Spotlight 78-250218

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

A Python Sighting Stirs Alarm
Grove Isle Residents Fight On
West Grove Highrise Wins Tentative Approval

Pythons at the Gate

A sighting in January at Matheson Hammock Park in Coral Gables – and a photo posted on social media – are reminders that the giant highly-invasive predators may already be living among us.

By Christopher Pearson

The neighborhood networking app Nextdoor lit up last month when a user posted a photo of a Burmese python – the invasive predator devastating native wildlife populations in the Everglades – taken in the western portion of Matheson Hammock Park, barely two miles from Coconut Grove’s southern reach.

“At minimum, it probably means they are in the yards of houses in Coral Gables and Pinecrest,” the person who posted the photo wrote. “Keep an eye on your pets and small children.”

Paradise Lost: Grove Isle Development Sparks Endless Outrage

After a decade of litigation, the luxury Vita at Grove Isle development is nearly complete. How much longer can island residents persist in their campaign to shut the project down?

By Izzy Kapnick

Residents of Grove Isle are back in court once again seeking to shut down a luxury condominium development that has provoked ire on the private island in Coconut Grove for more than a decade.

Construction workers in September topped off the final floors of Vita at Grove Isle – a seven-story, horseshoe-shaped building sandwiched between Biscayne Bay and one of the three original Grove Isle condominium towers.

The new building with 65 waterfront residences wraps the northern tip of the island, fully obstructing the idyllic views once enjoyed by residents of Tower Three. Instead of panoramic sunrises, residents now awaken to the sight of glass and concrete.

Highrise Proposed for West Grove Wins Tentative Approval

The proposed 20-story building at the corner of Douglas Road and Day Avenue would bring additional affordable and workforce housing to the neighborhood.

By Don Finefrock

A proposed $148 million project that would pack much-needed affordable housing into a 20-story building on the corner of Douglas Road and Day Avenue in the West Grove has won preliminary approval from the Miami-Dade County Commission.

The commission’s housing committee voted unanimously last week to greenlight Gallery in the Grove, a mixed-income housing project pitched by developer Related Urban.

The proposed highrise would replace a three-story building at Stirrup Plaza that currently has 65 subsidized apartments for seniors.