The sprawling, 175-acre green space — situated on the corner of NW 107th Avenue and NW 41st Street — has long been a familiar landmark for Miami locals. Once owned by siblings Claudia Lemon Cook and Charles Buck Lemon and previously passed down through generations of the Lemon family, the land has been home to dozens of grazing (and occasionally mischievous) cows over the years.
But as one social media user recently pointed out, the beloved bovines have suddenly vanished.
A photo posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) on August 23 shows bulldozers and other construction equipment in place of the grassy field where the cows used to roam.
"I'm honestly sad that the Doral cow pasture is gone and they're finally gonna develop the land after all these years," user @majordouzie wrote on X.
What happened to the cows?I’m honestly sad that the Doral cow pasture is gone and they’re finally gonna develop the land after all these years. I assume the owner died because famously he used to refuse to sell the lot and said he had enough money.. it was kind of inspiring tbh pic.twitter.com/c2DNUD1k5t
— christinita (@majordouzie) August 23, 2024
State records show that in January 2022, Claudia Lemon Cook relinquished control of Doral Farms LLC to Bridge Point Doral 2700 LLC, an affiliate of the Chicago-based real estate development firm Bridge Industrial Acquisition. In March 2022, Charles Buck Lemon died at age 68, according to an online obituary.
In June 2022, three months after his death, Doral Farms LLC officially sold the cow pasture to Bridge Industrial Acquisition, Miami-Dade County property records show.
While it's unclear how much the development firm paid for the lot, the Lemon family previously asked for more than $300 million for the land.
New Times was unable to reach Claudia Lemon Cook for comment about the sale.
The city has said the grassy lot will make way for "Bridge Industrial's newest state-of-the-art South Florida logistics park," Bridge Point Doral.
Photo renderings of the campus, which is set to comprise more than 2.6 million square feet, depict rows of sleek multistory industrial buildings, tidy landscaping (including ponds), and a considerable amount of asphalt.
A photo rendering of Bridge Point Doral shows rows of multistory industrial buildings with tidy landscaping, ponds, and plenty of asphalt.
City of Doral photo
Most of the 21 reviews for the center, which currently boasts a one-star rating, feature complaints about the cows (which is to say the lack thereof).
"Poor cows!!! Our last little bit of green in Doral gone!" one person wrote.
"Miss the greenery and the cows," another wrote.
"I used to relish my drive as I passed the luscious green fields here, with luxurious cows roaming the meadows. There were beautiful sunrises with fog just above the grass in the mornings," a third noted.
They continued, "And now, I wonder what happened to those poor cows that once called this newly cemented field home...will we ever see them again or at least get a mural of the cows...."
