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In an important decision for the future of Inter Miami, the city of Miami voted yes on the Maimi Freedom Park project Thursday night. The project contains a 25,000 seat stadium, 750 hotel rooms, office space, a retail area, community fields, and plans for the largest public park in the city of Miami. 

The vote has been a long time coming. the city gave George Mas, David Beckham, and the rest of Inter's ownership group permission to bypass the normal bidding process to negotiate a 99-year lease for the Melreese Country Club where the stadium will be built. Due to the lease terms being below market value and the plan turning that publicly owned land into commercial property, the plan was met with opposition even though the entire project will be privately funded.

After constant rescheduling of the vote for the stadium project, the committee finally agreed to the lease by a 4-1 vote. The plan for the official build will still need to be approved before breaking ground, but the day marks a significant milestone in Inter Miami history.

"I'm super happy," said Mas. "[It's been] three-and-a-half years of really hard work, negotiations, the ups and downs. But listen, today's a great day for Inter Miami. It's a great day for Major League Soccer. I think it's an amazing day for my city, for Miami. To be able to build a stadium and a transformational development around this, listen, I think it's a good day all around. But a lot of hard work went into this and the work just continues."

It hasn't exactly been the smoothest start since entering the league for Beckham and Inter Miami. From needing to rebuild the entire roster thanks to league sanctions for underreporting salaries of their designated players, to the underperformance of Gonzalo Higuain leading to public criticism from head coach Phil Neville, there have been more downs than ups over the last couple of years. 

But with Higuain on the bench and new signing Leonardo Campana shining on the field and  things are looking up for the Herons. Now, as stadiums plans make concrete progress it's possible to see a future where everything comes together of this MLS expansion club. 

The expectation is for the stadium to be completed around late 2024 or early 2025 as the number of soccer specific stadiums continues to grow in America.