{"id":222446,"date":"2026-04-07T20:19:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T20:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/222446\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T20:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T20:19:09","slug":"inter-miami-stadium-still-awaiting-occupancy-certificate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/222446\/","title":{"rendered":"Inter Miami stadium still awaiting occupancy certificate"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n

The opening ceremony for an MLS match between Inter Miami CF and Austin FC takes place at Nu Stadium in Miami Freedom Park on Saturday, April 4, 2026.<\/p>\n

PHOTO BY AL DIAZ<\/p>\n

adiaz@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n

In last week\u2019s mad dash to open the new Inter Miami soccer stadium for the April 4 home opener<\/a>, the city of Miami issued a special permit so the inaugural match could proceed as planned \u2014 albeit with fire inspectors and fire engines on standby.<\/p>\n

The \u201climited event permit\u201d was issued in lieu of a temporary certificate of occupancy, known as a TCO, which grants permission<\/a> to occupy a building before a final occupancy certificate is issued.<\/p>\n

Now, with the second home game days away, the city says that, as of Tuesday afternoon, it is \u201cstill working diligently to issue a TCO\u201d ahead of Inter Miami\u2019s April 11 match against the New York Red Bulls.<\/p>\n

The city and the stadium had been working on securing a TCO in the days leading up to last week\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

Email records show the corporate counsel for Inter Miami CF emailed the city shortly after 11 p.m. on Friday, April 3 \u2014 less than 24 hours before kickoff \u2014 with a letter of intent and an emergency operations plan as part of an official request for the limited event permit.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear what exactly is holding up the temporary certificate of occupancy. Asked for details, and whether it was related to fire-safety issues, city spokesperson Helena Poleo said: \u201cThere is still pending work to be completed. Once that work is completed and TCO inspections are completed, then the TCO will be issued.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A A view of the construction site for Nu Stadium, the new home for Inter Miami CF, on Tuesday, March 24, 2026. Photo by Matias J. Ocner mocner@miamiherald.com Fire and building personnel staffed the home opener<\/p>\n

More than two dozen fire and building personnel staffed the April 4 match, Poleo said. That included:<\/p>\n

14 building department staff, at a cost of $7,70013 fire inspectors, at a cost of $7,997Two fire engines with eight firefighters on standby, at a cost of $5,349<\/p>\n

The fire personnel were performing what\u2019s known as \u201cfire watch\u201d as part of fire and life-safety code compliance.<\/p>\n

Poleo said the costs for building department personnel were prepaid by Inter Miami and that the fire costs will be reimbursed to the city.<\/p>\n

Follow More of Our Reporting on City of Miami<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Tess Riski covers Miami City Hall. She joined the Miami Herald in 2022 and has covered local politics throughout Miami-Dade County. She is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School\u2019s Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The opening ceremony for an MLS match between Inter Miami CF and Austin FC takes place at Nu…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222447,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-222446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}