Costs rising for Coral Gables Mobility Hub

Updated and redesigned elements for the Coral Gables Mobility Hub projected were approved last week by city commissioners, costing an additional $640,000.

During the meeting, City Manager Peter J. Iglesias explained to city officials that the project’s scope has been increased to allow for an enhanced rooftop park, micro-mobility, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

The building’s adaptive reuse capability has been thoroughly developed through multiple design iterations and will result in an easily convertible building that can evolve with the needs of the city over time, he said.

Design consultants M. Arthur Gensler Jr. & Associates Inc. were initially paid $2 million to design the mobility hub and now will receive the additional funds to redesign the new renderings.

“This fee is based on the original price of $40 million,” Mr. Iglesias said. “We feel it’s an appropriate purchase for the mobility hub and based on a project that’s slightly more complex. The full construction document will be ready, and we should be shovel ready, by September of this year.”

The Coral Gables Mobility Hub, is set for 245 Andalusia Ave., is projected to be completed by the first quarter of 2024. The city has signed an agreement with Weitz Company to manage construction, including demolition of the existing parking garage where the hub will rise – costing the city an additional $1.5 million.

The hub is to have an internal drive-thru lane for ridesharing services, retail and bicycle storage. It will also offer dockless vehicle parking, bike share docking stations, a wi-fi lounge, e-commerce logistics for drone package deliveries and pop-up coffee shops.

City staff recently met with the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), which was thoroughly impressed and encouraged the city to apply for federal grant monies, said Naomi Levi-Garcia, assistant city attorney and intergovernmental affairs manager.

“We are about to do the deadline for the raise grant,” she said. “We will be seeking I believe $6 million from that grant and hopefully we’ll be successful. So, it checks off all the boxes in terms of being a multimodal facility, bringing the trolley into play and just creating lots of opportunities for people to get around outside of their cars.”

The city is also working with a federal lobbyist, who is actively looking for grants and monies to fund a project like this that checks all the boxes for federal funding, Mr. Iglesias added.

“We have no prior resolution on the demolition or demolition plans. The reason why we do not proceed is because in our meetings with the FDOT federal procurement, we cannot bid out the contract and then go back and try to make a federal procurement,” he said. “So, it’s very important that we have the time to make sure that we have the proper bidding or the proper GMP (good manufacturing practices) procedures to make sure that we qualify for that federal funding.”