Critics of the proposed development plan for the Coconut Grove Playhouse got another chance this week to voice their concerns, ahead of a pivotal vote next month by the Miami City Commission.
Are we done fighting over the Coconut Grove Playhouse?
Apparently not.
Miami District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo invited critics of the playhouse redevelopment plan to meet this week with Miami-Dade County officials in hopes of brokering a compromise so the project can move forward.
The critics came and listened but were largely unmoved by the county’s attempts to address neighborhood concerns about the long-delayed project, which still needs to win the approval of the Miami City Commission.
“You are putting band-aids on a bad project,” Gloriana Calhoun told Miami Dade County Commissioner Raquel Regalado and Ashlee Thomas, interim director of the county’s Department of Cultural Affairs.
The Monday night meeting served as a prelude of sorts for the main event to come on July 9 when the county will ask Pardo and his fellow commissioners to bless its plan to revive the playhouse as a smaller, 300-seat theater with shops, offices and parking.
Those plans are opposed by preservationists who fear the playhouse will lose its spot on the National Register of Historic Places, and by West Grove residents who fear the project will push unwanted traffic and commercial activity into their neighborhood.
Read more: Playhouse Neighbors Reject the County’s Plan for Inclusion
The city’s Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board (PZAB) rejected the county’s plan last month because of those neighborhood concerns.
The county is now asking the City Commission to override that decision and approve the zoning changes the project needs to begin construction.
“We are here to be responsive,” Regalado said at one point during the meeting.
On Monday night, Regalado and Thomas offered to:
- Install a gate at the end of the pedestrian walk designed to connect the theater to the West Grove. The gate could be closed permanently, or on performance dates, to protect the neighborhood from any spillover effect, Thomas said.
- Erect a barrier around the pocket park that the county wants to build behind the planned parking garage, so the park could be closed at night.
- Complete a new traffic study for the project (which Thomas said is not likely to be completed until after the July 9 commission meeting).
- Showcase the history of Charles Avenue and the West Grove, a historically Black neighborhood, perhaps by opening a visitor center or by offering neighborhood tours. The county also pledged to return the historic Charles Avenue marker that once stood in front of the playhouse (the marker is currently in storage).
- Help neighborhood residents access job opportunities at the new complex.
The county did not back off its plan to build the project with a significant commercial component, however, including 28,000 square feet of office space, 2,600 square feet of retail space, and 3,800 square feet for food and beverage service.
See more: View the County’s Playhouse Presentation Here
The county insists those commercial spaces are needed to subsidize the cultural components of the project and avoid the need for taxpayer subsidies, but they represent a significant sticking point for neighbors, who fear commercial intrusion.
Long-time critics of the project predicted the county’s proffered concessions might be enough to win commission approval. Even so, that victory might be short-lived if opponents go back to court to block the project.
Grove resident Andy Parrish, a former member of PZAB, urged Regalado and the county to take the project back to the city’s Historic and Environmental Preservation Board for additional review, suggesting that added step could head off future litigation.
Regalado dismissed the suggestion, even though the project was tied up for years by past litigation. The county says it has all the approvals it needs to move forward, save the zoning exemptions and waivers it is asking the commission to approve on July 9.
Read more: Another Bite at the Playhouse Apple
“We are literally at the finish line on this thing,” Regalado said.
But the county also wants to reopen the theater, or at least a portion of the project, in time for the playhouse’s 100th anniversary in 2027 – a timeline that could be derailed by additional litigation. The playhouse opened in January 1927 as a silent movie house and closed abruptly 79 years later, in 2006, because of financial problems.
The county formally committed to the playhouse project in 2013 when it signed a long-term lease with the state of Florida, which owns the property.
Four years later, the county presented its plan to the city’s historic preservation board, which led to litigation, then a return visit to the board in 2019, and then more litigation.
The county now estimates the project will cost $59 million to complete, a figure that does not include the construction cost of the parking garage.
Since hiring John Bell Construction for preliminary site work, including the demolition of the playhouse’s auditorium and stabilization of its distinctive façade, the county has added $2.8 million to the original contract. That contract now totals $6.8 million.
In addition, the county now expects to pay architectural firm Arquitectonica $6.6 million for its design work, an increase of $4.2 million from the original contract amount.
That $4.2 million includes an additional $2.1 million to complete the original scope of the contract and $2.1 million more for services related to the proposed parking garage.
Both new contract amounts were approved this month by the County Commission.
