Spotlight 50-241112 Armbrister Park

In today’s Spotlight,

Major development in the works for Center Grove
A new community center coming to Armbrister Park
How Coconut Grove celebrated Veterans Day
Bike Walk & Roll to School Day returns

Today’s is the 50^th edition of the new Spotlight. Back issues are available online. Readers can use the website’s search feature to call up the many events and service opportunities of the community. The keyword ‘newsletter’ will retrieve past editions.

Changes Afoot for Center Grove

Neighbors are buzzing over a proposed mixed-use development and park redesign on Matilda Street across from Coconut Grove Elementary.

By David Villano and Hank Sanchez-Resnik

In operation since 1961, Grand Avenue’s Coconut Grove Laundry & Cleaners, along with adjacent parcels, is the proposed site of a mixed-use development that could reshape the Grove’s central commercial district.

Miami District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo announced on Saturday that plans are underway for a massive redevelopment of the Center Grove at Grand Avenue and Matilda Street, across from Coconut Grove Elementary School. The proposed plans include office, housing and retail, Pardo said.

Pardo’s office declined to name the developer but the Spotlight has confirmed it is the Coral Gables-based Allen Morris Company.

The development parcel, owned by the Espinosa family, operators of the venerable Coconut Grove Laundry & Cleaners, would extend from Matilda Street west to the U.S. Post Office parking lot and from Grand Avenue one block north to Florida Avenue.

Funding Approved for Armbrister Park’s New Community Center

The long-awaited upgrade opens new opportunities for sports, education, and cultural events in Coconut Grove.

by Noah Gulley

An artist rendering of the new Armbrister Park Community Center on Grand Avenue in West Coconut Grove (Courtesy MCHarry Associates)

After four years of planning, City of Miami officials have given the green light for a new $10 million community center at Coconut Grove’s Armbrister Park. Groundbreaking will be scheduled after selection of a general contractor, a city spokesperson says.

The 10,000-square-foot, two-story structure will replace the aging, single-story building at the northwest corner of the 4.4-acre, multi-use park. The center will include sports equipment storage, classrooms for after-school programs, a technology room, a kitchen, meeting rooms, restrooms and an outdoor pavilion. It will also serve as an outreach center during hurricanes or other natural disasters.

Construction is projected to last nine to 12 months. Other areas of the park, including the playing field and adjacent playground area, will remain open, contingent on safety assessments.

Veterans Day Parade Photos

The annual Coconut Grove Veterans Day Parade brought troops of dancers, cheerleading squads and marching bands to the heart of the West Grove this week.

Dancers bring energy, rhythm and talent to the Veterans Day Parade 2024. (Marra Finkelstein for the Spotlight)

Coconut Grove’s annual Veterans Day Parade drew hundreds of participants and spectators to Grand Avenue in the West Grove on Monday to honor military veterans and their families. The parade began shortly after 10 a.m. with an honor guard, a convoy of Corvettes and a pageant of marching bands, dance troops and cheerleading squads from schools across South Florida.

World War II Veterans Honored by Coral Reef Yacht Club

Centenarians celebrated for their military service.

Joan S Mueller (Photo courtesy of Joan Mueller)

Two World War II veterans who’ve reached the century mark were honored on Friday at a luncheon hosted by Coconut Grove’s Coral Reef Yacht Club.

Joan S. Mueller, 100, began her military service in 1944 as a member of the newly formed Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, or WAVES, a branch of the Navy established to enable women to serve in uniform. Mueller graduated from what is now known as Colby-Sawyer College in New Hampshire. She turned down a commission as an officer to become an enlisted parachute rigger for the Navy, declaring that she wanted to be physically active in support of the war effort.

Walk Bike & Roll to School Day

Now in its eighth year, the popular Walk Bike & Roll to School Day returns to Coconut Grove on Thursday, with 12 participating public and private schools.

By Hank Sanchez-Resnik

A family comes to Walk Bike & Roll to school Day, May 2024. (Photo courtesy of Lotte Purkis)

Twelve Coconut Grove public and private schools will participate in Walk Bike and Roll to School Day (WBRTSD) on Thursday November 14 from 7 to 9 a.m.

This is the eighth year of the increasingly popular program, which encourages parents and children to find alternatives to the usual pattern of too many cars and congested streets during the opening and closing hours of school. Past events have demonstrated significant reductions in traffic.

Usually, WBRTSD is done once in the spring and again in the fall. The fall version this year was originally scheduled for October 17. When news spread of a possible hurricane, the event was postponed to this week.