By Coral Gables Gazette staff

The Coral Gables City Commission held its final meeting inside historic City Hall chambers on February 24, closing the doors of one of South Florida’s most celebrated civic landmarks to begin a restoration that city officials say will return the 100-year-old building to its original grandeur. The commission will not reconvene there for the next two years.

The departure marks the beginning of a restoration that city officials have estimated will cost between $25 million and $30 million — one of the most significant investments in the Mediterranean Revival structure at 405 Biltmore Way in its history and a project that has been years in the making.

Where the commission and staff are going

Beginning with the March 10 commission meeting, the city’s elected body will convene at the community meeting room located at 2151 Salzedo Street in the Public Safety Building. City Manager Peter Igelais confirmed the new location at the February 24 meeting.

City administrative departments — including the city manager, city attorney, city clerk, and finance — approximately 46 employees in total — will relocate to leased offices on the 12th floor of 2020 Ponce de Leon Boulevard under a three-year lease arrangement. City commission offices have been temporarily relocated 234 Minorca Avenue.

A moment Lago called monumental

Mayor Lago marked the occasion with extended remarks, describing the departure as both a civic milestone and a personal one.

“I’m very proud to say that this is our last commission meeting here for the next few years,” Lago said. “There was a challenge that was made to get this building in order. It’s 100 years old and we’re going to meet that challenge. We’re going to deal with it head on.”

Lago noted that he had remained in City Hall throughout a politically charged period in which the building’s structural condition had been publicly disputed. In November 2023, concerns about the building’s structural integrity prompted the commission and administrative offices to vacate. At the time, Lago — then in the minority on the commission — dismissed the move as “political theater.” After regaining majority support following last April’s municipal election, he led the effort to return the commission to its historic chambers.

The February 24 meeting represented the completion of that arc — and the beginning of a new one.

“We’re here and now we leave to bring this old beautiful building back to its original splendor, its original glory,” Lago said. “Challenge made, challenge accepted, and we will get it done because we have the best team to deliver on it.”

He offered congratulations to the city manager, Deputy City Manager Joe Gomez, Assistant City Manager Carolina Vester and the city’s architectural and administrative staff. He called the transition seamless and said the new offices at Minorca Avenue had been prepared with care.

Lago also acknowledged the weight of the personal moment. “I may never be back again,” he said, “but I think it’s the right thing to do for future generations to make sure that we protect this amazing building.”

The restoration’s scope and timeline

The project architect is Coral Gables-based R.J. Heisenbottle Architects, P.A., awarded the contract last November. Construction permits are projected for June, with construction commencement targeted for July and project completion by December 2027 — an approximately 17-month construction window.

The project has been formally designated a restoration rather than a renovation — a distinction the city’s Historic Preservation Board pressed for explicitly, reflecting the intent to preserve the building’s original character rather than modernize it. Among the most debated elements has been the fate of the building’s original wood-framed windows. Preservationists, including the Historic Preservation Association of Coral Gables and former Historic Preservation Officer Dona Spain, have urged the city to restore rather than replace them, arguing the windows are integral to the building’s historic fabric and have survived every major storm since the 1920s. The city opted to replace them.

What comes next

With construction permits projected for June and work beginning the following month, residents can expect the exterior scaffolding and construction activity to become a visible part of the downtown landscape for the better part of two years. The city has not yet detailed a public communications plan for the construction period, though the commission’s move to the Salzedo Street community meeting room preserves public access to commission meetings throughout the restoration.

When the work is complete, city officials say, Coral Gables will have a fully restored civic landmark capable of serving the next hundred years — the building George Merrick built, returned to the condition he envisioned.

A building a century in the making

City Hall was completed in 1928, designed by the architectural firm Paist and Steward as part of the Mediterranean Revival vision that city founder George Merrick had established as Coral Gables’ architectural identity. The three-story limestone structure on Biltmore Way — featuring a Corinthian colonnade, red clay-tiled roof, and central clock tower — was one of the last major civic buildings in which Merrick was directly involved before the collapse of the Florida land boom.

Inside the building, the rotunda houses a mural by Denman Fink, Merrick’s uncle and the artistic director of the original city plan. The building was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1974. It is one of the few structures included in the city’s official Mediterranean architectural handbook and one of the only buildings in Coral Gables that carries both local and national historic designations.

The building has weathered nearly a century of Florida storms — including the catastrophic 1926 hurricane that effectively ended the land boom — and retains much of its original fabric, including wood-framed windows that preservationists have fought to protect as the restoration plans developed.