Updated
After being tied up in legal battles and neglect for nearly two decades, Miami-Dade County is finally ready to begin construction on a long-anticipated renovation of the historic Coconut Grove Playhouse.
In the proposed Miami-Dade County budget that is currently being debated by commissioners, on the project, up from $100,000 in the current year.
The county anticipates that construction will continue through the 2025-26 fiscal year, with $26 million in estimated construction costs. Under the proposed budget, construction would finish in the 2026-27 fiscal year.
The proposed construction funding comes just two weeks after Florida鈥檚 Third District Court of Appeal of the historic playhouse, a move that essentially cleared the last legal hurdle for beginning construction, according to the county.
"We are pleased with the outcome of this litigation. With this chapter behind us, we look forward to collaborating with our City of Miami partners and engaging with the community as we move forward to restore and rebuild the Coconut Grove Playhouse 鈥� a historic icon cherished by so many in our community," Raquel Regalado, the county District Seven Commissioner, told 港澳天下彩in a statement.
Roughly 80% of the building will be demolished as part of the construction of the new space. Most of what will be left of the original structure is the historic facade.
The theater itself will be reduced under the county plan, shrinking to 300 seats from the 1150 seats in the building now, a fact that sparked much of the community pushback to the plan. A courtyard and other pedestrian-friendly features will take up space resulting from the smaller theater, along with commercial retail space.
The Playhouse operated between 1927 and 2006, first as a movie theater then later as a playhouse. During its heyday between the 1950s and early 2000s, legends of the theater like Maureen Stapleton and Liza Minelli performed there, and it was one of the best known theaters in the East Coast circuit.
The building was included in the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.
READ MORE: Renovations coming to Coconut Grove鈥檚 historic Black theater. The question is when
For opponents of the county plans, news that demolition and construction could start soon touched a nerve.
"Replacing the Coconut Grove Playhouse with Cocowalk 2.0 and calling it restoration is not only economically shortsighted, it's grossly disingenuous. They are telling the world we only care about flash and trash 鈥� and it's beyond disrespectful to the community they're supposed to serve" Carmen Pelaez, a local playwright who has been outspoken in opposition to the county plans, told 港澳天下彩in a statement.
"There isn't a metropolis in the world that doesn't have a historic theater at its core. The neglect and demolition of the most consequential and historic theater in the region proves that our elected officials care more about their donors' profits than Miami being taken seriously on a global scale," she added.
The Miami-Dade Department of Cultural Affairs told 港澳天下彩in an email that while it has clearly won the court case, it is still within the period of time during which the plaintiffs can ask for a rehearing.
"As the pending litigation has moved forward, the Court has continued to rule in favor of the County. The funding in the capital budget, as part of the FY 2024-25 Proposed Budget and Multi-Year Capital Plan, allows the County to be ready to move the Coconut Grove Playhouse Project forward," wrote Liliana Hernandez-Constenla, the marketing and public affairs officer of the county department in an email.
A new plan, costing $57 million
The county that keeping a larger theater size would result in 鈥渋ncreased traffic鈥� for the area and would be hard to fill night after night, putting any business model at risk.
The county-owned Adrienne Arsht Center opened in 2006, just as the Coconut Grove Playhouse closed, and it currently hosts many theater companies that might have once operated at the Playhouse. The analysis led the county to embrace a smaller size for the theater.
Under the county鈥檚 plan for the site, GableStage, a nonprofit, will manage theater operations once it is opened.
The closure of the Playhouse in 2006 was due to financial difficulties, preventing needed renovations from taking place. The building has sat dormant, neglected and unused since then.
But the current plan, coming in at an estimated total of $57.2 million dollars 鈥� with the bulk of funds coming from county bond money 鈥� is by no means cheap.
The City of Miami was at one point in litigation with the county over the planned partial demolition and reconstruction of the Playhouse, but it in 2022.
The office of City of Miami District Two commissioner Damian Pardo told 港澳天下彩he did not take part in any conversations about starting the construction process.
Updated at 9pm on Wednesday, September 11 to include comment from the Department of Cultural Affairs and Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado
