A divisive new complex with apartments and live-work units is coming to the Gables

A new nine-story mixed-used project with apartments, live-work units and a school for children with autism is moving forward in Coral Gables.

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Coral Gables commissioners on Tuesday in a 3-2 vote began the process to give developers the final green light needed to begin construction for the future Crystal Residences at 110 Phoenetia Ave.

The vote comes after residents and parents crammed into the City Commission chambers Tuesday, speaking for three hours in support of, and against, the residential tower, which has been in the works for years and is the center of a longstanding dispute between residents and Chicago-based developer Fifield.

Fifield’s project will need to come before the commission again at a future meeting for another vote before it can begin the permit application and construction process.

Crystal Residences: How it will look and expected features

The proposed Mediterranean-style complex will be nine stories along East Ponce de Leon Boulevard and will step down to eight floors toward the eastern portion of the property, facing Galiano Street. It will have 16 first-floor live-work units, 184 upper-level residential units, 301 garage parking spaces, and a public pedestrian pass-through and courtyard.

Also housed within the complex: A new 5,000-square-foot school for Crystal Academy, a nonprofit school for children with autism and other developmental disabilities that’s currently on the land.

Fifield plans to give Crystal Academy a 99-year rent-free lease for the new school, honoring a deal Crystal made with former site developer Century Homebuilders. The new school will be able to serve more students, up to 75. Crystal Academy will also get a 4,000-square-foot park with a playground that will open to the public after school hours.

“I feel very humble because there’s no words to be so grateful. First, knowing that we will have a permanent home but not only that, but we will have a home that has more flexibility into expanding the services and even the tools that we use to service the children,” an emotional Mary Palacio, Crystal Academy’s founder, told the Miami Herald.

It’s too soon to know how much the apartments will cost or what types of amenities will be offered, according to Sarina Sorrentino, Fifield’s vice president of development.

She confirmed that the complex will have a “luxury state-of-the-art fitness center” and a pool with a roof deck. Sorrentino said the company is also exploring other potential amenities, including co-working spaces and wellness amenities such as a cold plunge, sauna and hot tub, features that have been popular with residents in other buildings.

What commissioners, residents say

Crystal Academy’s existing school, along with its playground, a neighboring defunct church and a garden known as the “Garden of Our Lord,” will need to be razed to make way for the new residential tower.

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On Tuesday, Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago, Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson and Commissioner Richard Lara voted to rezone the 1.47-acre site from “special use district and religious/institutional” to “mixed use/commercial mid-rise intensity,” clearing one of the final hurdles for developers before construction can begin. Commissioners Melissa Castro and Ariel Fernandez voted against the rezoning, saying that they don’t believe the tall building aligns with the neighborhood.

City staff told commissioners the ninth floor was a code deviation the developers requested in exchange for giving a new school and playground to Crystal Academy, along with the public courtyard. City staff recommended approving the project, which is in an area the city wants to see more workforce housing in.

Gables resident and activist Bonnie Bolton has led the charge against the development in a quest to save the garden and large trees on the property. Bolton said she plans to keep fighting and, if need be, take the city to court — again.

Bolton and other residents have argued that the complex’s height and density do not match the neighborhood and will bring too much traffic to the area. She argues that the garden is “sacred” and that the oak tree in Crystal Academy’s playground should be preserved and will not survive relocation. Supporters, meanwhile, say the complex will make the area more walkable, bring necessary housing to the area and also be life-changing for Crystal Academy.

Tuesday’s vote is a win for Fifield, which has had to go before several city boards for approval before reaching commissioners, including the city’s highly influential Board of Architects and Planning and Zoning Board.

Tuesday’s vote “reflects something we believed from the very beginning — that progress and preservation are not opposing ideas and the best cities preserve what truly matters while continuing to evolve in thoughtful ways,” Sorrentino told the Herald after the vote. “We believe that the project honors the character of Coral Gables, provides a permanent home for Crystal Academy, invests in the future of the North Ponce neighborhood, and we’re excited to get to work.”

And they still have a bit more work to do. The rezoning and land use changes come with conditions and asks from commissioners, including landscaping and tree relocation requests.

Developers are also working with Crystal Academy and government agencies to try and find a temporary location for the school to operate from during the construction period. The school would need to move out by July of 2027.

The developers plan to relocate some of the trees on the property, including the large oak tree in Crystal Academy’s existing playground.

“If we wait for perfect, if we wait for everyone to be in agreement … then we would never expand, we would never develop, we would, I believe, go static and then regress, and that’s how a city does not grow, does not improve,” Lara said.

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