Nearly 20 years after the playhouse closed, Miami-Dade County appears poised to start work on its controversial restoration plan.
After years of legal challenges, Miami-Dade County is moving forward with plans to demolish a portion of the Coconut Grove Playhouse and replace it with a smaller theater and commercial plaza.
City of Miami records show a flurry of activity on the demolition permit application for the playhouse over the past few weeks. Since February, the permit has received approval from zoning, public works, and historic preservation staff, among other departments.
Miami-Dade, which leases the property from the State of Florida, plans to reopen the playhouse by restoring its distinctive front building, knocking down the rear auditorium, and building a 300-seat theater with an adjacent parking garage, street-level retail shops and a pedestrian walkway.
The 1926 playhouse closed in 2006 amid financial troubles and has sat empty since.
“The demolition plans are under review by various city divisions,” Historic and Environmental Preservation (HEP) board member Denise Galvez Turros tells the Spotlight. “It still has to go back to the HEP director for final approval.”
While most of the required departments have approved the permit, city records show environmental resources and structural reviews pending.
The county confirmed that it is working with the city to finalize the permit and County Commissioner Raquel Regalado, who supports the county’s plan, told the Spotlight this week to expect an announcement soon on the fate of the local landmark.
John Bell Construction was awarded the contract for the project’s first phase, which includes demolition, and is ready to commence once the permit process is complete.
A Grove landmark with a distinctive façade designed by Kiehnel & Elliot, the playhouse operated as a movie theater in the 1920s. It reopened in 1956 as the Coconut Grove Playhouse, with the U.S. premiere of Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” before growing into a hub for Miami theater performances.
Word of the impending demolition prompted ire from activists who’ve been fighting the project for the better part of a decade.
Max Pearl, an activist involved in the Save the Coconut Grove Playhouse campaign, last week urged residents to flood the April 1 HEP board meeting in an eleventh-hour bid to stop the demolition.
“There’s been so much eradication of our history already. This is a giant piece of our culture, of opportunities for the future in terms of jobs for actors and artists, in terms of tourism and financial impact in the Grove,” Pearl said in a video statement.
On the day of the HEP board meeting, another Save the Playhouse member wrote to William Hopper, the chair of the HEP Board, and Kenneth Kalmis, the City of Miami’s preservation officer, urging them to intervene.
“What actions can the HEPB take to halt or delay demolition, given that no final plans have been presented to or approved by your board, as required,” Marlene Erven wrote.
Erven pointed to an April 2017 resolution by the HEP board tentatively approving the partial demolition of the playhouse on the condition that the county come back to the board with final plans.
“The resolution clearly states that no demolition permit for the Playhouse shall be issued unless and until the final design plans return to the HEPB for approval. That condition has never been met,” Erven wrote. “Please consider what actions may be taken under the law to halt demolition until the proper review has been completed.”
The county maintains that there is not enough local demand for theater performances to justify keeping the venue at its former capacity of 1,150 seats.
The county’s Department of Cultural Affairs has also cited traffic impacts and design issues related to keeping a 1,000-plus-seat theater in operation at the property at 3500 Main Highway, where traffic routinely backs up during the work week and on weekends.
The reconstruction project is funded with $5 million from Convention Development Tax bond proceeds and $15 million from the Building Better Communities General Obligation Bond.
Despite a series of setbacks in court, opponents of the county’s restoration plan have vowed to keep fighting the demolition.
Save the Coconut Grove Playhouse claims a full review of the project has not been completed as required under Florida Chapter 267 – a law that governs how state agencies handle demolition or major refurbishment of historically significant buildings.
Last year the HEP board sent a public records request to the county, asking for a copy of Chapter 267 review documents related to the project. The board has yet to receive a response, according to Galvez Turros.
Assistant City Attorney James Brako said at the April 1 HEP board meeting that he would discuss possible recourse at the next meeting if the county does not fulfill the public records request by then.
According to Galvez Turros, the county has asserted that the necessary project reviews have been completed.
In the meantime, long-term roof leaks, wood rot, and insect damage have left the playhouse festering in the shadow of its former glory.
The theater – which once hosted actors ranging from Liza Minnelli to Hume Cronyn to Denzel Washington and holds a spot on National Register of Historic Places – sits vacant and dilapidated.
The building had already begun to deteriorate when Miami-Dade took out a long-term lease with the State of Florida in 2014 alongside Florida International University, with local theater company GableStage enlisted to manage productions at the venue.
A 2016 engineering report detailed extensive cosmetic and structural damage to the Coconut Grove Theater, which would have required multimillion-dollar repairs.
Galvez Turros questions why the county did not undertake more aggressive efforts to repair the structure upon taking it over. If the building had been rehabilitated promptly, contractors would have had a better shot at preserving a large portion of the historic property, she contends.
Chapter 267 also outlines state agencies’ responsibility to maintain historic properties under state control.
“If this property had been run by a private owner, it would have been fined to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Galvez Turros said. “The county did not protect the property from further deterioration and damage.”
The county’s cultural affairs office did not respond to a request for a response to claims the building was allowed to deteriorate during the lease.
Opponents of the county’s plan for the playhouse have lost a string of legal challenges, paving the way for Miami-Dade to move forward with the demolition.
In February 2024, a panel of Miami-Dade County judges tossed out a Planning, Zoning, and Appeals Board (PZAB) decision that denied the county’s demolition waiver.
The court found that PZAB ruled outside its jurisdiction, and that its acting chairman failed to recuse himself despite having supported efforts to stop the playhouse demolition.
Prior to that, historic preservation activists had a short-lived victory when Miami Mayor Francis Suarez vetoed a 2019 Miami City Commission decision to move the project forward. A Miami-Dade County court later nullified the veto on the grounds that Suarez had engaged in undisclosed communications with opponents of the project.
Another great job of reporting by the Spotlight. A clarification is in order, though.
I was the “acting chair” of PZAB the night PZAB denied the County’s bid to demolish the Playhouse by “complying” with the Miami 21 waiver requirement that any demolition required the applicant to submit a tree survey — and only a tree survey.
As acting chair – after full disclosure and submitting my voluntary recusal to a vote by my fellow board members who voted to keep me on — I testified that it was absurd for the County to believe they could demolish 83% of a famous building on the National Historic Register by merely submitting a tree survey. The majority of the PZAB agreed there were enough questions to deny the permit.
On appeal, the District Court disagreed and chastised me thoroughly in their opinion. I have it framed.
Finally, the Spotlight should take note that the City has since changed the Miami 21 Code, and now no public hearings are required at all to demolish historic structures in the Neighborhood Conservation District 3 where the Playhouse is located. It’s all done administratively.
Such is the state of historic preservation in the Magic City where developers rule unopposed.
This is such a shame. Shame on Commissioner Regalado for misleading supporters of the Playhouse. She actually had a meeting with supporters during her first campaign and made them believe she was on their side. She knew darned well she couldn’t win without Grove support, so she essentially lied, because she has championed the redevelopment from the moment she took office. She already had a position and portrayed herself as someone who would ‘compromise’. We’ve ended up with exactly the County plan, which is demolition and stick a few ‘historically relevant’ elements as a display in the lobby with a power point display on a screen. We’re only going to be able to see our historical sites through a screen. I guess that’s what people want. We can kiss Miami and the Grove goodbye. The land is too valuable to developers. It will look like everything else everywhere else. I find that really boring. But Miami elected these people. You get what you ask for.
Agreed Katrina ~ We as a grassroots group [to Save the Coconut Grove Playhouse] endorsed Commissioner Regalado because during her campaign we met with her and she agreed to our plans to Save the Playhouse. As soon as she assumed office she did a 180 against us only to give back lame, untrue answers whenever we ask why she did that.
There’s several things that are incorrect and need clarification in this article. The 2017 resolution by the HEP board tentatively approving the partial demolition of the playhouse on the condition that the county come back to the board with final plans—was fulfilled. The county DID come back with their final plans in March 2019. The HEP board held a hearing (after county attorneys went on an hour long diversionary tactic trying to get vice chair Lynn Lewis recused for the ludicrous allegation she had ex parte communications)—-the hep board unanimously ruled Lynn committed no wrongdoing was committed and she should not recuse herself and so the hearing proceeded and the county plan was rejected in a vote by the board. The reasoning for the board ruling against the county was based on the state telling the hep board that the county was in violation of seven guidelines of the Secretary of the interior which by state law cited by Lynn Lewis the county is REQUIRED to adhere to. Instead of following those laws provided to the lessee by their landlord in Tallahassee, the county behaved like a belligerent child who didn’t get their way and appealed the HEPB ruling to none other than the corrupt Joe Carollo and his other corrupt buddies on the city commission. I asked the county official in charge of the demolition project (Graham Winnick) why the county appealed that 2019 HEPB decision and he refused to answer. They didn’t get their way….THAT is why they appealed. Then the city mayor vetoed the Carollo slick underhanded move and the county sued the city based on the same false allegation they tried on Lynn Lewis on the HEPB by alleging Mayor Suarez had ex parte communications with citizens who were expressing their constitutional right (as pointed out by dissenting Judge Gordo on the 3rd district court of appeals) to simply tell their elected official what their concerns were. What happened next was the 11th circuit court ruled the county was lying about only the facade being designated as historic. The court also ruled the city mayor was within his rights and justified in issuing his veto. The ONLY thing that went in the county’s favor (quite dubiously) was the court siding with the county saying that citizens had no right to communicate their feelings on an issue which is a travesty of justice! And that my friends is the ONLY slim and tenuous thing they have to hand their hat on. Again, the court ruled the ENTIRE building is included in the city’s designation report. The court ruled the mayor was justified and within his rights to veto (contrary to what the county lying lawyers were trying to win regarding that issue). And yes the county is and has been in violation of the lease ever since the state audited them and found them in violation of the lease. Thank you for covering this story but I very respectfully hope that the facts, as complicated as they might seem, finally come out correctly. Thank you for your time and interest in this huge irreplaceable cultural, historical and financial treasure.
Thanks Max for updating the Spotlight with all of your info and facts. Hopefully they will be read and applied.
Miami Dade County wants the Playhouse demolished and let’s be clear it is not just a portion… their plan is to demolish the entire Theater! The court ruled the County misinterpreted the city designation and historical report which includes the entire building. The land is owned by the State and the State’s Lease prohibits any mortgage on the property. A Developer self-funding project with the added development costs with the developer’s own cash is very unlikely. It is clear that the Playhouse, however, has been approved for $23 million from the 2004 Miami-Dade County General Obligation Bond program to proceed with a full restoration. Preserving just its façade with an adjacent mall, is a total disrespect for our South Florida history!!
This is the moment to ensure that the cultural history of Miami is preserved in a way that is relevant for the future. Miami is a hot ticket. By the way, there is an alternative plan, a real RESTORATION plan created by the most notable restoration architect, Richard HEISENBOTTLE which will guarantee its National Register of Historic Landmark designation. No compromises please… we are talking about an eminent chapter of our history.
Let’s be real, once it is gone it is gone!
Is the State open to selling the property? Is the County open to terminating their lease early? If so, it seems plausible that a private investor would invest in refurbishing the Playhouse and re-establishing it as a thriving theater and event center (along with building a multi-story parking garage which will help solve one of the biggest issues the Grove faces– not enough parking).
As a member of the Coconut Grove Playhouse Truth Team, I’m deeply alarmed that demolition is moving forward even though the City’s Historic and Environmental Preservation Board (HEPB) has not approved final design plans, as required by HEPB Resolution No. HEPB-R-17-023. Additionally, the County has not shown proof that it completed the State-required Section 267 Review, a legal prerequisite before altering or demolishing a state-owned historic site. This is not just a violation of process — it’s a threat to our cultural and architectural legacy. I urge all who care about the Grove’s history to speak out before it’s too late. See what you can do here: https://conta.cc/4284D1s
Would this even be Miami if the playhouse was restored to its original glory, and without a mall?