The City of Miami’s Historic and Environmental Preservation Board is scheduled to meet this week for the first time since the Playhouse auditorium was torn down.
The City of Miami’s Historic and Environmental Preservation Board returns from a summer hiatus this week with the Coconut Grove Playhouse on the agenda for discussion.
Since the HEP board last met in July, the rear auditorium of the 99-year-old playhouse has been reduced to rubble, leaving the three-story façade at the corner of Main Highway and Charles Avenue as the lone sentinel of the theater’s storied past.
Miami-Dade County is moving forward with its plan to restore the façade and open a 300-seat modern theater behind it, with a parking garage, in time to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the theater’s opening in 2027.
Critics of the county’s plan are urging opponents to attend the HEP board meeting on Tuesday at 3 p.m. at Miami City Hall.
In a message posted to social media, the Save the Coconut Grove Playhouse organization wrote, “We must demand our playhouse be restored brick by brick.”
Previous attempts by the HEP board to assert authority over the project have had little effect. As the board prepares the meet this week, here’s a photo update on the state of the historic playhouse.
Thank you for posting these photos of the crime scene, where the County ‘stole’ the Playhouse from its citizens. Soon you will be able to view pieces of the evidence behind a velvet rope in 4 little glass boxes. I’m sure it will be even more fascinating than the County’s renderings portray them.
I would also like to give a shout out to Gables Stage, the little theater so desperate for a place of their own that they were willing and complicit to tear down this grand and historic place to fulfill their selfish aspirations. Once housed in the corner of a grand hotel, now they can now proudly open their doors on the grave site of the Coconut Grove Playhouse. 👏🏼
Before I run out of space here I would also like to give a nod to FIU, our local college who has sat by, quiet as a mouse during the carnage. They were promised an affiliation with a regional playhouse that would bring more seating and prestige to their program. Now they will have a theater smaller than their own, housed in the back of a useless mall.
I commend you all on a job well done. I hope history long remembers this tragic play.
As a longtime Grove resident and civic leader, I was deeply saddened—but not surprised—to see the rubble that now sits where the historic Coconut Grove Playhouse auditorium once stood. What adds insult to this irreversible injury is the continued use of the word “restoration” by our District 7 County Commissioner, Raquel Regalado, to describe what has occurred here.
In her official press release dated May 23, 2025, Commissioner Regalado claimed: “Every effort is being made to … continue moving forward with restoring and reopening the Coconut Grove Playhouse for its centennial celebration in the Spring of 2027.” She also referenced the project as being “undergoing renovations” — a phrase she has used repeatedly. See press release here: https://www.miamidade.gov/district07/releases/2025-05-23-com-regalado-coconut-grove-playhouse-renovation.asp?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Let’s be clear: Demolition is not restoration. Bulldozing the auditorium — the very heart of this theater’s cultural significance — is not renovation. The public deserves truth, not spin. Using euphemistic language to describe the destruction of a historic landmark misleads residents and disrespects those of us who have worked for decades to protect our shared heritage.
This moment is not just a loss for preservationists — it is a warning. If the erasure of the Playhouse can be rebranded as “progress,” what other pieces of our history are at risk of disappearing behind PR gloss?
Sincerely,
Marlene Erven