Final Curtain?

Last Updated, Thursday May 26, 2005

Final Curtain?

Neighbors Uneasy Over Coconut Grove Playhouse Building’s Future

By Mario Martinez
Staff Writer

The construction wildfire blazing in Coconut Grove is threatening to raze a historic theater and, according to its neighbors, officials from the Coconut Grove Playhouse are fanning the flames.

Built as a movie house in 1926, the Coconut Grove Playhouse has been a fixture along Main Highway and on the national regional-theater scene for the last 50 years, but that might not be enough to keep it from being demolished when its 50th Anniversary Season ends next year.

Earlier this month, the Playhouse’s board of trustees/directors approved an $8 million deal with a Miami developer for the property at 3500 Main Highway. Although a spokesman for the Playhouse insists the theater will do what it can to protect the existing structure, the deal allows Henry Pino of Strategic Property Group to build 100 condominiums on the property as well as a 250-space parking garage, retail storefronts and office space for the Coconut Grove Arts Festival. Plans also call for a reconstituted theater with 650-seats for the main stage area and a smaller 250-seat stage space.

The current building has 1,100 seats for the main stage and an intimate 135-seat “Encore Room” stage.

“The Playhouse is thrilled to finally have a totally modern theater,” said Seth Gordon, whose public relations firm Gordon & Reyes represents the Coconut Grove Playhouse. “[The Playhouse] was built for one purpose and then used for another. They’ve been limited since they moved into the Playhouse. The new building will have sufficient area to facilitate flight space; they’ll be able to move the stage and sets around for more elaborate productions. It’s really exciting.”

But news of the latest Playhouse development plan has been anything but exciting to Grove merchants and neighbors who for years have faced the possibility of condos going up beside the theater. Now they are worried about losing the historic building altogether.

“I don’t speak for all the merchants in the Grove, but there’s definitely a general nervousness,” said David Collins of the Grove Merchants Group. “There are so many issues involved, the building’s historical value, its revenue value, and its artistic value. Everybody wants to see what the Playhouse [board of directors] is planning for the community.”

The Coconut Grove Playhouse received a $20 million grant from Miami-Dade taxpayers last November when voters approved a $556 million general obligation bond for countywide art programs, museums and educational facilities. The state conveyed the 2.3-acre site and the building to Coconut Grove Playhoouse Inc. in 2003 but a deed restriction demands the presence of a theater.

“It’s unbelievable that they even propose this,” said Fluvio Badel, owner of the neighboring Tuscany Trattoria. “It’s a historic building that people have been coming to for 50 years and now they want to tear it down to put money in some developer’s pockets. They said they would save the Playhouse. Would you have voted to tear down a historic building to build condos? They should be ashamed of themselves.”

Gordon said the Playhouse’s board of directors intends to keep as much of the historic building as possible, but that the existing condition of the structure makes restoration difficult. “We’re studying the structural integrity of the building, and how much stress the structure can carry. But they’re not the Historical Preservation Board, they’re the Playhouse. So if they can keep some of it or all of it, they’ll do that. But if they can’t they still have to build a theater.”

Although residents throughout the city recognize the historical significance of the Coconut Grove Playhouse, the building is not protected by a historic designation. Now a number of concerned citizens are making the push to have the building deemed historic, whether or not the Playhouse plays along.

It remains unclear what position Playhouse officials will take on June 7, when the historic designation of the Coconut Grove Playhouse is scheduled to be discussed by Miami’s Historic and Environmental Preservation Board.

“Are they going to stand there and say that their building is not historic?” asked Barbara Lange, a Grove activist who has previously fought development along Main Highway. “They have been making plans for 20 years but never once wanted to tear down the Playhouse. We would like to sit with the Playhouse to discuss the future of the building. That building should remain a part of our community.”

Repeated calls to Arnold Mittelman, the Playhouse’s artistic producing director, and Mitch Less, the chairman of the theater’s board of directors, were not returned.

Revitalizing the Grove’s south gate has been a priority of many merchants and residents for a number of years and adding an instant community of 100 condos alongside 250 much-needed parking spaces is exactly what Gordon says merchants need.

“Merchants are ecstatic,” said Gordon. “They understand that a better, more functional Playhouse means more people shopping and eating in the Grove. There will be talks with everybody, all the neighbors and merchants, as the process moves along.”

But one neighborhood group finds it hard to believe the area can support 100 new families. “One-hundred condos? That’s a high-density use for a low-density place,” said Marc Sarnoff of Grove First, which is now fighting to keep the Playhouse intact. “Does anybody realize that’s 100 new homes?”

(Grove First is a group of local residents who also oppose the proposed Home Depot store on U.S. 1 and 32nd Avenue. Gordon’s firm represents The Home Depot as well.)

Some merchants would like to know how many parking spaces the developer will make available to the public after handing them out to condo owners. They are also wondering what two years of construction will do to businesses along Main Highway and Commodore Plaza.

Changes to one of the Grove’s biggest draws will certainly affect neighboring businesses, said Grove Merchants member Collins.

“The Playhouse is an economic engine and absolutely vital to the Grove,” he said. “It’s a small place and changes that drive their economy are a concern to merchants. If [the Playhouse] is down one to two years, that’s one thing. If it’s down three to four, that’s completely different.”

Gordon said that although the theater will lose its home for approximately two seasons, it is entertaining the possibility of using other local venues, such as downtown’s Gusman Center for the Performing Arts, to stage Playhouse productions. “The new Performing Arts Center should be open by the time we’re ready to begin construction,” Gordon said. “That should free up some of the area theaters, leaving the opportunity of leasing them for a season, if possible. It’s something worth exploring.”

Comments? E-mail Mario@ miamisunpost.com.

© 2004 Miami Sunpost

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