Miami-Dade County moves ahead on plans to demolish historic Coconut Grove Playhouse
By Izzy Kapnick | Coconut Grove Spotlight
April 10, 2025 at 2:53 PM EDT
After years of legal challenges, Miami-Dade County is moving forward with plans to demolish a portion of the Coconut Grove Playhouse and replace it with a smaller theater and commercial plaza.
City of Miami records show a flurry of activity on the demolition permit application for the playhouse over the past few weeks. Since February, the permit has received approval from zoning, public works, and historic preservation staff, among other departments.
Miami-Dade, which leases the property from the State of Florida, plans to reopen the playhouse by restoring its distinctive front building, knocking down the rear auditorium, and building a 300-seat theater with an adjacent parking garage, street-level retail shops and a pedestrian walkway.
The 1926 playhouse closed in 2006 amid financial troubles and has sat empty since.
“The demolition plans are under review by various city divisions,” Historic and Environmental Preservation (HEP) board member Denise Galvez Turros tells the Spotlight. “It still has to go back to the HEP director for final approval.”
While most of the required departments have approved the permit, city records show environmental resources and structural reviews pending.
The county confirmed that it is working with the city to finalize the permit and County Commissioner Raquel Regalado, who supports the county’s plan, told the Spotlight this week to expect an announcement soon on the fate of the local landmark.
READ MORE: After 18 years, construction on a revamped Coconut Grove Playhouse is set to begin
John Bell Construction was awarded the contract for the project’s first phase, which includes demolition, and is ready to commence once the permit process is complete.
A Grove landmark with a distinctive façade designed by Kiehnel & Elliot, the playhouse operated as a movie theater in the 1920s. It reopened in 1956 as the Coconut Grove Playhouse, with the U.S. premiere of Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” before growing into a hub for Miami theater performances.
Word of the impending demolition prompted ire from activists who’ve been fighting the project for the better part of a decade.
Construction fencing has gone up at the back of the Playhouse, signaling the possible start of demolition. (1536x1152, AR: 1.3333333333333333)
Max Pearl, an activist involved in the Save the Coconut Grove Playhouse campaign, last week urged residents to flood the April 1 HEP board meeting in an eleventh-hour bid to stop the demolition.
“There’s been so much eradication of our history already. This is a giant piece of our culture, of opportunities for the future in terms of jobs for actors and artists, in terms of tourism and financial impact in the Grove,” Pearl said in a video statement.
On the day of the HEP board meeting, another Save the Playhouse member wrote to William Hopper, the chair of the HEP Board, and Kenneth Kalmis, the City of Miami’s preservation officer, urging them to intervene.
“What actions can the HEPB take to halt or delay demolition, given that no final plans have been presented to or approved by your board, as required,” Marlene Erven wrote.
Erven pointed to an April 2017 resolution by the HEP board tentatively approving the partial demolition of the playhouse on the condition that the county come back to the board with final plans.
“The resolution clearly states that no demolition permit for the Playhouse shall be issued unless and until the final design plans return to the HEPB for approval. That condition has never been met,” Erven wrote. “Please consider what actions may be taken under the law to halt demolition until the proper review has been completed.”
The county maintains that there is not enough local demand for theater performances to justify keeping the venue at its former capacity of 1,150 seats.
The county’s Department of Cultural Affairs has also cited traffic impacts and design issues related to keeping a 1,000-plus-seat theater in operation at the property at 3500 Main Highway, where traffic routinely backs up during the work week and on weekends.
The reconstruction project is funded with $5 million from Convention Development Tax bond proceeds and $15 million from the Building Better Communities General Obligation Bond.
Despite a series of setbacks in court, opponents of the county’s restoration plan have vowed to keep fighting the demolition.
Save the Coconut Grove Playhouse claims a full review of the project has not been completed as required under Florida Chapter 267 – a law that governs how state agencies handle demolition or major refurbishment of historically significant buildings.
Last year the HEP board sent a public records request to the county, asking for a copy of Chapter 267 review documents related to the project. The board has yet to receive a response, according to Galvez Turros.
Assistant City Attorney James Brako said at the April 1 HEP board meeting that he would discuss possible recourse at the next meeting if the county does not fulfill the public records request by then.
According to Galvez Turros, the State of Florida, as property owner, has asserted that the necessary project reviews have been completed.
In the meantime, long-term roof leaks, wood rot, and insect damage have left the playhouse festering in the shadow of its former glory.
The theater – which once hosted actors ranging from Liza Minnelli to Hume Cronyn to Denzel Washington and holds a spot on National Register of Historic Places – sits vacant and dilapidated.
The building had already begun to deteriorate when Miami-Dade took out a long-term lease with the State of Florida in 2014 alongside Florida International University, with local theater company GableStage enlisted to manage productions at the venue.
A 2016 engineering report detailed extensive cosmetic and structural damage to the Coconut Grove Theater, which would have required multimillion-dollar repairs.
Galvez Turros questions why the county did not undertake more aggressive efforts to repair the structure upon taking it over. If the building had been rehabilitated promptly, contractors would have had a better shot at preserving a large portion of the historic property, she contends.
Chapter 267 also outlines state agencies’ responsibility to maintain historic properties under state control.
“If this property had been run by a private owner, it would have been fined to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Galvez Turros said. “The county did not protect the property from further deterioration and damage.”
The county’s cultural affairs office did not respond to a request for a response to claims the building was allowed to deteriorate during the lease.
Opponents of the county’s plan for the playhouse have lost a string of legal challenges, paving the way for Miami-Dade to move forward with the demolition.
In February 2024, a panel of Miami-Dade County judges tossed out a Planning, Zoning, and Appeals Board (PZAB) decision that denied the county’s demolition waiver.
The court found that PZAB ruled outside its jurisdiction, and that its acting chairman failed to recuse himself despite having supported efforts to stop the playhouse demolition.
Prior to that, historic preservation activists had a short-lived victory when Miami Mayor Francis Suarez vetoed a 2019 Miami City Commission decision to move the project forward. A Miami-Dade County court later nullified the veto on the grounds that Suarez had engaged in undisclosed communications with opponents of the project.
This story was originally published in the Coconut Grove Spotlight, a WLRN News partner.
City of Miami records show a flurry of activity on the demolition permit application for the playhouse over the past few weeks. Since February, the permit has received approval from zoning, public works, and historic preservation staff, among other departments.
Miami-Dade, which leases the property from the State of Florida, plans to reopen the playhouse by restoring its distinctive front building, knocking down the rear auditorium, and building a 300-seat theater with an adjacent parking garage, street-level retail shops and a pedestrian walkway.
The 1926 playhouse closed in 2006 amid financial troubles and has sat empty since.
“The demolition plans are under review by various city divisions,” Historic and Environmental Preservation (HEP) board member Denise Galvez Turros tells the Spotlight. “It still has to go back to the HEP director for final approval.”
While most of the required departments have approved the permit, city records show environmental resources and structural reviews pending.
The county confirmed that it is working with the city to finalize the permit and County Commissioner Raquel Regalado, who supports the county’s plan, told the Spotlight this week to expect an announcement soon on the fate of the local landmark.
READ MORE: After 18 years, construction on a revamped Coconut Grove Playhouse is set to begin
John Bell Construction was awarded the contract for the project’s first phase, which includes demolition, and is ready to commence once the permit process is complete.
A Grove landmark with a distinctive façade designed by Kiehnel & Elliot, the playhouse operated as a movie theater in the 1920s. It reopened in 1956 as the Coconut Grove Playhouse, with the U.S. premiere of Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” before growing into a hub for Miami theater performances.
Word of the impending demolition prompted ire from activists who’ve been fighting the project for the better part of a decade.
Construction fencing has gone up at the back of the Playhouse, signaling the possible start of demolition. (1536x1152, AR: 1.3333333333333333)
Max Pearl, an activist involved in the Save the Coconut Grove Playhouse campaign, last week urged residents to flood the April 1 HEP board meeting in an eleventh-hour bid to stop the demolition.
“There’s been so much eradication of our history already. This is a giant piece of our culture, of opportunities for the future in terms of jobs for actors and artists, in terms of tourism and financial impact in the Grove,” Pearl said in a video statement.
On the day of the HEP board meeting, another Save the Playhouse member wrote to William Hopper, the chair of the HEP Board, and Kenneth Kalmis, the City of Miami’s preservation officer, urging them to intervene.
“What actions can the HEPB take to halt or delay demolition, given that no final plans have been presented to or approved by your board, as required,” Marlene Erven wrote.
Erven pointed to an April 2017 resolution by the HEP board tentatively approving the partial demolition of the playhouse on the condition that the county come back to the board with final plans.
“The resolution clearly states that no demolition permit for the Playhouse shall be issued unless and until the final design plans return to the HEPB for approval. That condition has never been met,” Erven wrote. “Please consider what actions may be taken under the law to halt demolition until the proper review has been completed.”
The county maintains that there is not enough local demand for theater performances to justify keeping the venue at its former capacity of 1,150 seats.
The county’s Department of Cultural Affairs has also cited traffic impacts and design issues related to keeping a 1,000-plus-seat theater in operation at the property at 3500 Main Highway, where traffic routinely backs up during the work week and on weekends.
The reconstruction project is funded with $5 million from Convention Development Tax bond proceeds and $15 million from the Building Better Communities General Obligation Bond.
Despite a series of setbacks in court, opponents of the county’s restoration plan have vowed to keep fighting the demolition.
Save the Coconut Grove Playhouse claims a full review of the project has not been completed as required under Florida Chapter 267 – a law that governs how state agencies handle demolition or major refurbishment of historically significant buildings.
Last year the HEP board sent a public records request to the county, asking for a copy of Chapter 267 review documents related to the project. The board has yet to receive a response, according to Galvez Turros.
Assistant City Attorney James Brako said at the April 1 HEP board meeting that he would discuss possible recourse at the next meeting if the county does not fulfill the public records request by then.
According to Galvez Turros, the State of Florida, as property owner, has asserted that the necessary project reviews have been completed.
In the meantime, long-term roof leaks, wood rot, and insect damage have left the playhouse festering in the shadow of its former glory.
The theater – which once hosted actors ranging from Liza Minnelli to Hume Cronyn to Denzel Washington and holds a spot on National Register of Historic Places – sits vacant and dilapidated.
The building had already begun to deteriorate when Miami-Dade took out a long-term lease with the State of Florida in 2014 alongside Florida International University, with local theater company GableStage enlisted to manage productions at the venue.
A 2016 engineering report detailed extensive cosmetic and structural damage to the Coconut Grove Theater, which would have required multimillion-dollar repairs.
Galvez Turros questions why the county did not undertake more aggressive efforts to repair the structure upon taking it over. If the building had been rehabilitated promptly, contractors would have had a better shot at preserving a large portion of the historic property, she contends.
Chapter 267 also outlines state agencies’ responsibility to maintain historic properties under state control.
“If this property had been run by a private owner, it would have been fined to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Galvez Turros said. “The county did not protect the property from further deterioration and damage.”
The county’s cultural affairs office did not respond to a request for a response to claims the building was allowed to deteriorate during the lease.
Opponents of the county’s plan for the playhouse have lost a string of legal challenges, paving the way for Miami-Dade to move forward with the demolition.
In February 2024, a panel of Miami-Dade County judges tossed out a Planning, Zoning, and Appeals Board (PZAB) decision that denied the county’s demolition waiver.
The court found that PZAB ruled outside its jurisdiction, and that its acting chairman failed to recuse himself despite having supported efforts to stop the playhouse demolition.
Prior to that, historic preservation activists had a short-lived victory when Miami Mayor Francis Suarez vetoed a 2019 Miami City Commission decision to move the project forward. A Miami-Dade County court later nullified the veto on the grounds that Suarez had engaged in undisclosed communications with opponents of the project.
This story was originally published in the Coconut Grove Spotlight, a WLRN News partner.