Neighbors are buzzing over a proposed mixed-use development and park redesign on Matilda Street across from Coconut Grove Elementary.
Miami District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo announced on Saturday that plans are underway for a massive redevelopment of the Center Grove at Grand Avenue and Matilda Street, across from Coconut Grove Elementary School. The proposed plans include office, housing and retail, Pardo said.
Pardo’s office declined to name the developer but the Spotlight has confirmed it is the Coral Gables-based Allen Morris Company.
The development parcel, owned by the Espinosa family, operators of the venerable Coconut Grove Laundry & Cleaners, would extend from Matilda Street west to the U.S. Post Office parking lot and from Grand Avenue one block north to Florida Avenue.
The Espinosa family will have a stake in the project, according to Allen Morris Company president Spencer Morris.
Existing tenants within the development site include the Grand 7th pharmacy and convenience store, The UPS Store, T & K Nails nail salon, and the restaurants Sapore di Mare and The Last Carrot.
Co-owner Charlie Espinosa confirmed that a sale of his family’s property is imminent. But the dry cleaners, which opened in 1961, will be part of the new complex. “We’re staying,” Espinosa said. “We really care about the Grove.”
Pardo announced the project during a meeting on Saturday at Kirk Munroe Park of residents concerned about increasing traffic and unsafe biking and pedestrian conditions in Center Grove, particularly Matilda Street. The meeting was requested by neighbors in response to proposed traffic calming measures in the city’s Little Bahamas & Center Grove Traffic Calming Study presented at a public meeting in Virrick Park on October 24.
Pardo and the District 2 liaison for Coconut Grove, Javier Gonzalez, also announced plans by the city to revamp and redesign Kirk Munroe Park on the corner of Matilda Street and Oak Avenue.
While plans for the park have not been finalized, Pardo provided concept drawings – by the Coral Gables landscape architecture firm Naturalficial – of two possible redesigns.
Both show one of the existing five tennis courts converted to two smaller courts, with the remaining park space re-landscaped and reconfigured for passive use.
Pardo told residents the project will also include improvements to Fuller Street, across from the new development, at present a pedestrian-only connector between Grand Avenue and Main Highway.
Sounds great! We lose 2 Grove favorite restaurants, 3 tennis courts, my nail salon…..and we get more blocks of concrete buildings and… what is this now ? Passive landscape ??? The one rendering you do show was utterly dismal. Sad days ahead for Coconut Grove 😔
Congratulations to the Espinosa Family. They are such an integral part of the Grove experience. I’m glad to hear they will stay in operation.
The Grove is changing rapidly. I implore leaders to come up with an alternative to closing down sidewalks every time there’s a construction site. Right now, almost all of 27th (south side) between Tigertail and Bayshore is closed. Soon almost all of the west side of Tigertail between 27th and Mary will be closed. Need I remind leaders that NYC does construction all the time. Developers are mandated to do covered walkways to facilitate pedestrian traffic. What is happening in the grove now (and the future) is unsustainable for a city that is touting itself to be a “walkable city”.
I was reflecting on the idea that one day, our great-grandchildren will stroll through the Grove and recall the stories shared by their ancestors about a once-thriving place known as the Coconut Grove Village. They may find themselves wondering if they can breathe new life into it.
It’s a touching thought, imagining them reconnecting with their heritage and considering the possibility of rebuilding that sense of Grove community.