Grove Garden Mixed-Use Condominiums

The plan for Grove Garden, which is primarily multi-family condominiums with a commercial component, applies principles of Real Urbanism®, which, as defined by firm principal Bernard Zyscovich, is a planning method that considers form, scale, and the invention of new possibilities in terms of the origin and native character of a place. First, the firm conceived the development as a private enclave in a public setting, one that includes highly accessible mixed-use opportunities which establish and enlarge urban connectivity. Next, the firm planned the site to include townhouses, private gardens and a pool, office space, an open public patio retail space and two levels of underground parking. In order to accommodate public space and reveal the historic tea house, the project required a decrease in the setbacks at the rear of the site and an increase at the front. Accordingly, the architecture steps back toward the adjacent low-scale residential neighborhood and is highest where it frames the mixed-use areas along the main street. Originally settled by Bahamian immigrants who brought with them both the botanical seeds and aesthetic sensibility of their Caribbean island, Coconut Grove has managed in many ways to keep that aesthetic as its neighborhoods were developed. Accordingly, the architecture of Grove Garden recalls the original, tropical “Old Grove” style with sheet metal roofs, exposed beams, indented porches (rather than balconies), and latticed walls.