By Coral Gables Gazette staff

City officials are negotiating with the University of Miami over a proposed land deal that would transfer a university-owned park into public hands in exchange for additional development rights on campus—an arrangement that could reshape both city green space and the university’s long-term build-out.

The negotiations surfaced publicly during the Dec. 9 City of Coral Gables City Commission meeting, when Mayor Vince Lago described an imminent proposal involving a sizable parcel slated to become city parkland.

“And right now, the (city) manager (Peter Iglesias) will tell you that we’re working on a six-acre parcel of land and that we are weeks away from bringing to the commission to take it from private hands and to bring it into the city to make the largest park in the city’s history,” Lago said.

Source confirms park identity and exchange mechanism

A City Hall source later confirmed that the parcel referenced by the mayor is a green space currently owned by the University of Miami at the corner of Granada Boulevard and Ponce de Leon Boulevard.

The park, an expansive open green space currently marked with “No Dumping – Private Property” signage, is actively used by residents despite remaining under university ownership.

Under the framework being discussed, the city would acquire the park through a swap involving Transfer Development Rights, commonly known as TDRs—a planning mechanism that allows development capacity to be shifted from one site to another. In practical terms, the city would gain parkland while the university would receive additional development rights that could be used to increase density elsewhere on its campus.

What TDRs mean for Coral Gables

TDRs are designed to preserve land or direct growth toward preferred locations without increasing overall entitlement citywide. When used for public purposes, they can convert privately held land into parks or civic space while compensating the owner through transferable development capacity rather than cash.

In this case, the exchange would allow Coral Gables to add a major new public park without a direct purchase, while enabling the University of Miami to build more intensively within its campus footprint—subject to future approvals.

City officials have not yet presented the specific terms of the TDR exchange, including how many rights would be transferred, where they could be applied, or what development intensity they would permit.

Proximity and process

City Manager Peter Iglesias, who the mayor referenced during the Dec. 9 meeting, lives across the street from the park.

What comes next

If the proposal advances, commissioners will be asked to weigh the public benefit of acquiring what the mayor described as a potential six-acre park against the long-term planning implications of granting additional development rights to the university.

For residents, the decision would shape two core priorities: the preservation and expansion of public green space, and the scale and intensity of future development in and around the University of Miami campus.