Coconut Grove residents say a long-neglected wall on U.S. 1 is an eyesore and safety hazard, racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines as city enforcement drags on.
Few would call U.S. 1 one of Miami’s prettier boulevards, but one spot along the six-lane, chronically congested highway has caught the frustration of Center Grove resident David Rosen.
At the corner of U.S. 1 and Virginia Street sits a crumbling, two-foot-high pink wall with peeling paint and a sagging chain-link fence. Overgrown with weeds and tagged with graffiti, it greets drivers with what Rosen calls an eyesore at the entrance to the neighborhood he loves.
“Why do we have this major eyesore that is riddled with graffiti, that is a danger, that is horrible looking as one of our entrances to our beloved Coconut Grove?” Rosen said.
The disheveled property is home to Grove Princess Apartments, a privately owned, five-story multifamily building constructed in 1967 and valued at $11.8 million, according to county records.
Rosen, who drives past the intersection most days, says the wall drags down property values, invites crimes such as graffiti and deters people from turning into Coconut Grove.
It’s also a code violation.
Grove Princess Apartments has been accruing daily fines of $250 since August 2021 for failing to maintain the exterior. City records show that as of July 2024, the charges had reached $262,000, and as of last July (current records were not available) the fines were still accruing. At that rate, the total today would top $383,000.
Emails to the city’s Office of Code Compliance were not returned, and a city spokesperson was not able to provide an update on enforcement efforts.
But according to emails reviewed by the Spotlight, the property’s deteriorating condition first reached the attention of Miami’s code compliance inspectors in 2019, triggering numerous citations.
And nothing has changed. Rosen said he’s raised the issue with city officials for several years, hoping, at the very least, to have the wall repaired. In May, records show, a permit was issued for wall repairs, but construction has yet to begin.
Village of Center Grove Homeowners Association chairperson Sue McConnell said the property remains a source of irritation and frustration for residents, especially those living along Coconut Avenue, which borders the property.
“It’s been this way for a very long time. We notify the city and nothing has been done,” McConnell said.
Over the years, McConnell said, the wall has been struck more than once by cars, worsening the damage. It has also been a frequent posting spot for campaign signs — some faded and outdated — though none were visible on a recent visit.
Efforts to reach the owners of Grove Princess Apartments were unsuccessful.
In July, Rosen was buoyed by an email exchange with Javier Gonzalez, the Coconut Grove community liaison for Miami District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo. After reviewing the case, Gonzalez assured Rosen that repairs were imminent.
The emails also assured Rosen that, after consultations with the Office of Code Compliance and the City Attorney’s Office, the property would continue to accrue daily fines until repairs are completed. But afterward, Gonzalez explained, the owners could petition the city’s code enforcement board to reduce or dismiss the fees.
Gonzalez did not respond to the Spotlight’s request for comment.
The thought of mitigating hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines rankles Rosen.
“Even if they do fix it, they owe that money. Because you know what, the residents have had to look at it for so many years. They ignored the violations, and they should pay those violations,” Rosen said.
Rosen says those fees could go toward programs city officials have previously said are short on funds, including recycling and trash pickup.
“You say that we don’t have enough money to pay for trash pickup, you say we don’t have enough money to pay for more people to pick up the recycling, but there’s probably half a million dollars over here that has been turned a blind eye on,” Rosen said.
Unfortunately that is hardly the only eyesore in The Grove. Seems that several developers have recently acquired properties in The West Grove and have neglected to properly maintain them. Privacy screens have fallen, fences are damaged, grass is overgrown, litter is scattered about and side walk pavers are hazardous.
The worst eyesore has been the property located at 3685 Grand Ave., on the corner of Grand and Douglas. It’s one of the principal entrances to The Grove and should not have been neglected to appear blighted.
Code Compliance filed case #00133473. They were supposed to appear before Code Enforcement Board but failed to attend. The case has been rescheduled to November 12th at 5pm in Miami City Hall. The good news is that the property owner finally got around to taking care of their responsibilities to improve the situation. The bad news is that they left it blighted for so long to the detriment of the neighborhood.
There are 3-4 additional nearby properties that require responsible owners to also do the right thing.
Grove NET used to look out for us, but I guess we are on our own now.
I think that if this property has been untouched since 2019, it is unlikely that the owner will show up now. So what are the rules for abandoned properties?