Coral Gables approves Regency on the Park

A new 152-unit apartment building is in the works for the city of Coral Gables.

Developer Alliance Starlight I LLC, led by Roberto Trapaga and Henry Paper, just won unanimous site plan approval from the city commission for its Regency on the Park rental project on the southwest corner of Galiano Street and Calabria Avenue.

Behar Font & Partners designed the 12-story building. Jorge L. Navarro of Greenberg Traurig represented the developer.

Plans for Regency on the Park include 63 one-bedroom units averaging 810 square feet; 86 two-bedroom units averaging 1,090 square feet; and 12 work/live, street-level units averaging 1,265 square feet. Features include pedestrian walks and an adjacent 6,000-square-foot public park.

Records show Alliance Starlight I LLC began assembling the four-parcel site in 2005, when it paid $4 million for about 30,000 square feet of vacant land. In 2016, the same entity dropped $2.17 million for an adjacent garden-style multifamily building built in 1954.

The developer plans to break ground in the second quarter of 2019 and complete the building by the end of 2020, according to a spokesperson.

In recent years, the city has relaxed certain zoning requirements, which has allowed a slew of developers to propose bigger projects, including Astor Companies’ Merrick Manor, a 10-story Mediterranean-style condo building at 301 Altara Avenue.

NP International is also converting the former Holiday Inn site at 1350 South Dixie Highway into Paseo de la Riviera, a $172 million development consisting of a 10-story hotel with 252 rooms, an eight-story residential tower with 224 apartments, 20,000 square feet of commercial space and 838 parking spaces.