A facelift for Kirk Munroe Park and Fuller Street in Coconut Grove is all but assured after the Miami City Commission agreed to allow the Allen Morris Company to spearhead improvements to both public spaces.
The City of Miami has made it official: Kirk Munroe Park and Fuller Street in Center Grove will be getting a makeover, and the design process for both parcels of public land will be guided by a private development company with a stake in the outcome.
In a unanimous vote Thursday, the City Commission struck an agreement with the Allen Morris Company to redesign two public spaces that flank the company’s proposed Ziggurat luxury development at the corner of Grand Avenue and Matilda Street.
The proposed overhaul of the two public spaces is expected to cost $5 million, with $3 million coming from the City of Miami and $2 million from Allen Morris Company.
The developer will drive the design process, per the agreement, with input from local residents, businesses, and the Coconut Grove Business Improvement District (BID).
Once the designs for both Fuller Street and the park are complete, those designs will come back to the City Commission for final approval.
Allen Morris Company is also expected to manage the construction phase of both projects, subject to the terms of a “Development Management Agreement” that the city now intends to negotiate with the company.
City officials have defended that arrangement in the face of public skepticism, saying the decision to partner with a private developer will save both time and money.
Read More: Fuller Street Makeover: Public Upgrade or Private Land Grab
Javier Fernandez, an attorney representing Allen Morris Company, has said he expects the development management agreement to go before the City Commission in the first quarter of 2026, perhaps as early as January.
Fernandez did not respond to questions from the Spotlight after the commission approved the agreement on Thursday.
In a public meeting with community stakeholders three days prior to the vote, however, Fernandez said the development agreement approved last week was a necessary step to continue the planning process.
“Without a framework to proceed, it’s hard for us to continue to spend design dollars on a project that ultimately may not happen,” Fernandez said on Dec. 8.
Preliminary designs for the twin projects – prepared by Naturalficial, a landscape architecture and design firm – have been under discussion for nearly a year, beginning with a BID decision in December 2024 to partially fund Fuller Street improvements.
The project has since expanded to include a major remodel of Kirk Munroe Park which abuts the Ziggurat development to the north.
The massive mixed-use Ziggurat project, which will replace Coconut Grove Laundry & Cleaners at 3103 Grand Avenue and other businesses behind it, will include 40,000 square feet of retail, in addition to office space and 19 private residences.
The city’s decision to entrust the design and construction of public improvements at Kirk Munroe Park and Fuller Street has raised some red flags within the community.
Concerned residents worry the proposed improvements will be designed to draw foot traffic into the Ziggurat development, blurring the line of public and private space, and promote the commercialization of both public spaces.
“If someone that doesn’t know anything about it comes here, someone is going to look at that and think, ‘Oh, that building has a great park, wow,’ they’re never going to think that’s public property,” said Joseph Vergara, a Center Grove resident.
Fernandez, the developer’s attorney, has sought to allay those concerns. “We do not want to be seen as trying to privatize this public asset,” he told residents last week.
Both city officials and the developer say there will be future opportunities for the public to participate in the design process, although the timing and logistics of that process are uncertain.
Fernandez said he expects there will be a mix of meetings – some of which will be open to the public and some of which will be private feedback sessions with selected stakeholders.
Vergara said that, going forward, much depends on how that process is handled.
“We have to believe that the commissioners and everybody has our best interest at heart, and the more transparent that the process is, the more people are going to get behind whatever is done, even if they don’t like it,” he said.
The feedback that residents have provided to date has been taken to heart, the developer has said, resulting in changes to the project design.
“The priority should be to enhance the park first and foremost, that’s what we’ve heard by way of feedback from both the city and community. So that’s how the agreement is styled,” Fernandez said.
In the meantime, some residents are holding their breath.
“I hope whatever transpires that Fuller Street is still a place where 30-plus families can still have their kids play chess,” said Ben Glatzer, whose children attend Coconut Grove Elementary School and play chess as members of the Cuda Club.
Club members meet before school to play chess at the pink picnic tables outside of Barracuda’s Taphouse and Grill.
The early morning chess sessions are representative of the open, inclusive nature of Fuller Street that residents’ fear may be lost if the street becomes too commercialized.
