Coral Gables’ mobility hub is immobile

Coral Gables city officials and the administration are still trying to find ways to soften the exterior and allocate the liability costs for the long-planned Coral Gables Mobility Hub.

The last item regarding the mobility hub that was brought to the commission focused on its façade, Mayor Vince Lago said.

“The mobility hub is expected to enhance our city’s revenue, with commercial taxes constituting 30% of it. This hub will provide parking and ride-share services, workspaces, and improved accessibility to the downtown area,” he said. “It will also feature two floors of commercial space designed to accommodate world-class tenants on Miracle Mile.”

At a May 2023 city commission meeting, city staff were instructed to reimagine the architecture of the Coral Gables mobility hub with construction design developers M. Arthur Gensler Jr. & Associates Inc. to redesign a third look of the mobility hub at 245 Andalusia Ave. Construction plans have faced numerous delays due to market conditions, construction costs and high inflation. Groundbreaking was originally slated for September 2022.

In April 2022, city commissioners approved updating design plans for the hub that cost an additional $640,000. Gensler was initially paid $2 million to design the first renderings. The city has already signed an agreement with Weitz Co. to manage construction, including the demolition of the existing city parking garage on the site.

But the city is not in a financial position to pay over $63 million to build a parking garage, Commissioner Ariel Fernandez, who strongly opposes the construction and development of the mobility hub, told Miami Today.

“It would take over 30 years of parking revenue to pay off the debt a project in that price range would create for the city,” he said.

The mobility hub, which was projected to be completed by the first quarter of 2024, would have an internal drive-through lane for ridesharing services, retail and bicycle storage. It was also to offer dockless vehicle parking, bike share docking stations, a wi-fi lounge, e-commerce logistics for drone package deliveries, and pop-up coffee shops.

“During my campaign, residents expressed their concerns with the design and size of the proposed project.” Mr. Fernandez added. “We must protect the look and feel that has brought Miracle Mile to be named one of the ‘coolest streets in the world,’ and the mobility hub would do the opposite of that.”