Park for new projects.

“We can’t use it anywhere else,” said Mr. Carollo. “We can’t even use it to maintain the park. It can only be used for new projects. We used some of that money already to build the largest dog park in Florida, I believe.”

Not everybody believes these projects, especially the pet sculpture garden, should be receiving this funding. The pet sculpture garden drew criticisms.

“Well, look, first of all, only a handful think that,” said Mr. Carollo. “It was against me, personally. So anything good that I would do, they would attack me. Second of all, we’re spending the money on what we were supposed to be spending, on bringing projects to Maurice Ferré Park, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. But once this is done and set, I think you’re going to see that the vast majority of people that come and see it that are here are going to be very proud of it.”

The Walkway of Cats and Dogs, he said, will be expected to become a landmark destination, making way for Miami to be known for its diverse group of artists. The complete list of artists who art will appear is not ready yet.

“The board believes that this is going to become one of those legacy projects that will come to Miami for those who love art and who love cats and dogs,” Mr. Carollo said. “It’s going to be one of those activities, one of those points for art lovers that they’re going to want to see when they come to Miami.”