The privately owned public park at first street and Collins Avenue in South Beach continues to be locked and closed to the public almost a year after an article appeared on the Big Bubble questioning why it was closed. I don’t think it officially has a name, but I call it One Ocean Park.

The answer back then was that even though it was designated as public park land, the developer of the project it’s attached to, Related Group and One Ocean Residences respectively, had not yet received a certificate of occupancy for the project. However, it would be open soon.

This is what Related Luxury Condo President Carlos Rosso said at the time:

According to Carlos Rosso, President of Related Luxury Condo Division, it is a privately owned public park, and the Related will open the park when they receive the Certificate of Occupancy, which they hope to be in about 60 days. The front desk of One Ocean will open and close the park gate, and hours will be approximately from 9 AM to 7 PM.

Well, by now Related has undoubtedly transferred control of the project’s common areas to the condo association and is probably out of the picture. The grand opening party happened during Art Basel last year, almost eight months ago. I checked yesterday and today, and although the park continues to be meticulously maintained even though it’s behind a tall fence, entirely unmarked, and probably never used, the gate was securely locked both days. Some kind of zoning advantage was likely extended for making it a public space because that’s how these things work, but it pretty clearly appears to not really be accessible to the public at all.