Garage 1 Gets One More Holiday Season in Downtown Coral Gables

Which downtown Coral Gables garage was supposed to be torn down by now? Parking Garage 1, at 245 Andalusia Avenue. In August, the city expected demolition to begin in October and construction on the Mobility Hub to take about 18 months after that. The garage is still open, though. Its 284 spaces will be there for the Shops at Merrick Park tree lighting on November 19, for Gallery Night on December 4 and for the Junior Orange Bowl Holiday Parade on December 6.

The city's 25% resident parking discount is tied to the same schedule. The City Commission set it to end in the month before Mobility Hub groundbreaking, so its end date moves whenever the demolition date does.

Why the Schedule Slipped

The Coral Gables Gazette reported on October 26 that the city has switched the Mobility Hub to Suffolk Construction, which ranked second in the original bidding. City officials told the paper that demolition is postponed until next year. Monica Beltran, the city's director of Parking and Mobility Services, described how the date kept moving at the October 21 Parking Advisory Board meeting. Demolition was first expected in October, then in January, and now possibly later. As the Gazette quoted her:

"Now we might be pushed further, closer to April, because they changed the contractor."

City Communications Director Martha Pantin told the Gazette that no new demolition date has been set and that April is not a confirmed start. She also said the holiday timing was deliberate. Once it was clear work could not begin in October, the city chose to wait until after the holidays to limit disruption to downtown businesses during the busiest shopping and dining weeks. Unexpected underground utility problems in the alley and vault behind the garage also pushed the schedule back.

There was a power problem too. In July, officials told commissioners that Garage 1 supplies electricity to part of Miracle Mile through transformers on site. City Manager Peter Iglesias called that unusual for a city facility, and rerouting the power with Florida Power & Light had already delayed the project once.

The Garage You're Parking In

Garage 1 is open, but it's being kept up like a building scheduled for demolition. The city stopped most repairs after finishing the safety work. The elevators don't work, so anyone parking on an upper level takes the stairs, and the exterior repairs were never finished. Beltran told the board she saw plenty of open spaces when she visited. She also said Garage 1 looked busier during business hours than some other city garages.

If stairs are a problem, the city's other public garages downtown are Garage 2 at 220 Aragon Avenue, Garage 4 at 385 Andalusia Avenue, Garage 6 at 51 Aragon Avenue and the Minorca Garage at 254 Minorca Avenue.

The Discount Runs on the Same Clock

In February 2025, the City Commission adopted Resolution 2025-28, which created a 25% discount on hourly parking for registered residents. On July 7, Commissioner Melissa Castro proposed extending it through January 2027. Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson objected that closing Garage 1 would skew the usage data the city was collecting. The commission voted 5-0 to end the pilot in the month before Mobility Hub groundbreaking instead of on a calendar date, according to the Gazette's July 12 report.

When that vote happened, Mayor Vince Lago said the extension would probably mean about three more months, July through September, if groundbreaking came in October. October came and went without demolition. Because the end date depends on groundbreaking, it moved when groundbreaking did.

According to the city's program page, it applies only through the PayByPhone or ParkMobile apps, at on-street spaces, surface lots and the Minorca Garage where those apps are enabled. The city says it is still converting the rest of its garages. Here's how signup works, per that page:

• Residents with a residential zone permit are signed up automatically, as long as the permit stays valid.
• Everyone else emails [email protected] with the discount application, a valid driver's license, a valid Florida vehicle registration and one proof of residency at the same address.
• Those documents have to be resubmitted every year. For help, call 305-460-5540 or visit 254 Minorca Ave., Suite 204.

As of the July 7 meeting, Beltran said about 2,130 residents had registered over roughly 14 months. In that time the city waived about $25,000 in parking fees, out of $16 million in total parking revenue.

The Holiday Calendar, Matched to the Trolley

The free Coral Gables Trolley runs Monday through Saturday, 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. It does not run on Sundays, Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day. Here's how that lines up with the season's main downtown events:

The November 19 Merrick Park event features a 50-foot tree, Santa's arrival, performances and a makers market. The listing gives two times, 5:30 p.m. for the start and 6:50 p.m. for the ceremony. On Gallery Night, the trolley runs until the galleries close. The Coral Gables Museum at 285 Aragon Avenue is free from 6 to 10 p.m. that night.

The parade is the event most affected by the garage delay. The Junior Orange Bowl has set its 78th Holiday Parade on Miracle Mile for December 6. That's a Sunday, so the trolley won't run and parade-goers will be parking in garages near Miracle Mile, which is where Garage 1 sits. In 2024, the parade started at 5 p.m. and went south on Ponce de Leon Boulevard from Alhambra Circle, then west on Miracle Mile to Biltmore Way. That year's city parking guidance listed 245 Andalusia Ave. among the nearby garages. Street closures that year started at 1:30 p.m. on Andalusia Avenue, Miracle Mile and Minorca Avenue. Had demolition started in October as planned, the first garage on that list would have been behind construction fencing.

Parade weekend also brings a few new Miracle Mile storefronts. Linen Drama, which sells European linen clothing, held its ribbon cutting at 215 Miracle Mile. Cabana Chic opened at 290 Miracle Mile on a six-month lease through the city's Pop-Up Retail Space Program, according to Coral Gables Magazine.

The Southern Loop Reached Its Pilot Year

The city's other transit pilot passed its own deadline this month. The Southern Loop trolley started November 3, 2025, as a free one-year pilot connecting Douglas Road Metrorail Station to Red Road along Ponce de Leon Boulevard, with stops at the University of Miami. The city says ridership and rider feedback will decide whether it continues past the first year. The Gazette reported in October that the route had 16,728 boardings in its first 11 months. That's about 1,520 a month, or roughly 43% of the 3,500 monthly riders the city projected. The route costs an estimated $400,000 a year. The Florida Department of Transportation initially paid about $196,000 of that, and city officials told the Gazette the state funding was nearly over. Check the real-time trolley tracker before planning a trip around it.

What Takes Garage 1's Place After the Holidays

Whenever demolition does start, the city has a plan for the lost spaces, though it doesn't cover all of them. In July, officials described moving city vehicles out of Garage 4 to make room for Garage 1 permit holders, considering valet for staff and food delivery drivers, and turning a green area near the Davidson property, just north of Seasons 52, into a 130-space lot. Officials said that would replace most of Garage 1's 284 spaces but leave about 150 spaces short at some peak times. In October, Beltran told the Parking Advisory Board she was confident the city's other garages could handle the demand. Once construction starts, the Gazette's August report put the project at about 18 months. That means the 2027 holiday season will most likely take place with Garage 1 gone.

Our team keeps up with downtown Coral Gables projects like the Mobility Hub as closely as we track sales. If you'd like to see how the Mobility Hub schedule and the current market apply to your home, Mark Cooper will prepare an analysis for you. Request a Confidential Home Valuation.