Gables Skyline Climbs Higher
Variances Will Allow Eight-Story Complex on Restaurant Row

 “We are literally letting the developer have his way.”

Depiction of the future Giralda Complex

By Cynthia Archbold

The City Beautiful’s new zoning code got its first challenge Tuesday, when the commission voted to make an exception for a big new commercial building.

The Coral Gables City Commission voted 3-2 to change the land use from commercial low-rise intensity to commercial mid-rise intensity to make way for the eight-story Giralda Complex, which will soar above the low-rise buildings along restaurant row on Giralda, offering 44 new multifamily homes and 474 parking spaces, during its Jan. 23 meeting.

The Mediterranean-style complex, with colonnades, pedestrian paseos, setbacks and terraces, will take up half a block, towering 97 feet above its neighbors, with two stories more than is allowed under the current land-use rule.

New mayoral candidate Richard Namon kicked off his campaign at the commission meeting by condemning what he called “spot zoning.”

“The ink is barely dry on the zoning code rewrite which … should have been appropriate for the whole downtown area,” Namon told commissioners. “Either rezone the whole area … in a way that is more appropriate, but don’t do spot zoning.”

City Attorney Elizabeth Hernandez clarified that the proposal is not technically for a change in zoning but a change in land use. 

“It may not be ‘a change in zoning but a change in land use,’ but it sure looks, smells and tastes like a change in the zoning to me,” said Commissioner Ralph Cabrera. “We are literally letting the developer have his way.”

Here is a perfect example of how we, as a collective body, a quasi-judicial body, can change the look and feel of that very important city block. The additional massing, the intensity, the density of that area is going to change it for generations to come, and I personally cannot support this project,” he said.

Neither could Commissioner Bill Kerdyk. “Coral Gables has 90 or 95 properties in the pipeline. Very seldom does the commission have the opportunity to say yes or no to a project.... Today we do have an opportunity to make a decision one way or another.... I won’t support it as it’s presented now. I would like to maintain our land-use plan. That’s why we have a land-use plan.”

Zoning Lawyer Guilford, representing developer Jeffrey E. Lehrman and architect John Fullerton, told the commissioners that going from six stories to eight stories allows the architect to build a better-looking building, a stylish Mediterranean plaza instead of a squat, massive box.

The Planning and Zoning Board already passed the proposal, which was also recommended by planning staff.

Ultimately, the majority of commissioners agreed. Commissioner Chip Withers asked, “Would you rather have buildings from the ’70s? A square glass box?”

“When you look at the buildings that are there now, I think we are better served by a newer project, one in which you can live and work in downtown,” said Vice Mayor Maria Anderson.

Mayor Don Slesnick pointed out that neighboring restaurants unanimously support the Giralda Complex proposal.

Ironically, that’s what has the other commissioners worried: the fear that now the restaurant building owners in the two-block area will also ask to build eight-story towers.

New Miracle Mile Streetscape

In other action, commissioners got their first glimpse of a study to make Miracle Mile more Lincoln Road-esque, with wider sidewalks for outdoor cafes and entertainment.

The Downtown Parking Management Study recommends removing the slanted parking spots and replacing them with parallel parking, which would eliminate about 95 spaces, including 25 valet spots.

But Timothy Haas and Associates, the consulting firm that performed the study, said this could only happen if the city improves parking garages, makes better signs to find them, releases monthly permit spaces at night so they’re available to everyone, and makes it easier to get to Miracle Mile from the parking garages in ways such as upgrading the alleys.

The good news, according to the study, is that the Mile will have plenty of parking available even if it loses the angled spaces — a surplus of 371.

However, the issue is controversial and many Miracle Mile property owners and merchants don’t want their customers to lose the convenience of parking right in front of their stores and restaurants.

There is also the expense: An estimated $6 million to convert to parallel parking, or about $1,000 a linear square foot for property owners.

The commissioners discussed the pros and cons, but agreed the Miracle Mile streetscape needs updating. It’s been 25 years.

Still, they will take no action until the study is examined during many more meetings with the Business Improvement District, the Parking Advisory Board and Miracle Mile merchants.

Comments? E-mail letters@miamisunpost.com.