Voters will choose Nov. 5 whether to approve the 'Grove Bay' plan to redevelop the ancient (by South Florida standards) Scotty's Landing and Grove Key Marina site adjacent to the Coconut Grove Convention Center, which the city of Miami is demolishing to make way for (ducklings) a new 17-acre park. Both are elements in the grander, and long planned, Coconut Grove Waterfront Master Plan. Together the new park and Grove Bay project would remake a sizable chunk the Coconut Grove's waterfront.
Terra Group, the father-son developer duo behind the luxe, Bjarke Ingels-designed Grove at Grand Bay, directly across Bayshore Drive from the site, are among the plan's foremost proponents, considering the park "a natural extension" to Ingels' voluptuous condo towers.
As voting day nears, a band of merry Grovesters who oppose the Grove Bay plan have been raising hell in an increasingly organized fashion, according to the Herald. Opponents led by architect Charles Corda and Mango Strut co-founder Glenn Terry have formed a a political action committee to fight the measure, calling it a "give away," a "scam" and a "120,000 square foot shopping mall," (even though the retail component calls for only about 60,000 square feet).
Additionally, the Bernardo Fort-Brescia of Arquitectonica designs to be developed by Grove Bay Investment Group, the only firm to submit a proposal to redevelop the site, calls for the restoration of the two Pan Am seaplane hangars, with one to be used for boat-focused retail and the other for boat storage. Existing parking lots will be dug up and planted with native flora, and parking will be limited to a four-story structure. A pedestrian walkway will bisect the site, with Scotty's Landing and the Chart House to be replaced by three new restaurants (including a new Scotty's). A monument in the center of what the plan has christened as Banyan Tree Park will stand as a reminder of the Grove's aviation history.
—Emily Schmall
· Coconut Grove Waterfront Plan Goes to Miami Voters [Miami Herald]
· Grove Convention Center Demolition Underway [Real Deal Miami]
· Scotty's Landing coverage [Curbed Miami]
· Coconut Grove Convention Center coverage [Curbed Miami]
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