As details emerge for the proposed eight-story Center Grove development, questions linger over how the project qualifies for a transit-oriented designation and the zoning benefits it bestows.
A luxury mixed-use development in Center Grove has not reduced its parking capacity despite benefiting from a city program to increase building height and density due to its proximity to mass transit.
The Well Coconut Grove, an eight-story, 361,000-square-foot mixed-use residential complex on two acres of land at the intersection of Tigertail Avenue and Mary Street, is expected to be three stories higher – with 50 percent more housing units — than typically allowed under city zoning rules.
City officials say the height and density increases stem from 2023 changes in the zoning code designed to promote bus and Metrorail ridership by incentivizing development around transit hubs.
Such developments – where automobile use is less vital – are further incentivized by rules allowing reductions in parking requirements.
But the development group behind The Well Coconut Grove – Coconut Grove-based Terra group – has not taken advantage of that option, city officials have confirmed. The project will include 382 parking spaces for its 194 condo units and 22,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.
Critics of the luxury development question whether its future residents will shun mass transit, if parking is convenient, and rely instead on their cars to get around.
City guidelines require a transportation impact study for new construction projects greater than 200,000 square feet but city officials have not confirmed whether such a study had been requested.
City approval for the project – including its height and density increases – is pending administrative review. A project spokesperson told the Spotlight in December that construction is expected to begin in late 2025 with completion in early 2028.
In addition to condo units and retail space, The Well Coconut Grove will include an indoor fitness center, hyperbaric chamber, a rooftop pool and pickleball court, and a variety of wellness-themed amenities. A fitness club will cater to non-residents. Condo prices will range from $1.5 million to $6.3 million.
The complex is proposed for an area that traditionally limits new construction to five stories, but city officials say the developers are applying for a “bonus” height of three additional stories.

To receive the bonus, the developers must provide any of a range of so-called “public benefits” such as park improvement or landscape enhancements. City officials declined to provide details on the benefits package the developer is proposing.
The maximum allowable height for an eight-story building under the city’s code is 137 feet.
In addition to the height bonus, the developers are seeking approval to build 64 more housing units than would typically be allowed in this area under the city’s zoning code.
That request is under a city program that allows developers to purchase unused density credits from properties elsewhere in the city. City officials did not respond to repeated requests for details about the source and cost of the credits.
Both programs are available to The Well Coconut Grove, a city spokesperson confirmed, as a so-called Transit Oriented Development (TOD) within vicinity of the Coconut Grove Metrorail Station on U.S. 1.
Exactly how that has been determined is unclear. Miami’s city code defines a TOD as “a designation established by the City involving an area not exceeding a one-half (1/2) mile radius from a convergence of modes of transit, or a train station.”
And by that definition the development site sits just beyond the one-half mile radius, even assuming a straight-line, point-to-point measurement using the city’s GIS mapping tool.
But in emailed responses to questions about the project submitted by the Spotlight, a city spokesperson said that a property’s qualification as a Transit Oriented Development – and the entitlements it bestows – depends not on the radius circle but on the distance traveled by bicycle in “a five (5) minute ride at a leisurely pace.”
And while TOD designation, city officials wrote, is awarded to development sites up to one mile away from transit hubs when connected via “premium facilities like linear parks, the Riverwalk, Baywalk, or separated lanes,” the distance is reduced to three-fourths of a mile when connected by “bicycle lanes or shared-use paths” – the style running along SW 27th Avenue between the Tigertail property and the Coconut Grove Metrorail Station.
According to Google Maps, The Well Coconut Grove’s address of record in the city Building Department documents is exactly one mile, and a six-minute bike ride, to the Metrorail station.
City officials have not responded to repeated requests to explain the discrepancy.
I think our city is unsure of how to measure things or they are simply unsure of how to explain cronyism. perhaps we should send our city officials some rulers for christmas? I think it’s time for Glenn Terry to organize a little protest outside the terra offices. He seems to be getting pretty good results for his efforts.