By Coral Gables Gazette staff
An open-air Odeon, arcaded promenades and a large geometric sculpture rising from a reflecting fountain could soon reshape one of Coral Gables’ most prominent public spaces.
City commissioners on May 19 unanimously advanced preliminary plans for an $11.2 million redesign of Fred B. Hartnett Ponce Circle Park, sending the long-awaited proposal into public review. Architects described the redesign as a vision for the city’s future cultural park — centered around performances, sculpture, informal gathering and shaded public use.
Residents will have their next opportunity to weigh in at a public community meeting on Monday, June 1, at 6 p.m. at the Coral Gables Adult Activity Center, Great Room, 2 Andalusia Avenue. The meeting will also be available via Zoom. The proposed park designs will remain available for public review and comment through June 30 at GablesRecreation.com/ParksProjects.
What the redesign would create
The renderings reveal a comprehensive reimagining of the park organized around several interconnected elements that together create a formal civic space consistent with the Mediterranean Revival character George Merrick established for the city at its founding.
The centerpiece of the design is the Odeon, a classical open-air performance structure on the park’s southern end featuring a coffered dome set within a pedimented stone facade supported by engaged columns. The renderings show the Odeon framing a stage suitable for chamber concerts, civic ceremonies, and community performances — a permanent cultural amenity the park currently lacks.
At the park’s northern end, a sculpture fountain serves as the visual anchor of the design. The renderings feature a large-scale contemporary geometric sculpture by Frank Stella — Puffed & Inverted Star II — rising from a circular reflecting pool surrounded by stone seating, plantings and mosaic paving. The sculpture fountain creates a formal terminus to the park’s central axis.
Connecting these two anchors is an event lawn — an open green intended for passive use and programmed gatherings — flanked on both long sides by arcades. The arcades provide covered pedestrian promenades linking pavilions spaced along the park’s perimeter, with arched openings facing both the lawn and the surrounding streetscape. The renderings show the pavilion architecture in cream stucco with decorative diamond details and terracotta tile roofs consistent with Coral Gables’ historic vernacular.
Along the eastern and western edges, a shaded allée of trees creates formal pedestrian corridors, with café seating visible in the renderings under the arcade openings. A curving low wall and seating element defines the boundary between the lawn and the sculpture fountain plaza.
Not all public reaction was supportive. At the May 19 meeting, resident Jackson Holmes argued the proposal introduces too much built structure into one of downtown’s few remaining open green spaces, raising broader questions about how much architectural programming belongs within the park.
Who designed it
The renovation design was presented by de la Guardia Victoria Architects & Urbanists, a Coral Gables-based firm led by principals Maria de la Guardia and Teófilo Victoria, working in collaboration with the Allen Morris Company and landscape firm Naturalficial. According to its website, De la Guardia Victoria is a Coral Gables-based studio specializing in architecture and urban design that draws deeply from traditional, historically inspired and theory-driven roots. Maria de la Guardia received her architecture training at the University of Miami and Harvard.
The development partnership behind the project
The park renovation is being undertaken in coordination with the Allen Morris Company’s adjacent Ponce Park condominium development at 3000 Ponce de Leon Boulevard, with the scope including enhancements to the park and surrounding streetscape intended to integrate the development with the public realm. Construction on the Ponce Park residential building began in December 2025 and is expected to be completed in early 2028.
The cost has grown
The renovation carries a price tag that has grown since the project’s original approval. When the commission approved the development management agreement with Allen Morris, the park renovation budget was set at $8.9 million. Javier Fernandez, a lobbyist representing the developer, told commissioners at the May 19 meeting that the design now before the city is estimated to cost approximately $11.2 million — roughly $2.3 million above the original figure.
“We’ve been working with staff on putting together a financial package which we’ll present to you on the (June) 9th with the details as to how we will fill that gap,” Fernandez told the commission.
Mayor Vince Lago said he was confident the difference could be addressed. “I think we’ll be able to make that gap,” Lago said, adding that the finalization of construction documents may allow for further cost reductions.
The additional $2.3 million funding gap remains unresolved. The full breakdown — including how much of the total renovation cost is being contributed by Allen Morris and how much will come from city funds — is expected to be presented to the commission at its June 9 meeting.
The park’s namesake
Fred B. Hartnett Ponce Circle Park, located at 2810 Ponce de Leon Boulevard, was renamed in 1994 to honor Fred B. Hartnett, a former Coral Gables mayor who served from 1955 to 1957 and was among the founding members of the Church of the Little Flower, the Coral Gables Jaycees, and the Country Club of Coral Gables.
For additional information, contact Coral Gables Community Recreation at 305-460-5620 or ParksProjects@coralgables.com.
This Post Has 16 Comments
Coral Gables should not subsidize an elaborate park redesign tied to a luxury development while irreplaceable green spaces remain vulnerable and could instead be acquired by the city. Let the developer provide what it can reasonably afford for Ponce Circle Park as part of its project. The city should not rush to close an $11 million and growing funding gap for a developer’s vision of civic space.
The project may be beautiful, but it is not the only opportunity. Improvements can be made incrementally over time. By contrast, the chance to protect historic and contemplative places may never come again.
Ponce Circle Park already belongs to the public. There will always be opportunities to create new plazas, performance spaces, and architectural landmarks. What is far harder to replace is the quieter character that has long defined Coral Gables: its gardens, tree canopy, contemplative spaces, and human scale.
A truly world-class city is measured not only by what it builds, but by what it chooses to preserve.
Coral Gables should not subsidize an elaborate park redesign tied to a luxury development while irreplaceable green spaces remain vulnerable and could instead be acquired by the city. Let the developer provide what it can reasonably afford for Ponce Circle Park as part of its project.
Now is not the time for a more elaborate park than the developer can fund. Improvements can be phased over time. Public resources may be better directed toward preserving historic and contemplative spaces that could otherwise be lost permanently.
Ponce Circle Park already belongs to the public. There will always be opportunities for new civic projects, but far fewer chances to protect the quieter character that defines Coral Gables: its gardens, tree canopy, and human scale.
A truly world-class city is measured not only by what it builds, but by what it preserves.
Someone needs a compass!🧐
Too little greenery, too much cement. Too intense of a transformation into a performance venue.
Nice that we are trying to improve the park, though.
During the last Commission Meetings we have been warned about the possible financial impacts of Tallahassee’s new property tax proposals. The unions have been warned, and the police contract was agreed upon with that in mind. Yet, the Mayor is confident that “we will be able to make that gap.” The Underline discussion also showed that the City may not have a choice about new and not expected expenses, some employees got their jobs reclassified and salaries were recently raised……. As anyone paying attention should be able to see the concern does not apply to the Mayor’s choices. He will find the funds to do what he wishes to do. Where is his prudent spending?
At long last, a plan for this incredible public space.
Merrick’s original plan for the circle was a tall, large mass building, which never came to fruition.
Marginal improvements have been made over the years, but a comprehensive plan for this public space has never been formulated and developed, until now. All the large buildings that surround the park owe a great debt to the development of the park. The Allen Morris building sits a short block away, and residents of this magnificent edifice will certainly benefit from this park’s improvements, but — the developers of massive tall buildings on the east and west sides of the park each promised significant contribution to the park’s upgrade, which basically amounted to minor re-dressing. Plenty of shame to share for this abysmal result.
This park will probably never receive the attention it deserves, but this plan is a fine step forward toward establishing an identity that allows for cultural events, celebrations, themed gatherings and formal ceremonies at a scale that is appropriate for the space. Pedestrian tunnels to access the park simply, easily and safely are a solution to fast traffic passing by on curved streets with poor visibility.
We all owe a debt of gratitude to Allen Morris — a celebrated citizen of Coral Gables — for going above and beyond, to do what the city should have done thirty years ago. Transform Fred Hartnett Ponce Circle Park into a charming, practical, elegant and appropriate public space worthy of being a landmark in Coral Gables.
Really? We owe gratitude to Allen Morris who took our alley from the public and is building concrete monsters that is changing what Coral Gables was and should be? He is in it for the money and only the money. How about the block of long time businesses he is kicking out to build another monster in Coconut Grove? Please, he is a developer and his support for the circle was probably pay back for taking City land.
How about leaving the park as is and use the funds and all other wasted funds to make trash pickup free for all homeowners.
This shows Lago’s lack of financial responsibility. We are in a hard place right now financially with the price of gas and with the total cost of living and inflation. But here he goes wanting to spend how much on an art drawing in a parking garage that has cost 2M due to redesigns and lack of oversight. Now to make the circle more attractive. Then you want to raise our garbage bills. I think not. You need to STOP your out of control spending and cancel any increase in garbage. Lago, you are a destructive force to our City with poor understanding of current economics. Add this to you dog park next to homes and now talk about a dink pickleball court, Garden of the Lord, the golf fees and now Fritz and Frantz. I have just about had it with your leadership.
“An open-air performance structure” that will be used a couple of times a year and the new residents of the Morris building will complain because of the excessive noise. And I can’t wait to see THIS beautiful sculpture. More $$$ wasted!
Please read the above comments by LongTimeGablesResident (Robert Burr), Maria Cruz and also Aurelio Durana. I agree with all that they say, summarized as a shameful use of money that will have little benefit except for the developer who will tout its construction to his future tenants.
I quote from above: “A truly world-class city is measured not only by what it builds, but by what it preserves.” Where were you Mr. Mayor and company (the triumvirate of the Gables) when the Garden of Our Lord was thrown over the cliff?
The “Park” is not a park, it is a very nice and useful island in the middle of a very busy city street. It has been successfully used with concerts, there is a nice Rosary at the end of the month, I have seen lots of people sitting and enjoying the few benches and other walking their dogs, their stroller-dependent children and even their strollers with children and dogs.
You can beautify it and make it more useful with a small portion of that budget and you won’t have to sniff a developer’s rear.
Any venue will require closing traffic and thus make other people’s lives miserable for a significant span of time. Nothing can happen there without massive police present for traffic an other safety concerns. All the businesses around the park will be impacted negatively.
And the “”sculpture” described says nothing about the city where it is, in addition to being stupid and ugly.
I don’t mind paying taxes for something worthwhile, but not for this insane idea.
A tax-paying Coral Gables resident since 1978 that is praying for a change in leadership and the evaporation of developers from this city,
Andres the Logic Man,
I absolutely agree with everything you’ve stated and with those you agreed with above. It’s as if “the triumvirate” is trying to fill every possible passive open green space with some sort of building! The idea is insane, and I wondered the same thing about the sculpture. What the heck does that represent in Coral Gables? The same with the purple “work of art” I stared at across LeJeune while waiting to make a left hand turn from Alhambra today. That poorly placed “work of art” just intrudes on a grassy green median and prevents one from seeing the beautiful tree behind it. Do we have to fill every inch of Coral Gables??? And with an $11M price tag?
The City Beautiful is becoming The City Claustrophobic.
Thank you Lynn. It is good to know that there are others of like mind and interested in preventing the leadership of OUR Gables from spending g OUR money needlessly and without sense. Blessings from above may rain down on you. ALJ
$11M ?????
For what exactly? Seems an outrageous sum for that space…..
I drove by the Park today. It is already a nice space. Could it be a bit more nice? Of course! Clean it up, embellish the. Fountain, spend a reasonable money keeping up with maintenance. But: spending 11MILLION dollars is totally insane, for a concert here and there and an ugly “sculture” the price of which was not disclosed.
You can’t use the park for regular concerts with the city band (as. In the old days) because people can’t go in and out of the park without getting run over.
Are we the Coral Gables taxpayers going to allow this ?.
Thank you Lynn. It is good to know that there are others of like mind and interested in preventing the leadership of OUR Gables from spending g OUR money needlessly and without sense. Blessings from above may rain down on you. ALJ
Thank you Lynn. It is good to know that there are others of like mind and interested in preventing the leadership of OUR Gables from spending g OUR money needlessly and without sense. Blessings from above may rain down on you. ALJ