The WELL Traffic Study Clears Key Threshold — But Only Barely

A Miami-Dade traffic review found that automobile trips generated by Terra Group’s proposed Center Grove project would fall just under the threshold for triggering a more extensive traffic analysis — though questions were raised about several assumptions used to reach that conclusion.

A traffic study prepared for Terra Group’s proposed eight-story luxury condo The WELL Coconut Grove concludes that the development would add fewer than 100 new vehicle trips during each of the two daily peak hours — a finding that allows the project to be classified as having minimal traffic impact under Miami-Dade County guidelines.

But the project achieved that classification only after a series of adjustments and assumptions that drew scrutiny from the county’s outside reviewer.

The study, prepared by David Plummer & Associates and obtained by the Spotlight through a public records request, analyzes traffic expected from the mixed-use project planned for the corner of Tigertail Avenue and Mary Street. 

The project includes 194 residential units, a 13,686-square-foot fitness club, 9,898 square feet of retail, and a two-level basement garage with optional valet service. The site was previously occupied by a 140-room hotel.

According to a Dec. 8, 2025 report, the project would generate 93 additional trips during the morning peak hour and 90 during the evening peak, relative to the former hotel — just under the 100-trip threshold that determines whether a more extensive traffic study is required.

“Since the proposed project generates fewer than 100 new two-way vehicle trips during the AM and PM peak hours, the impact on the adjacent street network can be considered de minimis,” the consultant wrote — a term used in traffic engineering to indicate the project falls below a key threshold for further analysis.

But a Nov. 12 review memo by HBC Engineering Company, hired by Miami-Dade’s Department of Transportation & Public Works, shows the study did not pass muster without revisions.

The reviewer, traffic engineer Moatz Saad, pressed the applicant’s consultant on several points, including the use of a 6-feet-per-second “jogging speed” to calculate the walking time of valet attendants. Saad objected that the cited source referred to jogging, not normal walking, and said, “It is not appropriate to assume valet attendants will be jogging.”

The revised analysis, however, kept the 6-foot-per-second figure, according to the review, which cited a Nov. 12 email from city transportation project manager Collin Worth authorizing the speed assumption. The report also added language stating the applicant would coordinate with the valet company to ensure cars do not queue in the public right-of-way. 

The study also assumed that 20% of project trips would use valet service and concluded that five valet attendants would be enough during the evening peak hour to avoid any queue spilling into the street.

Other parts of the traffic analysis also relied on assumptions that reduced projected impacts. The consultant applied a 13% deduction in vehicle trips due to residents using transportation modes other than driving, based on U.S. Census data, and assumed that some trips would stay within the project — with The Well residents using on-site shops or the gym instead of driving elsewhere. 

The report also assumed that 40% of retail customers would already be passing by the site, rather than making a separate trip to get there.

Together, those adjustments helped bring the project’s net peak-hour trips below the county threshold.

The final report says no exclusive turn lanes are needed at either of the project’s Tigertail Avenue driveways because projected turning volumes remain below guideline thresholds.The WELL, which is targeting a late 2028 completion date, remains the subject of ongoing litigation. In February, a group calling itself Grove Opposing Out-of-Control Development Inc. asked a Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge to halt the issuance of building permits tied to the development, arguing it relies on a disputed 2023 zoning change that was later repealed. A hearing on that request is set for May 14.