MIAMI – David Beckham's plan to bring Major League Soccer to Miami is in jeopardy because of a battle over land rights with landowners near Marlins Park.
Violeta Jimenez told Local 10 News that she bought her home in April 1979 and loves it there.
"It's a long time. The neighborhood changed a lot and everything," she said.
Jimenez's next-door neighbor is her own sister who helps her out.
"I prefer to live here until the day that I die," Jimenez said.
Her private property next to Marlins Park is one of six in the area where David Beckham's group wants to build a 30,000-seat stadium.
There is empty land owned by the city of Miami and Miami-Dade County, which Beckham will pay millions to use, but the privately owned parcels are still in the way. Beckham's group told Local 10 News that the owners are demanding up to 15 times the market value.
Jimenez said no one from the soccer star's group has approached her about her property, but Local 10 asked her if she would be willing to sell the land.
"I'm going to tell you something," she said. "Everything has a price."
The Candy House Day Care next door to her home is already in negotiations with the group, but Beckham's team said it can only go so far before it moves on and changes course.
"They have the right to decide whether or not they want to sell and, if they want to sell, what they want to sell for," Tim Leiweke of Miami Beckham United said. "I think, unfortunately, they see a pot of gold."
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