Spotlight 240702 Bimini, SWIMM, Jones Funeral

In the Spotlight,

Grand Avenue housing project unveiled at City meeting
Women writers find a home in the Grove.
Funeral held for shooting victim Christopher Jones.

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New Housing Proposed for Grand Avenue

The project would bring 176 market-rate rental apartments and 26,000 square feet of retail space to a desolate stretch of Grand Avenue.

by Don Finefrock and Jenny Jacoby

The proposed project would rise five stories above Grand Avenue. (Rendering provided by Silver Bluff Developers)

After years of broken promises and failed development deals, a desolate stretch of Grand Avenue in the West Grove may be rebuilt with housing as a trio of investors seeks to capitalize on plans put in place more than a decade ago by the City of Miami.

The Bimini Block project would add 176 market-rate rental apartments and 26,000 square feet of street-level shops and restaurants to the neighborhood, on 2.4 acres of vacant land on Grand Avenue between Plaza and Hibiscus Streets.

Making Space for Women Writers in Miami

Women poets find an audience – and support one another – by choosing to SWWIM (Supporting Women Writers in Miami) every day.

by Nayeli Membreno and Andrea Rivera

Catherine Esposito Prescott alongside her daughter and husband. (Photo courtesy of Catherine Esposito Prescott)

In her poem “Ordinary Offering” published in 2020 in the South Florida Poetry Journal, Coconut Grove writer Catherine Esposito Prescott describes her pregnancies this way:

“Albert why.” Murder Victim’s Family Struggles for Answers

Funeral services were held last weekend for Christopher Jones, the second victim of gun violence in the West Grove since February.

by Mike Clary

Coconut Grove resident Christopher Jones, 57, the latest victim of West Grove gun violence.

A few days before her brother’s funeral service Sherketa Fance posted on her Facebook page a haunting question that may never be answered: “Albert why.”

The name Albert is an apparent reference to Albert Antown Sistrunk, 38, who is now jailed and charged with second-degree murder in the death of Christopher Jones. A lifelong resident of Coconut Grove, Jones was shot and killed in the early hours of June 19 at the corner of Douglas Road and Oak Avenue. He was 57.