Category: Community

COCONUT GROVE — Two of Coconut Grove’s most familiar public spaces are headed for a transformation. The final design for a $5 million makeover of Kirk Munroe Park and neighboring Fuller Street is moving forward, promising new places to play, lush landscaping and a more walkable corridor in the heart of the Grove, Miami Today reported this month.

Miami commissioners approved the final plans on June 25, clearing the way toward construction, according to the Coconut Grove Spotlight. The project pairs $3 million in city funding with $2 million from the developer of the adjacent Ziggurat project, which will oversee construction.

The partnership dates to January, when the city and the Allen Morris Company agreed to join forces on the park’s redesign, Miami Today reported. Oppenheim Architecture designed the plan, which went through multiple rounds of input from residents and community stakeholders.

A Great Lawn at the Center

At the heart of the redesigned park, the plan calls for a roughly 6,500-square-foot “Great Lawn” — about the size of a baseball diamond — anchored by an open-air pavilion with tiered seating, according to the Spotlight. An elevated stage at one end of the lawn would create a neighborhood performance space, with water features placed throughout the park.

Other additions include two butterfly gardens and keystone pathways. Existing amenities that Grove families have used for decades — the hitting wall, playground and fitness area — will be clustered and enhanced on the park’s western flank rather than removed, the Spotlight reported.

Fuller Street, the short block connecting the park area to the Grove’s commercial core, is slated for its own overhaul with pedestrian paseos designed to make the corridor more walkable, according to Miami New Times.

The arrangement — a private developer funding and building improvements to an adjacent public park — has drawn attention as a model other Miami neighborhoods may see repeated as the city looks to stretch its parks budget. City officials have said community input shaped the final design, which preserves the park’s role as a gathering place named for the author and pioneer resident Kirk Munroe.

Construction timelines will be finalized as permits are issued, with the developer managing the build-out under the city’s approval.

More than 700,000 public school students across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties returned to classrooms this month as South Florida’s three largest districts opened the 2026-27 school year on staggered schedules.

Broward County Public Schools and the School District of Palm Beach County both welcomed students back on Monday, Aug. 10, according to the districts’ adopted calendars, while Miami-Dade County Public Schools — the region’s largest system — opened its doors that Thursday, the South Shore Journal reported.

The enrollment numbers underline the scale of the annual ritual: Broward serves more than 236,000 students, Palm Beach County more than 160,000 and Miami-Dade roughly 313,000 including charter schools, according to the Journal.

Miami-Dade used its extra days for staff preparation, including an induction program for roughly 200 newly hired teachers focused on lesson planning, discipline and pacing, the Journal reported. Broward Superintendent Howard Hepburn has said publishing calendars well in advance gives families and staff “a greater ability to plan,” NBC6 reported when the dates were adopted.

Heat and Meal Changes Mark Opening Week

Students returned during one of the hottest stretches of the summer, with heat advisories in effect across all three counties and heat index values climbing between 105 and 110 degrees during opening week, according to the Journal. Days later, Miami tied its all-time record high of 100 degrees, CBS Miami reported, prompting schools to adjust outdoor activities.

Families are also navigating changes to school meal programs. Miami-Dade scaled back automatic free breakfast and lunch to 121 schools this year, meaning eligible families at other campuses must submit applications, while Broward maintains universal free meals at 141 campuses and Palm Beach County continues free meals at most locations, the Journal reported.

The staggered openings reflect calendars each district adopts independently, with different distributions of teacher planning days and breaks; total instructional days remain consistent across the three systems. Broward’s year runs through May 28, 2027, with winter break from Dec. 21 through Jan. 1, according to the district calendar.

For hundreds of thousands of South Florida households, the return to routine also restores a critical safety net: access to school meals that more than 300,000 children in the region rely on during the academic year, CBS12 has reported.

MIAMI GARDENS — Construction is underway on Serenity Gardens, a 153-unit affordable housing community for seniors, marking one of the largest affordable housing starts in Miami Gardens in recent years, Florida YIMBY reported in early August.

The development, rising on land leased from the city of Miami Gardens, will offer studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments designed for older residents. Completion is expected in late 2028.

The project is a joint effort by SG Holdings and New Urban Development LLC, an affiliate of the Urban League of Greater Miami. Financing is being provided by JPMorgan Chase & Co., with Low-Income Housing Tax Credit equity arranged through Santander and Red Stone Equity Partners, according to the report.

Michael Swerdlow, managing partner of SG Holdings, said in the announcement that developments like Serenity Gardens are essential to helping seniors “age with dignity in safe and beautiful communities.” Oliver L. Gross, chief executive of New Urban Development, said the partnership reflects a shared vision of creating high-quality, affordable housing.

A Response to a Regional Squeeze

The groundbreaking comes as South Florida confronts a persistent affordability crisis that has hit seniors on fixed incomes especially hard. Miami placed last among 182 U.S. cities in a 2026 rental affordability ranking that measured median rent against median household income, underscoring the demand for income-restricted units across the region.

Both development partners bring significant track records to the project. SG Holdings previously developed Sawyer’s Walk, a 578-unit project in Miami’s Overtown neighborhood, while New Urban Development has completed affordable communities including Superior Manor Apartments and the Carrie Meek development, according to Florida YIMBY.

City officials have promoted the use of publicly owned land as one of the few remaining levers to bring down housing costs in built-out sections of Miami-Dade County, where private land prices have made affordable construction difficult to finance without subsidy.

Beyond housing, the developers say the project will generate jobs during the roughly two-year construction period and permanent positions once the community opens. The development team has not yet announced when seniors will be able to join a waiting list for units.

Serenity Gardens joins a broader pipeline of affordable projects moving through Miami Gardens and neighboring cities as local governments lean on tax-credit financing and public-private partnerships to add income-restricted units for the county’s fastest-growing age group.