By Coral Gables Gazette staff
Residents attending Tuesday’s meeting on the University Station Rapid Transit Overlay District will have one week before the Coral Gables City Commission votes on a package of broad land-use changes.
The April 7 meeting, scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. at Firehouse 4, 1345 Sunset Drive, is the last dedicated public input session before the April 14 commission vote, where residents may also comment before the commission acts.
What is actually on the April 14 agenda
The first item is what the public meeting notice describes: amendments to add 6100 Caballero Boulevard to the University Station Rapid Transit District Overlay and modify multi-family density and height requirements to allow higher intensity development within the district.
The second item goes further. The April 14 agenda includes zoning map amendments that would reclassify multiple parcels beyond the Caballero site. In the Riviera Waterways Section, parcels currently zoned Mixed-Use 1 and Multi-Family 3 would be rezoned to Multi-Family 4 — the highest residential density classification in the city’s zoning code. In the Singer Subdivision, parcels currently zoned Multi-Family 1 would be rezoned to Multi-Family 2 and Multi-Family 3. The Future Land Use Map would be amended to reclassify several parcels from Commercial Low-Rise Intensity and Multi-Family Low Density to Multi-Family High Density and Multi-Family Medium Density.
These are permanent changes to the density classifications governing multiple properties across the corridor — changes that go beyond the addition of a single Caballero parcel that has been the focus of public discussion.
The third item is the site plan approval for The Mark — a mixed-use development proposed by Athens, Georgia-based Landmark Properties at 1250 South Dixie Highway, the current site of the University Shopping Center, once home to longtime tenants including Bagel Emporium. The Mark has been working through the city’s approval process since 2023 and envisions two eight-story towers with 393 residential units, 34,635 square feet of commercial space, and a height of 97 feet. The commission’s April 14 vote would be the final approval the project requires from the city.
Why Tuesday’s meeting matters
The Sunshine Neighborhood Meeting is a required step in the amendment process under Florida’s Sunshine Law — but it is an input-gathering step, not a decision point. The commission is not bound by what it hears Tuesday. What residents say at Firehouse 4 this week will inform the ordinances as they are finalized for the April 14 vote, but the vote itself follows one week later regardless.
Residents attending Tuesday’s meeting should understand that the April 14 vote encompasses the full package — the Caballero addition, the density reclassifications across the Singer Subdivision and Riviera Waterways Section, and the site plan approval for The Mark. All three items are connected through the overlay framework and are among the items expected to be voted on at the April 14 commission meeting, which will also take up other city business.
How to participate
Tuesday’s Sunshine Neighborhood Meeting runs from 6 to 8 p.m. at Firehouse 4, 1345 Sunset Drive. Attendance is limited and residents are asked to RSVP at planning@coralgables.com. The meeting is also available via Zoom at www.zoom.us/j/3054466800 and by phone at 305-461-6769, Meeting ID: 305 446 6800.
The April 14 City Commission Regular Meeting begins at 9 a.m. at the Community Meeting Room of the Public Safety Building, 2151 Salzedo Street. The public may participate in person or via Zoom at the same link and phone number. Written comments may be submitted in advance at www.coralgables.com/commissionmeetings or by email to cityclerk@coralgables.com before the meeting begins. The meeting will also be broadcast live on the city’s website at www.coralgables.com/cgtv and on Comcast Channel 77.
