Spotlight 161-251202

Good morning. What we’re covering in today’s Spotlight:

  • A Brewing Fight over the Fate of Fuller Street
  • A City Bid to Sanction Events at The Hangar  

A proposed deal between the City of Miami and a private developer could reshape one of Coconut Grove’s most popular gathering spaces – leaving some residents to wonder who will control Fuller Street when the dust settles.

By Francisco Alvarado

In recent weeks, outdoor seating options have exploded along Fuller Street, a tiny, pedestrian-only promenade in the heart of Coconut Grove’s village center.
 
Along with the longstanding row of pink picnic tables placed there by the venerable Barracuda Taphouse & Grill, there is now seating for the newly opened Chuggie’s burger joint, Grove Grocer and the cheese and sandwich shop Chèvre.

For many Grove residents, those tables are less welcoming than foreboding — a disquieting harbinger of things to come.


The ordinance would formally allow historic buildings to operate as event spaces — a move that would eliminate the administrative gray area clouding operations at the controversial, city-owned venue along Coconut Grove’s waterfront.

By David Villano

City of Miami officials are proposing a new law that could pave the way for The Hangar at Regatta Harbour to function as a full-scale commercial event venue – a use critics say is neither in keeping with the operator’s lease obligations for the city-owned facility nor allowable under the city’s existing code. 

The ordinance, set for review on Tuesday by the city’s Historic and Environmental Preservation Board, would codify “event venue” as a permitted use within locally designated historic structures like The Hangar.


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