Community & Family

Historic designation status of Ace Theatre could spark $2.3 million redevelopment plan.

Dorothy Wallace has spent 30 years trying to restore the Ace Theatre on Grand Avenue.

With the help of her daughter Denise Wallace, she is now trying to get historic designation status from the City of Miami’s Historic and Environmental Preservation Board – a move that would likely draw in part of the funds needed to reopen the theatre, a popular Saturday night hangout for blacks well into the 1950s.

Built in 1925, the theatre was bought by Denise Wallace’s father, Harvey Wallace, from Wometco Enterprises in 1979. Harvey had plans to build a five-story Bahamian Market Place, but died a year later. Denise hopes that with historic designation the theatre will receive grants to fund a $2.3 million project designed by Victor Morales, an architect with Cityscapes Group.

The plans, which could change, would allow for the creation of a new theatre and would include a small catering kitchen, a lobby bar and courtyard area; a second story with a VIP room and an area for community groups to meet as well as a bar and stage on the roof.

The family believes the design will preserve memories while serving the community as a successful business.

“It’s a silent relic. And I would love for it to give voice again,” said Denise Wallace, who remembers watching Tom and Jerry cartoons in the now gutted theatre.

Archival footage courtesy of: Beverly Counts Rodrigues

Posted in Arts, Homepage | Comments

Community activist profile: Dr. David White

David White has called the West Grove his home since 1931.

Over the years, the former school teacher and administrator has spent most of his time in the church and in his community working with organizations such as the Homeowners and Tenants Association, where he served as president eight years ago.

Neighbors and family members say the 78-year-old is someone you call a true community activist.
Read the rest of this story »

Posted in Community & Family | Comments

NFL players pitch in to rebuild homes in the West Grove

Sandra Johnson Tucker was one of seven home-owners in the West Grove to receive a big helping hand from current and former NFL players who were in town for the Super Bowl in February.  Through the Kickoff to Rebuild program, hosted by Rebuilding Together Miami-Dade, the players and other volunteers worked together to revamp the homes of low income families. The event is an annual project that takes place in the city to host the Super Bowl. Tucker said this was the first time in 47 years her house received a real makeover. Since 2006, Rebuilding Together Miami-Dade has repaired 64 homes in the West Grove.

Posted in Community & Family | Comments

All Grove Crime Watch Meeting to focus on alleged contractor fraud

Recent crimes involving unscrupulous contractors who have been working in Coconut Grove will highlight the agenda at the February meeting of the All-Grove Crime Watch.

The meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. Feb.10, will be held in the Great Room in the rear of St. Stephen’s Church, 2750 McFarlane Rd.

The All-Grove Crime watch brings Coconut Grove community residents and Grove crime watch organizations from all areas of the Grove together with other law enforcement agencies to coordinate efforts to reduce crime throughout the Grove and make the community safer. It works together with the Miami Police Department, the Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office, the Grove Village Council, One Grove Alliance, and various neighborhood associations throughout the Grove.

For more information, email Robert Loupo at rloupo@aol.com or call 305-310-8769.

Posted in Security | Comments

Yoga for Haiti: New Grove studio co-sponsors fundraiser

Dharma Yoga Studio has recently opened the Grove. The studio, 3170 Commodore Plaza, is focused on spreading the knowledge of various types of yoga while participating in community efforts.

On Feb. 12, instructors from Dharma Yoga Studio will join forces with instructors from Waalay Yoga of Key Biscayne and RinaYoga of Coral Gables to lead a sunset yoga class on the water to raise money and awareness for Haitian communities that have recently been distressed by the Jan.12 earthquake.
Read the rest of this story »

Posted in Sports | Comments

Homeowners and Tenants Association wants to increase membership

To a Homeowners and Tenants Association agenda filled with pressing items, community activist Lottie Person wanted to raise one more issue – membership.

“Don’t let this organization go down any further,” said Person in an appeal to about 15 members in attendance at the Jan. 25 meeting.

Person, first vice president of the association and a recently retired member of the Cocoanut Grove Village Council, pleaded with members to encourage more Village West residents to attend the group’s meetings, which are held on the fourth Monday of every month.

“Help us; we need it,” she said.
Read the rest of this story »

Posted in Community & Family | Comments

Grove residents offered discount for upcoming Coconut Grove Arts Festival

When the Coconut Grove Arts Festival gets under way Feb.13-15, Coconut Grove residents can attend for half price.

A discounted entrance rate of $5, with proof of a 33133 ZIP code, will be offered to help make the weekend more accessible and to “thank” the residents who support the project throughout the year, said the festival’s Chief Operating Officer Katherine Phillips.

More than 150,000 people are expected to crowd the streets of the Grove for the 47^th annual festival. Sponsored by Blue Shield of Florida, the festival invites art lovers from all over to come out and survey thousands of pieces of artwork, sample food and enjoy live music and entertainment.
Read the rest of this story »

Posted in Arts | Comments

Remaking Grand Avenue: What’s the deal on development?

About two years ago, a group of West Grove leaders viewed sketches of an 800,000-plus square foot shopping center touted by developers as “nothing short of spectacular”.

That project, the “Grove Village on Grand,” was proposed by Pointe Group Advisors, a real estate asset management company based out of Plantation.

“They presented a beautiful plan and a group of us walked with them to see where it would be placed. It looked really nice,” said Lottie Person, a recently retired member of the Coconut Grove Village Council.

“And most of the community was excited about one project,” Person said, referring to a Publix supermarket that developers wanted to build on Grand Avenue.

And then the community waited. For months residents thought it was not going to happen. Many complained that they did not know where the project stood.

“I don’t know what’s going on with Grand Avenue,” Person told a Grand Ave. News reporter in October.

“I’m just as confused as anyone,” Martin Zilber, former chairman of the Coconut Grove Village Council, also said at the time, attributing inaction in part to the downturn in the economy. “I would be surprised if anything in the next three to five years goes up just because of the economy.”

Residents long have been concerned that Grand Avenue was just a street for other South Florida residents and tourists to drive through on their way to CocoWalk and to other shops, restaurants and nightclubs in the Central Grove.

“The West Grove has been that way for some time,” said Sebastian Galvez, a West Grove resident who owns SoFlo Skate Shop on Grand Avenue. “The sidewalks don’t get cleaned; homeless people are still around; and there is still a ton of drug activity. Saturdays are great when they liven it up for the farmer’s market, but when they leave, they always leave it a mess. It looks like nobody takes care of the city.”

First signs of a spruce up for the thoroughfare began in 2005.

A $4.2 million facelift included the addition of benches on sidewalks and a narrowing of the roadway from four lanes to two and planting of trees in the median. Two years before that, Coral Gables attorney Julio C. Marrero purchased low-rise apartment buildings with plans of replacing them with mid-rise condominium complexes where units would start at $325,000.

But the beautification efforts and the demolition of buildings on the avenue brought cries of concern from longtime homeowners and renters who were afraid they would be adversely impacted with the influx of new, but not affordable, units. Neighbors who only pay $400 a month in rent in the affordable housing units said they were told that they might have to pack up and find a new place to live on little notice.

The buildings were leveled, leaving lots on six city blocks on Grand Avenue sitting empty, littered with “for sale” signs.

“Three years ago, everything kind of stopped,” said Galvez, who rents his store from Marrero.

“The whole idea has changed,” lamented Thelma Gibson, president emeritus of the Thelma Gibson Health Initiative, which is a subsidiary of the Theodore R. Gibson Memorial Fund Inc. The Rev. Theodore R. Gibson was a local civil rights pioneer who helped improve socio-economic conditions for Miami’s black community

Thelma Gibson had plans to build an educational center in her late husband’s name have been put on the back burner. Also a longtime civic and community leader from the West Grove, she applied for loans with two banks, but never got a response from one and was put on hold by another.

“It would mean everything to me to leave a legacy in my husband’s memory, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen anytime soon,” she also said late last year. “Everything has come to a standstill.”

Posted in Business, Community & Family, Homepage | Comments

Carver track and field team competing across county

The track and field team at George Washington Carver Middle School, 238 Grand Ave,  will compete at John A. Ferguson Senior High on Feb. 6 for the West Kendall Inivitational.

The joined varsity and junior varsity team, led by girls head coach Annette Daniels and boys head coach Rolando Guitian, will enter all events this year including the 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1600 meter dash, the long jump, high jump, shot put and discus.

Daniels said she is anticipating a winning year – one that started with more than 200 people showing up for tryouts. 

The two teams, made up of 22 girls and 20 boys, will compete together until the County Qualifier at Nathaniel Traz Powell Stadium.

All meets begin at 10 a.m. For more information about the school’s programs, visit  http://gwcm.dadeschools.net/

Posted in Sports | Comments

Homeowners will discuss community pride

Coconut Grove Village West Homeowners and Tenants Association plans to promote community pride by sponsoring a Spring Clean-Up / Fix-Up project, says J.S. Rashid, president and CEO of the Coconut Grove Collaborative Inc.

The association will discuss details of the pride project at its regularly scheduled monthly meeting at 7 p.m. Jan. 25. Discussion will include granting awards to the best-kept single family residence and the best-kept multi-use dwelling.
Read the rest of this story »

Posted in Community & Family | Comments