Coral Gables project adds two parks, swaps historic rights
Posted on: October 25th, 2022
Original Article: https://www.miamitodaynews.com/2022/10/25/coral-gables-project-adds-two-parks-swaps-historic-rights/
A 16-story mixed-use development known as 1505 Ponce got the green light to proceed with plans after obtaining a transfer of development rights from seven historic properties and offering to create two permanent parks.
On Tuesday, Coral Gables commissioners gave the OK for Location Acquisitions LLC, the contract purchaser of 1505 Ponce de Leon Blvd., to proceed with construction design plans after the Historic Preservation Board reviewed the impact on seven local historic landmarks within 500 feet of the project and determined it would not adversely affect those historic landmarks.
“As you remember, there’s a lot to like about this project. It’s less than half of the maximum permitted density of 80 units versus 170 units, and almost a third of the project site is open space,” said Gunster’s Mario Garcia-Serra, who was representing Location Acquisitions.
In July, the city commission approved the mixed-use project consisting of 297,027 square feet of floor area. The project would also offer traffic calming, crosswalks, adaptive reuse of a historic building and a 6,600-square-foot plaza.
“There’s going to be two public parks as part of this project,” Mr. Garcia-Serra added, “one fronting Ponce (de Leon Boulevard) on the west side of the property and another park on the east side of the property, which will serve as a buffer to the neighboring building, and ultimately a permanent dog park, and as we were discussing earlier today on your agenda, a temporary dog park in the meantime.”