Coral Gables Developers Plan Luxury Rental, Park Project Near Merrick

Constellation Group and the Boschetti Group are proposing a 15-story, mixed-use luxury rental project near the Shops at Merrick Park in Coral Gables, where development has boomed in recent years.

The city’s development review board will review plans for 4241 Aurora Street on Friday, Constellation Group Principal Eduardo Otaola said. As proposed, 4241 Aurora would include about 70 apartments, 20,000 square feet of office space, 10,000 square feet of retail and a 5,000-square-foot park.

The site, an entire city block, is just north of the Nordstrom store at Brookfield Properties’ Merrick Park mall and west of Ponce de Leon Boulevard. Miami-based Constellation and Coral Gables-based Boschetti tapped Bernardo Fort-Brescia and Raymond Fort of Arquitectonica to design the project. Because the site is within the city’s Design and Innovation Overlay District, the design is Mediterranean with an “innovative” touch, Otaola said. The developers seek a Mediterranean-design bonus for the building.

Otaola said they met with the neighborhood to get feedback on the plans, and that the taller building they are proposing would be in exchange for the park.

At Friday’s meeting, Constellation and Boschetti are seeking a transfer of development rights that will provide an additional 26,000 square feet of floor area ratio, as well as remote parking for about 60 of the 200 required parking spaces, according to the developers’ application. Jorge Navarro, an attorney with Greenberg Traurig, is representing the developers.

Constellation and Boschetti are also developing the nearby office and retail project at 4225 Ponce de Leon Boulevard. That’s expected to break ground next year.

Constellation is expected to close on its share of the property at 4241 Aurora early next year. Property records show Brookfield Properties sold the 0.7-acre site to a Boschetti affiliate in January for $6.1 million.

After going before the development review committee, Otaola said the project will be heard by the Coral Gables Board of Architects. He hopes to break ground by the second or third quarter of next year.

“We’re trying to go as low density as possible,” Otaola said, citing the firm’s market research. “The demand for two- and three-bedrooms was astounding.”

A number of apartment projects have been built or are planned just east of Merrick Park and south of Bird Road in Miami. Developers are also working on two high-end senior living projects north and south of the mall, including the Watermark at Coral Gables on LeJeune Road and Belmont Village Senior Living next to the Collection dealership.

Boschetti owns a site next to the Watermark project as well, records show.

In August, Hines paid $430 million for the LifeTime-branded mixed-use multifamily development at 237 South Dixie Highway in Coral Gables.