Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay residents will no longer need to drive to Doral for pet adoptions and routine veterinary care. Miami-Dade County is building a new animal shelter at 29500 Harriet Tubman Highway in South Dade, with construction expected to begin in August or September 2026 and an opening targeted for summer 2027.

The county-funded facility will house around 200 dogs and 100 cats in climate-controlled kennels with single runs for each animal, medical suites and outdoor play yards, according to the Miami Herald. Public veterinary services will include vaccinations, microchipping and spay-and-neuter procedures. The Herald reported the project's total cost at roughly $20 million; the county's December 2025 budget memorandum allocated $3 million directly for construction, and the full funding breakdown has not been publicly detailed.

Gov. Ron DeSantis line-item vetoed a state funding allocation that would have helped purchase equipment such as kennels and veterinary supplies. Miami-Dade Animal Services Director Annette Jose told the Herald that county funding remains intact and construction will proceed on schedule.

"We wanted to have a presence in the south," Jose said. "There's more land and more stray dogs, so we wanted to be accessible to the residents on the south end of the county."

The project grew out of a public-private partnership. Under the deal, the county will transfer its overcrowded overflow shelter property in Medley to developer UniCapital Medley QOZB LLC, which will build at least 100 income-restricted affordable housing units there. In exchange, the county received the 5.25-acre South Dade site for the new shelter.

The Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners approved the land deal through Resolution R-581-25 on Thursday, June 26, 2025. Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins of District 8, which includes the shelter site, is listed as the prime sponsor in county records.

The new location will handle adoptions and veterinary care but will not serve as a primary intake facility. Residents who need to surrender pets or bring in strays will still go to the main Doral shelter at 3599 NW 79th Ave.

That Doral facility was designed for 350 dogs but houses about 535, forcing animals to share kennel space. The Medley overflow building is an open-air structure where, according to a Newsweek report, kennel thermometers were photographed showing 91-degree temperatures. In July 2025, a dog named Rocky died at the Medley facility from heat-related distress, Newsweek reported.

Jose said the new shelter's single-run kennel design marks a major improvement. At the Doral facility, staff keep kennel dividers down so two dogs share space meant for one. Stressed, crowded animals get sick more easily, she said, and the South Dade building will reduce that pressure.

The shelter site sits on the northwest corner of Harriet Tubman Highway and the Mowry Canal, just north of SW 296th Street. No groundbreaking ceremony date has been announced.