Allen Morris reworking plans for project near the Plaza in Coral Gables

The Allen Morris Company is returning to the drawing board after failing to secure approval, downsizing proposed plans for a condo development near The Plaza megaproject in Coral Gables. 

The Coral Gables-based developer received feedback from city staff for its proposed Ponce Park Residences project at  the Coral Gables Development Review Committee meeting last week and will next go before the Board of Architects. The site includes 3000 Ponce de Leon Boulevard, 216 and 224 Catalonia Avenue, 203 University Drive and 225 Malaga Avenue.

Spencer Morris, president of the Allen Morris Company, said in a statement that the project will likely head to the architects’ board in the next month or two. Morris said that the company will hold public meetings with residents in August to collect their feedback on the new plans. It will eventually return to the Coral Gables Planning & Zoning board and the commission. 

Ponce Park Residences is now proposed as a nine-story, 57-unit condo building with more than 20,000 square feet of retail space on the ground and mezzanine levels. The developer’s representatives said at last week’s meeting that it was already incorporating residents’ input in the new design. Zyscovich Architects is designing the building. 

Allen Morris Company brought the project before the city’s planning and zoning board at least four times, in addition to the city commission and other city boards, over the past two years. It faced significant opposition from city residents concerned with overdevelopment in the area, following Agave Holdings’ completion of the mixed-use Plaza project nearby, as well as traffic and other issues. 

In 2021, the developer sought approval for a 16-story, 161-unit residential building with 18,000 square feet of retail and a public park. The following year, it proposed a 12-story, 80-unit luxury condo also with ground-floor retail. This latest proposal is shorter and has fewer units. 

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Allen Morris Company is seeking an alley vacation, plat approval, a comprehensive plan land use amendment, a transfer of development rights, and conditional use for a mixed-use site plan. The vacation would involve the city vacating a public alleyway that separates the assemblage. 

At the same Development Review Committee meeting last week, two other projects moved forward: Athens, Georgia-based Landmark Properties’ proposal to build a mixed-use apartment project on the site of University Centre at 1250 South Dixie Highway; and One Sotheby’s International Realty’s proposed headquarters planned for 1501 and 1505 Sunset Drive.