A Neighborhood Celebrates a Restoration Project

Greater St. Paul AME Church and Dragonfly Investments have completed the first two of ten homes they plan to restore in Little Bahamas to provide affordable housing for residents.

On Hibiscus Street in Coconut Grove, just down the road from Greater St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church, a new hibiscus bush is growing between a pair of 86-year-old cottages.

The blooming hibiscus represents a symbolic final touch on the first phase of a years-long adaptive reuse project that seeks to restore ten homes in the West Grove. 

Painted light blue and yellow and complete with rocking-chair-ready front porches, the first two studio-style cottages were unveiled to the public in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, unrecognizable compared to the condition they were in only a few months ago. 

“We couldn’t be more excited individually and as an office and as a community to be here,” Miami District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo told a crowd of about 30 people gathered for the ribbon-cutting. “We often talk about affordable housing like this big goal that’s so difficult to get to, but you do it a little bit at a time.”

The joint effort by Greater St. Paul (the property owner), the City of Miami, and Miami-based development firm Dragonfly Investments seeks to address the need for low-income housing in the West Grove without compromising the character and Bahamian style that define the neighborhood.

The Hibiscus Project gained traction after $2.2 million in federal funding became available after the pandemic through the American Rescue Plan Act, the federal stimulus package passed in 2021. 

After months of effort, Amanda De Seta, the head of development at Dragonfly, secured the building permits needed to restore the twin 1939 homes.

Upgrading the 455-square-foot structures to modern-day standards required a head-to-toe renovation. With not a square inch to spare, the interiors were gutted to convert the multiple bedroom homes into studios with a partial dividing wall. 

Brand new appliances were installed, windows were swapped out for hurricane impact glass, and the exterior landscaping was given an overhaul to limit flooding. 

Little details, including the wooden three-pane windows (a nearly impossible find) preserve the historical accuracy of the homes while the ship-wheel embellishments on the porch posts were De Seta’s way of maintaining the Bahamian spirit. 

“Last January I was actually in the Bahamas, and I spent a lot of time walking, looking at the woodwork, looking at the detail,” De Seta said. 

The units will be reserved for Miami residents making 60% or less of the area median income (AMI) that is currently set at $86,800 for a single-family residence in the City of Miami, meaning residents making less than $52,080 would qualify. 

These first two cottages have been set aside for the neighbors living in the two homes next door, which will be renovated in coming months as part of the next phase of the project. Six homes around the corner on William Avenue are also part of the project.

Eulla Frazier – one of the neighbors living next door to the renovated cottages – got chills when she walked into the newly restored home. “Thank God that I can get into one of these, that I can afford one of these, right?” she said. 

Greater St. Paul Rev. Dr. Eddy Moise remembered Frazier’s reaction when she first learned the renovated cottage would be her new home. 

“To be able to see the joy on her face, those tears of joy rolling down the side of her cheek, did something to my heart,” Moise said.

The rental homes will be managed by the church following their completion.

Moise said this is one way for the church to help a community that is experiencing rapid gentrification and rising real estate prices, even if it’s only touching a fraction of the residents affected by the neighborhood’s transformation. 

“It makes you feel good,” he said. “People are able to see God’s hand moving through the ministry.”

The Hibiscus Project is one of several proposed housing projects in Coconut Grove that seek to solve an affordable housing crisis that has made the 33133 area code less accessible to long-term residents. 

Another faith-based project, Grand Bahamas Place, promises to deliver 56 micro condominiums on Grand Avenue, also priced for low-income families. The development secured $4.2 million in funding from the Miami City Commission in March.

Miami-Dade County also recently approved a pair of highrise developments – Gallery in the Grove and Eviva – on Douglas Road between Grand Avenue and South Dixie Highway, which will include 370 apartments for low-income and working families.    

The Hibiscus Project offers a smaller-scale approach more in keeping with the history and tradition of the West Grove community.

“It’s historic preservation. It’s about neighborhood character. And it’s also about understanding that not everybody wants to live in a big building with a big elevator,” De Seta said. “There are some people who want a cute front porch.”

Dragonfly has a similar project on Mundy Street where the company is poised to build eight apartment units on two parcels of land and restore a coral rock house from 1926. 

“I think people feel very comfortable with this form of affordable housing,” Pardo said. “Because we’re adding a few units at a time, you can kind of figure out its intended purpose and dedicate it for that much better.” 

Pardo believes the positive reaction the Hibiscus Project has received so far may be the catalyst for securing funding for similar projects. 

“When people see this… more transactions are going to come our way, because who doesn’t want to do this? You and I are looking at these units, and we’re thinking, wow, I would live here, so it’s amazing,” Pardo said.