Coral Gables fills $3.9 million gap for Ponce Circle Park redesign

By Coral Gables Gazette staff

Coral Gables commissioners voted unanimously July 7 to commit an additional $3.9 million in city and developer funding to the redesign of Fred B. Hartnett Ponce Circle Park, resolving a financing question raised after the project’s cost grew by more than a quarter in the span of a year.

Commissioners approved, 5-0, both a resolution amending the park’s conditions of approval and a companion amendment to the city’s development management agreement with Ponce Park Residences, LLC, the Allen Morris Company entity building the 57-unit luxury condominium project adjacent to the park at Ponce de Leon Boulevard and University Drive. Neither item drew public comment.

Closing the funding gap

The vote answers a question the Gazette raised on June 22. At the time, the Gazette reported that the park’s estimated cost had grown from $8.9 million to $11.2 million, and that “the public record reviewed by the Gazette does not yet show how the $2.3 million increase will be resolved.” The developer’s lobbyist Javier Fernández had told commissioners in May that a full financial breakdown would be presented at the commission’s June 9 meeting; it was ultimately delivered Tuesday, nearly a month later than promised.

The amendment approved Tuesday spells out the math. The park’s original financing, secured in 2024 and 2025, totaled $7.3 million: a $5.3 million city appropriation and a $2 million commitment from the developer. Against the revised $11.2 million total cost, that left a combined shortfall of $3.9 million, once both the original $1.6 million funding gap and the newer $2.3 million cost increase are accounted for.

The city is covering most of the difference. Its contribution rises to $8.2 million, or 73 percent of the total project cost, through a $2.9 million supplemental appropriation. Of that, $2.4 million comes from repurposed proceeds tied to a 2020 development agreement with the trustee for Agave Plaza, the property now known as The Plaza, which abuts the park, and $500,000 comes from mobility and parks impact fees paid by the developer’s own condominium project.

The developer’s contribution rises to $3 million, or 27 percent of the total, through two new commitments of $500,000 each. One is structured as an advance against impact fees the developer or its affiliates would otherwise owe the city on future projects over the next decade, meaning the city receives the money now but credits it against future obligations. The other is a payment for the right to name the park’s planned open-air bandshell in honor of an individual, subject to the city manager’s approval.

Praise for the design, and one corrected number

The tenor of Tuesday’s vote stood apart from other business on the same agenda. Fernández, appearing before the commission for the first time since an injury, told commissioners the design work is proceeding through the city’s review boards, having already cleared the Development Review Committee with a Board of Architects hearing scheduled later this month. He said construction is targeted to begin next summer.

Mayor Vince Lago offered extended praise for the project’s materials and design, comparing its stonework to monuments in Washington, D.C., and telling Fernández the park would use real stone rather than “faux coquina” and would include marble structures and “world-class art.” Lago said the developer’s willingness to invest in the park’s quality reflected the same standard set by the adjacent condominium project, which he said was commanding the highest per-square-foot prices the city has seen, and called the lobbyist’s work on the agreement the effort of “a statesman.”

Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson drew a laugh when she remarked that the developer was contributing an additional $11 million to the project — an exaggeration Lago immediately corrected for the record, clarifying the true figure before commissioners moved to a vote. Anderson separately praised the developer for incorporating feedback from the project’s June 1 public input meeting and credited the design team, including lead park architect Maria de la Guardia of de la Guardia Victoria Architects & Urbanists, calling the collaboration “a lot of fun.”

The vote

Both items passed unanimously on voice roll call, with Commissioners Richard Lara, Melissa Castro and Ariel Fernandez joining Anderson and Lago in support of each. The outcome contrasted with the same commission’s 3-2 split earlier in the same meeting over the Crystal Residences project, underscoring how differently two land-use matters on the same agenda can land.

What comes next

The Board of Architects is scheduled to take up the park’s design later this month, followed by a public hearing on the Final Park Design Plan, which the amendment requires be substantially consistent with the conceptual design presented to residents last month. The developer remains responsible for any cost overruns beyond the amounts approved Tuesday. Construction is targeted to begin next summer.