Despite claims that commercial use of the historic venue – part of the larger Regatta Harbour entertainment complex – is not what voters and city officials were once promised, the measure would remove all restrictions on special events through 2025.
The Miami City Commission on Thursday will consider a resolution to exempt The Hangar, a special events venue on Dinner Key, from any limits on the number of events it may host through the end of the year.
Current restrictions allow no more than 10 special events annually at city-owned venues, each one up to 14 days in duration. The Hangar at Regatta Grove is part of the seven-acre entertainment complex operating on publicly-owned waterfront property just north of Miami City Hall.
The Hangar – housed in the southernmost of five historically designated former seaplane hangars dating to the 1930s – has already reached its 10-event limit for the year, the commission resolution states. The proposed measure would allow unlimited events from June 1 to the end of 2025.
Recent events include the Pinta Miami art fair in December, the Montreux Jazz Festival Miami in March and the Wings of Hermès branding event in April. The venue also routinely hosts private parties and corporate events.
Despite the city’s 14-day limit per event, The Hangar in 2024 hosted the Messi Experience, an interactive exhibit focused on the global soccer icon, for nearly five months, from late April to early September. A city spokesperson was not immediately able to explain under what provision, if any, the limit was extended.
Thursday’s resolution is sponsored by Miami District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo, who represents Coconut Grove. He and a spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment from the Spotlight.
Not everyone is thrilled by the proposal. Nearby residents within the booming South Bayshore condo corridor have long complained of excessive noise and traffic generated by events at The Hangar and the larger Regatta Harbour complex, and many say the resolution shows how tone-deaf city officials are to their plight.
“A terrible idea,” grouses Cliff Losh, co-founder of the 1,300-member South Bayshore Condominium Alliance, citing concerns about increased traffic and threats to pedestrian safety. “The resolution should not be proposed and it should be removed from the agenda.”
Another alliance co-founder, Henrietta Schwarz, is dismayed by the city’s efforts.
“They’re turning the area into a club district,” she says, comparing the area to the gridlocked epicenter of South Beach nightlife. “And that’s not fair, because that’s not what was sold to residents.”
Schwarz argues that, if anything, the city should be restricting – if not banning altogether – special events at The Hangar, to align its operation with the vision promised to voters prior to the 2013 citywide referendum to lease the city-owned land.
That vision, presented by the Regatta Harbour investment partners in response to a city request for proposals, called for using the south hangar to house boating supply shops and other specialty services for the marine industry – a promise to meet the city’s requirement that the seven-acre complex retain both feel and function of a “working boatyard.”
Indeed, the ensuing lease for what has become Regatta Harbour spells out precisely what can and cannot be part of the city-owned, but privately operated complex:
“The Lessee will use and occupy the Property as a full-service, dry storage marina, with ancillary minor boat repair functions, other ancillary marine-related services, fuel sales, other related food services, one or more casual restaurants, one or more formal restaurants, retail uses and such other uses as contemplated in the Proposal (the “Permitted Uses”) and for no other purpose or use of any kind.”
Neither the development proposal for the property nor the 80-year lease include any reference to hosting special events. Critics argue that The Hangar’s transformation from a marine retail space into an events venue is just one of many changes at Regatta Harbour that falls short of both voter-approved promises and contractual commitments.
The 20,000-square-foot, steel-frame structure now dubbed The Hangar is among a collection of buildings that supported Coconut Grove’s commercial seaplane industry from the early 1930s to the early 1950s.
In 1994, following intense lobbying from local activists, the buildings – some of which had already been listed on the National Register of Historic Places – were added to the city’s list of historically protected structures.
This is getting ridiculous. When are people going to start dealing in good faith? You can’t just say what you want to say at the time to get what you want and then change the deal to suit your preferences. And if it does come to light that a different deal is available, you have to negotiate with people and make it good for everyone, not just you and your friends. Not cool.
Regatta Grove is a meat market. Sure, it’s fun to go and dance and drink. But where are Coconut Grove families supposed to go to enjoy a quiet, affordable meal by the water where they can talk and enjoy nature? One size does not fit all. If we’re going to be pushing multi-use, then let’s make as many uses as possible and accommodate everyone. Not all of us enjoy the lifestyles of the rich and famous, but we all deserve to enjoy the landscape in which we live. The rich and famous can’t have all the good stuff. They need to leave some for the rest of us.