By Coral Gables Gazette staff
The debate over growth in Coral Gables has often been framed in terms of architecture or traffic. At its heart, however, lies a quieter measure: whether the city can keep pace with the demands new development places on water, drainage, parks, and emergency services. That principle — known in planning circles as concurrency — has long been the standard for responsible growth. The surge of apartment projects now converging in the North Gables suggests that standard is being tested as never before.
Concurrency requires that public facilities be adequate at the time new development creates demand. It is designed to prevent the familiar pattern of growth first and infrastructure later, which can leave residents with overburdened parks, delayed emergency response, and deferred maintenance. For Coral Gables, a city that prides itself on careful planning and high quality of life, concurrency is more than a technical threshold. It is a promise to residents that growth will be managed, not imposed.
In the North Gables, that balance is shifting. Four projects within a three-block radius now propose more than 700 new apartments, bringing an estimated 1,500 residents into an area where the closest sizable park is Rotary Park, where streets show visible wear, and where public tree upkeep has not kept pace with demand. The question is not whether the city can attract investment — that much is clear — but whether it can support the daily lives of those who will live in and around these towers.
Two recent announcements underscore the scale of change. Shoma Group has unveiled plans for Ponce 8, a 16-story tower on SW Eighth Street with 201 apartments, 40 percent of them designated as workforce housing under the state’s Live Local Act. Just two blocks away, Empira Group of Switzerland has committed to The Aurelian, a 12-story luxury project on East Ponce de Leon Boulevard with 161 units, private balconies, and a small public park. Together, they represent one of the largest waves of multifamily construction in the city’s history.
The site of the Ponce 8, a 201 unit, 16-story mixed-use building, which is under review.
For Shoma, Ponce 8 is both a return to Coral Gables and a first test of Live Local within city limits. The law, passed in 2023 and expanded in 2024 and 2025, allows developers to exceed local zoning limits on height and density so long as 40 percent of units are reserved for households earning up to 120 percent of the area median income. In exchange, cities lose control over much of the scale of what gets built. Shoma’s 16 stories are not incidental. The Live Local Act requires that projects be allowed to rise at least as high as the tallest residential or commercial building within a mile. When the City Commission approved Regency Parc Residences at 16 stories, that height became the new baseline across much of Coral Gables.
That shift matters because it effectively resets expectations. What once required extraordinary justification can now be claimed as of right. For Coral Gables, which has long maintained strict zoning controls and a reputation for Mediterranean consistency, Live Local changes the calculus. The city can still review design, but it cannot scale down the size of projects that meet the statute’s affordability test.
The site of the proposed Aurelian, 161 unit, 12-story luxury residential building, which is under review.
Empira’s Aurelian takes a different tack. With no workforce housing component, it offers public art by Michele Oka Doner and 5,000 square feet of park space as civic offsets. Its backers emphasize international investment and premium design. Both projects tap respected local architects — Peter Kiliddjian for Ponce 8 and Robert Behar for The Aurelian — underscoring how the city’s own architectural boards and networks are entwined with the developments they are asked to evaluate.
The site of the proposed Crystal, 177 residential unit, 8-story mixed-use building, which is under review.
Contrast these projects with the battle on Phoenetia Avenue, where Century Homebuilders’ Crystal project would replace the Garden of Our Lord, one of only three biblical gardens in the country, along with Crystal Academy and St. James Church. The proposed nine-story development would add 177 units but has faced years of resistance from neighbors and preservationists. Opposition centers not only on the removal of more than 100 mature trees, including a 200-year-old oak, but on questions of scale and authenticity. “The project eliminates dozens of mature specimen trees,” resident Daniel Quintana warned in a letter to the Board of Architects, arguing that it fails to provide adequate public green space in return.
The juxtaposition is revealing. In North Gables, towers of 12 and 16 stories advance with relative certainty, backed by state statute and global capital. On Phoenetia, a smaller project has been mired in hearings for years because it would erase a unique ecological and spiritual landmark. The scale of development is not the trigger; the perception of what is lost or gained is.
The site of the proposed 23 Sidonia, a 91 unit, 8-story building, which the city commission has approved.
What ties these cases together is concurrency. In theory, each new project should come with a demonstration that water, storm drainage, transportation, parks, and emergency services can absorb the added demand. In practice, the state’s Live Local Act accelerates housing supply without requiring corresponding improvements. That leaves local governments — and their residents — to reconcile the imbalance. Rotary Park will not expand because Ponce 8 and The Aurelian are built. Emergency services will not automatically gain new staffing. Sidewalks and lane markings will not repair themselves.
The deeper issue is not whether Coral Gables can absorb new towers — it can, and in many ways the city has long been shaped by architectural ambition. The issue is whether it can absorb them responsibly. That requires a candid assessment of what each development contributes beyond units: green space, infrastructure, cultural value. In the North Gables, the ledger currently tilts toward density without parallel commitments to public services. On Phoenetia, the ledger tilts toward preservation, with opponents arguing that what would be lost cannot be replaced.
The site of the proposed, 211 Santillane, a 69 unit, 9-story building, which is permitted.
For Coral Gables, whose international reputation is built on livability as much as on architecture, the question is no longer abstract. It is evident in infrastructure maintenance needs, in limited park capacity, and in the demands already placed on emergency services.
The coming years will show whether Coral Gables can reconcile the state’s push for density with its own standards of quality. The North Gables corridor, with more than 700 apartments on the way, will be the test case. If concurrency is allowed to fade into the background, the city risks building towers without the civic spine to support them. If it remains the guiding measure, Coral Gables may yet prove that growth and quality of life can be held together, even under the pressure of state mandates and global capital.
The site of 1505 Ponce, a 87 unit, 16-story mixed-use building, which the city commission has approved.
The site of 1414 Galiano, a 4 unit, 4-story building, which is under review.
The Sunrise of Coral Gables: a 94 unit, 6-story assisted living and memory care facility.
This Post Has 7 Comments
Over and over and over again the citizens of Coral Gables have screamed no more construction. Over and over and over again Lago and the ” know more than us ” leadership of the Gables have turned a deaf ear to what we want. Arrogance is their middle name. We must stop reelecting these developers’ friends. I do not wish harm on anyone but I look forward to the first issue that will wake up our leadership and prove that they need to stop construction and congestion. You all have ruined what the Coral Gables was. Keep adding concrete, keep cutting down mature trees and keep taking away our green spaces. It will come back to bite us.
Amen
We paved paradise to put up a parking lot – sound familar?
So much development in such small area which will be increasing the density, traffic congestion, parking issues, etc.
The 1414 Galiano project seems modest and in line with modernizing an old building and bringing up to current code with only 4 stories.
The Sunrise project, although adding 94 units, is for seniors needing assisted living and/or memory care, also seems modest (and should not add to traffic and parking) at only six stories tall.
Each project should be evaluated subjectively as to what it brings to the community and does it need to be towering in size, or can it be more modest? Does each developer need to make as much money as they can by building as many units as possible?
I have posted this elsewhere regarding the 110 Phoenetia “Crystal” Project:
This project is too large and too dense for the neighborhood. It will be destroying “historic green space” which it does not have plans to replace.
I have been a member of the Coral Gables Woman’s Club for 25 years. I am opposed to this development which is planned next door to our property as it is completely out of place in the immediate neighborhood. East Ponce is very low rise and residential so to suddenly allow a 13 story building at 110 Phoenetia Avenue is out of prospective. This is not Ponce de Leon Blvd. It is EAST Ponce de Leon Blvd.
Our club house celebrated 100 years in 2023. Our Centennial. Much of our income is from renting our historic building so we can maintain the building and support our Children’s Dental Clinic. With this development, our business will be affected by both construction dust and use of all our “free parking” surrounding our building. Not only that, but the Garden of the Lord will be destroyed. There are very old trees in the garden and some plants that are not replaceable. Living in Coral Gables, I have to obtain permits to remove trees, and only if they are diseased. Why is it a developer can come in and just destroy everything with no plan to replace it?
The developer needs to go back to the drawing board and make this project fit in to the rest of the surrounding area, please. At 177 units, this is the second largest project mentioned above.
I hope these high-rises include parking. As a resident, I pay an annual fee for residential parking when many times I can’t find parking on my street due to the businesses along Ponce de Leon using our residential parking. I end up having to park along Salzedo street and walk toward my home.
Larger responsibilities and practicalities will inevitably challenge the City in the form of traffic, parking, infrastructure, utilities, police, fire, emergency and waste services.
The City cannot keep up with maintenance and repair of public properties and historic sites such as the Lighthouse Water Tower (once again), City Hall, park improvements/repairs and…still
miles of sidewalk hazards with broken, unlevel, pavers, poor repair attempts using wads of asphalt achieving nothing “trip & falls”.
If The City cannot manage nor fund the care and maintenance of its own properties now, in a timely manner, how will it responsibly serve 700 new living units?
Take care of what the City already has before taking on more than the City can “chew”.
If the Douglas Section [aka North Ponce District aka Phoenetia Avenue] neighborhood is under a protected covenant, then why is a developer allowed to ignore and destroy it? The City must abide by its own code.
110 Phoenetia Avenue (where Century Homebuilders’ Crystal project would replace The Garden of Our Lord) is part of the neighborhood protected under the zoning code, Section 2-404 North Ponce Neighborhood Conservation District Overlay (NPCO). This code was passed to preserve the tree canopy and enhance the garden apartment character of the North Ponce residential neighborhood properties.
Merrick’s intention for the area is found in the historical city plan, landmarked in 2018 and unanimously approved by the sitting commission at the time. On page 17, it lists the Douglas Section [aka North Ponce District aka Phoenetia Avenue] as part of Merrick’s “original plan” and conceived as small scale multi-family, not high rises, stating, “the multi-family residences…were to be low in height and remain in the same scale as the single-family homes.” In fact, some multi-family residences were “designed to look like single-family homes from the street.”
On page 32 of the plan, Merrick goes on to stipulate exact instructions to preserve the trees in the area. “The new development also will take steps to save from destruction full grown trees when new buildings are erected in new sections…as all of the full grown trees and old foliage will be kept intact…”
Finally, the writings in the historic city plan ordinance and the city zoning code point to protection of the area not the opposite. This area does not need a vote to save it, what it needs is for the City to read its own writings on its own code and preserve the neighborhood.
Greed is destroying the beauty and historic nature of our city. Greedy developers now build above and beyond what the zoning code dictates. Everyone wants a variance, no one wants to build within the rules. Greedy commissioners (you know which I’m referring to) who are kowtowing to the developers and blatantly allow the violation of protective covenants. Destroying one of the only biblical gardens in existence is a travesty.
Compatible development goes hand in hand with concurrency, but greed supersedes all today.
Our city used to be a shining example of responsible development. For those of us who have lived in Coral Gables for almost 4 decades, it’s a very sad and frustrating state of affairs.