UPDATED: City Manager Peter Iglesias told Ladra Monday that the permit and plans for a high-end Mexican restaurant were approved before the rezoning of Miracle Mile. The new building had to be demolished to make way for a 2.5 story building with terraces and open spaces as well as rooftop seating. There is no parking required, he added.
Not much more than a month after Coral Gables commissioners approved an upzoning of Miracle Mile — and before the election runoffs and a new commission is installed — the first building is being demolished.
The corner of LeJeune and Miracle Mile, where Randazzo’s Little Italy once was, has been turned into a pile of rubble. The sight sent Gables residents into a tizzy as they envisioned a six story building take its place.
But city officials said Sunday that plans for a new restaurant with rooftop seating — another change in the zoning code update — had been approved before that March 4-1 vote (only Vice Mayor Vince Lago dissented).
“They’re tearing down a restaurant to build a nicer restaurant with some rooftop seating,” said City Manager Peter Iglesias. “It’s a normal project.”
The destruction began on Friday, which seems rushed — almost like they had to do it before the runoffs April 27 in case a new commission objects.
There are two commission seats up for grabs, and both runoffs are squarely defined by development positions. In Group 2, Rhonda Anderson — a former member of the planning and zoning board who has fought against overdevelopment — is running against Jose Valdes-Fauli, the brother of the current mayor, a mayor who has championed the biggest projects the Gables ever saw, who kind of shrugs his shoulders.
In Group 3, it’s soccer dad Kirk Menendez — who fought for the Crafts Section upzoning and owns two houses there that must have tripled in value overnight — against Javier Baños, who already sent an email blast about the demolition.
“Developers have started tearing down Miracle Mile,” says the subject line.
“In a sheer act of defiance to us, the residents of Coral Gables, on Friday developers started bulldozing the first building on Miracle Mile,” Baños writes in the email. “Unlike my opponent, my position on this issue has been clear. I have spoken at several public meetings against the up-zoning of Miracle Mile.
“We all love the charm of Coral Gables and the quality of life we have come to enjoy of our City Beautiful. Developers want to change that,” he writes, adding that he will stand against it.
Could he be right? Iglesias and Lago both said that this had been in the plans for a while. They also said that the building is not historic, as if that means that it won’t be replaced by something bigger.
“I was actually surprised they were tearing it down because it’s relatively new,” Iglesias said. “I guess it didn’t go with what they’re planning.”
Yeah, because they’re planning to go higher. At least three stories. Maybe four. Could it go six with remote parking?
And will that large tree on the corner be removed to make way for what, a source told Ladra, could be a Mexican restaurant? Just like the two old oak trees were cut down on Grand Avenue to make room for the controversial Wawa gas station?
“That tree is not going anywhere,” Lago told Ladra. “I will tie myself to that tree if I have to.”
Randazzo’s corner is crushed to rubble as first Miracle Mile building falls added by Ladra on
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