Nicklaus Crandon Park Rebuild on Key Biscayne: $80M, Donors Unnamed

A group of wealthy Key Biscayne backers is floating an $80 million, privately funded rebuild of the golf and tennis facilities at Crandon Park, county-owned parkland, with Jack Nicklaus supplying a preliminary design for a new course, the Miami Herald reported Friday. Organizers Andres Gaviria and attorney Eugene Stearns declined to name the donors.

Why it matters

This is private money asking to remake a public park, and the donors want to stay anonymous while doing it. Per the Herald, multiple sources say the group has courted billionaire Ken Griffin; the organizers would not confirm that. For developers and sponsors, the question is the template: who gets to underwrite and shape a county asset, and on what terms.

The county has been here before. In October 2013, Miami Today covered a tennis center expansion pitched at about $50 million, funded through bonds backed by tournament revenue, which drew a lawsuit from a Matheson relative whose family gave the land. The Herald also recalls that commissioners rejected a Donald Trump offer of $10 million to upgrade the golf course in 2014.

The numbers

• $80 million in private money across golf and tennis.
• The course would be elevated several feet for flood protection, with a three-story clubhouse (restaurant, bar, locker rooms, ocean-view deck).
• Tennis: existing courts, including the stadium, come down. They would be replaced by 27 tennis courts, 8 pickleball courts and 8 padel courts.
• A tiered patron card could give premium members earlier tee-time booking, though Stearns says it is “truly for a public park.”
• The county finished a $5 million renovation of the current course in 2024, per its own release.

What’s next

The plan is still informal. The organizers are meeting privately with officials, and the Herald does not describe a filed application or commission agenda item. Any rebuild on parkland would need Miami-Dade approvals, and the park’s historic use restrictions drew litigation last time. We have not seen the deed language and are not characterizing it.

Watch for a commission sponsor, a formal unsolicited proposal, and whether the donors ever come forward. See more in South Florida coverage.