Were some people paid to support Gables apartment project? City will investigate

Coral Gables commissioners on Tuesday called for an investigation into allegations that a group of people who spoke at hearings in favor of a now-approved controversial apartment project used fake names and addresses as part of a coordinated effort to make it appear as if there was strong resident support for the nine-story mixed-use building.

“It is atrocious that anybody would come here and lie that they support, or they don’t support, this project. It’s embarrassing, and it’s shameful. … It will be referred to the proper authorities,” said Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago. He noted that it’s not the first time fake supporters have appeared in the Gables, referencing fake signatures that appeared on a petition to recall him from office in 2024.

The investigation directive, which unanimously passed during Tuesday’s City Commission meeting, came on judgment day for developer Fifield’s plans and a group of opposing residents who rallied for years to save a garden and large tree that is part of the Phoenetia Avenue property. Crystal Academy, a school for children with autism, is also on the property and will be incorporated into the new building.

Attorney David Winker, representing Gables activist Bonnie Bolton and other residents who have long opposed the building, played video clips of what Bolton described as “astroturfing” throughout the project’s approval process. Astroturfing is a coordinated, and usually paid, effort to make it appear as if there is natural “grassroots” public support for something — in this case, the Crystal project.

The allegations

Winker’s findings, which he said call into question which of the over 500 signatures in support of the project are real, was a final effort to persuade commissioners to kill the project or, at the very least, Winker requested, to delay voting until an investigation was completed. Commissioners disagreed.

“It rings hollow to me,” Commissioner Richard Lara said, explaining that to delay a vote would be to ignore the years of work developers and city staff have done on the project.

Video clips that Winker played at the meeting showed several individuals speaking at various meetings and hearings in the city, claiming to be Gables residents who support the project. Some used different names at different meetings or gave nonexistent Gables addresses. Others gave real Gables residential and commercial addresses but did not actually live at those properties, Winker and Bolton found by knocking on doors. Some, Winker realized, had also spoken during county meetings about redevelopment planned on the old Calusa Golf Course in Kendall earlier this year.

“It’s like an attack on our democracy,” Winker told the Miami Herald after the vote.

People who speak on development projects in the Gables are required to swear under oath to tell the truth. Meetings related to the apartment complex have been filled with Crystal Academy parents and residents who support and oppose the project. Winker argues that some project supporters were actually paid advocates who testified under oath using fake names and addresses.

It’s too soon to say which agency will investigate the matter. Coral Gables Police Chief Ed Hudak, in response to a question from Commissioner Melissa Castro, acknowledged that lying under oath is a crime but compared giving fake names and addresses to someone lying about their age, a comparison Winker takes issue with. Hudak said the individual statements would need to be reviewed but based on what was presented during Tuesday’s meeting, it likely wouldn’t end with prosecution.

“Residents have a right to have a voice in how their neighborhoods look,” Winker told the Herald. He also argued that resident testimony is “competent, substantial evidence” as it pertains to the city’s approval of projects like Crystal.

Lago disagreed, stating that people can say “whatever they like” during public comment and that the role of the commission is to make a decision “based on the facts.”

When asked by Lago, City Attorney Cristina Suarez said that a person’s opinion on whether they support or do not support a project “should not be considered by the commission” as competent substantial evidence.

Despite the back and forth, Winker’s allegations left commissioners — and even Fifield’s vice president of development, Sarina Sorrentino — rattled. Castro said she didn’t think “things like this happen in Coral Gables” and called the incident “a direct attack on the integrity of this process.” Sorrentino said she was also “shocked” by Winker’s allegations.

“This is not how we do business,” Sorrentino told the Herald. “We do not condone lying or misleading information, and we support the mayor’s referral that this issue is investigated and these people are investigated to the fullest extent.”

Still, it wasn’t enough to stop the vote.

“ I can assure you that I am going to ignore any statements from anybody that falsified their information,” said Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson.

She said the project presented to the commission had already gone through a rigorous and lengthy approval process and gone before several city boards, including the influential Board of Architects and the Planning and Zoning Board. City staff had also recommended approval.

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

The other elephant in the room: “Tallahassee wants to see projects moving forward,” Anderson noted, referencing how the state has chipped away at local control over development projects through laws like the Live Local Act. The Crystal project has been in the works for five years, and Lara argued that it’s better to work with the developers to create a suitable project instead of risking losing all control.

The future Mediterranean-style Crystal Residences at 110 Phoenetia Ave. 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. The complex will have live-work units, residential units, garage parking spaces, a public pedestrian pass-through and courtyard. Nonprofit Crystal Academy will also get a new school and playground on the complex.

Fifield plans to relocate some of the trees on the property, including the large oak tree in Crystal Academy’s existing playground that Bolton and other residents want to save. War plaques will be moved to the Coral Gables War Memorial Youth Center, and a statue of Jesus will be relocated to another church in the city.

“We have done everything this commission has asked,” Fifield attorney Jorge Navarro told commissioners.

Crystal project to move forward

In the end, Fifield got the green light in a 3-1 vote, with Lago, Anderson and Lara approving the project. Castro was the sole no vote. Commissioner Ariel Fernandez, who has previously voiced his own opposition to the project, was absent.

“It’s time to move on,” said Crystal Academy founder Mary Palacio, who has waited years to learn the fate of her school on the soon-to-be developed property. The Fifield deal will give the school a newer, and larger, facility as part of the complex and will be rent-free for 99 years.

It couldn’t have come at a better time for Crystal Academy, which has been inundated with rising costs and lengthy fights with stingy insurers as the school tries to meet the growing need for care in South Florida as more kids are diagnosed with autism. Insurers are reimbursing less for services, and costs keep rising, including pricey repairs for the aging building.

“There is no way we could stay in that building anymore,” said Palacio, who shared photos with the Herald of recent structural issues at the school, including a leaking roof and a bathtub sinking through the floor.

“For many years, I didn’t sleep at night. … Now there is a certainty,” said Palacio, describing Tuesday’s vote as a “door that is opening, and we need to go through that door.”

Sorrentino, the Fifield executive, told the Herald that the company is working to quickly find a suitable and temporary space for Crystal Academy. The developer expects construction on the new complex, and Crystal’s future home, to begin in early 2028.

“That’s like our No. 1 priority here on out,” said Sorrentino, noting that the company hopes to have the building ready in early 2030.

This story was originally published August 26, 2026 at 4:46 PM.