Coral Gables Donor's $500,000 Gift Names Underline Play Forest
Nikki Spoelstra, a Coral Gables resident and third-generation Miamian, has donated $500,000 to Friends of The Underline to build a children's play forest along the 10-mile linear park stretching from Brickell to Dadeland South.
Miami-Dade County commissioners approved naming the space the Nikki Spoelstra Play Forest, according to Spoelstra's June 26 social media announcement. The legislation was sponsored by Commissioner Raquel Regalado. The playground, located next to the South Miami Library, will feature a music trail and a reading area for children. It opens this fall.
Spoelstra, a mother of three who grew up in Kendall, drives past a section of The Underline daily, according to Inside Philanthropy. Her $500,000 gift covers programming and maintenance for a five-year term.
"It felt serendipitous. It felt like this has to happen," Spoelstra told Inside Philanthropy about her decision to fund the project.
A Funding Model That's Shifted From Public to Private
The city of Coral Gables is among the public funders that paid for The Underline's construction, alongside Miami-Dade County, the state of Florida, the city of Miami, the city of South Miami and a federal U.S. Department of Transportation BUILD grant.
Friends of The Underline has raised more than $25.7 million in private donations, with the organization projecting that total will reach $30 million by the end of the year. The project is on track to collect $5 million from private donors in fiscal year 2026, according to the nonprofit.
Jake Moskowitz, the nonprofit's chief revenue and information officer, said the public-private funding split has shifted from 70-30 when The Underline first opened to roughly 50-50. The organization's annual operating budget runs $10 million.
Final Phase Near UM Will Add a Beach Plaza and Sports Courts
Friends of The Underline says the third and final phase will open by the end of the year, completing the full 10-mile trail. Phase Three includes 12 public spaces: an open-air market and cultural hub called the Intergrove Gallery, an urban beach plaza, several dog parks, a Baptist Health fitness space, and pickleball and basketball courts near the University of Miami campus.
Moskowitz described the project's broader ambition: "The Underline is effectively trying to right that wrong by stitching all these neighborhoods back together again," he said, referring to how the Metrorail, interstate and U.S. Highway 1 divided Miami's communities decades ago.
The park also runs a workforce development program called Park Stewards, built with Chapman Partnership and supported by the Lennar Foundation, which hires and trains formerly unhoused adults to maintain daily operations. Workers receive livable wages, life skills training and housing stability assistance.
A Second Major Gift From a Longtime Neighbor
Another major donor, Miami attorney Ira Leesfield, contributed $250,000 through his Leesfield Family Foundation. His law office sits on U.S. Highway 1 directly across from one of The Underline's most-visited stretches. He recalled the land before the project as "rubble, rubble and leftover debris from the construction of the mass transit."
