Route 42 survives as county raises fares
Plus four bids for 300-plus homes on Percival, a pool near the bluff and a new Main Street.
The county figures the late-night cuts on Routes 22 and 37 add up to more than 30,000 rides a year. That's a lot of neighbors who will need another way home at night.
Starting in January, a bus or Metrorail ride will cost $2.75, up from $2.25. County commissioners approved the increase 9-4 last week, and the package raises $9.2 million in new money and savings meant to protect 13 priority bus routes. For Grove riders, it's a mixed bag. Route 42, once slated for elimination, stays. Route 27 gets its late-night trips back. Routes 22 and 37 go dark after 10 p.m. come March, and Metrorail trains will run a bit farther apart. Countywide, 34 routes lose late service and six disappear entirely, touching 3,341 weekday riders. Even so, that is gentler than July's plan, which was drafted against a transit shortfall of about $90 million and would have scrapped 12 routes and trimmed dozens more. Commissioners are still hunting for ways to save service, and one idea is charging a fare on Metromover, which is free today.
Four developers bid to rebuild Stirrup Plaza Family
Clarice Cooper, who leads a West Grove homeowners and tenants group, lives a block from the Stirrup Plaza Family site at 3707 Percival Ave. It was news to her that the county had spent a year looking for a developer to redo it. Commissioners authorized that search in October 2025, and residents say they keep learning about plans for county land only after those plans are moving. The county wants at least 300 homes there, which it calls affordable and workforce housing, in place of 24 public housing apartments. The solicitation, though, sets no required mix of income levels. Four firms have bid: Cornerstone Group, Leo & Day Builders Group, Housing Trust Group and Bimini Grove CR. Cornerstone built Platform 3750 at Douglas Road and U.S. 1. That site is county land too. Height caps give nearby houses some cover: six stories along Day Avenue, three along Percival, the side facing single-family homes. Current tenants are guaranteed a right to return, with the developer paying for their temporary moves. The county says there is no expected award date.
A pool can go closer to the Silver Bluff
Less than two years ago, workers building a mansion next door damaged part of the protected bluff. Now the 2.7-acre estate at 3029 Brickell Avenue, once Madonna's, is cleared for new buildings, a pool, a redesigned motor court and heavy landscaping, with dozens of trees removed or moved. City staff wanted the pool pushed 25 feet back from the limestone. An attorney for the owner, Brickell Holdings Trust, said that would hurt a big banyan tree's roots. Last week, Miami's Historic and Environmental Preservation Board, an advisory panel, sided with the owner on conditions the attorney accepted. Any rock exposed in digging stays uncovered, and the pool goes around it if necessary. Crews must document the excavation and any artifacts, send updates and mark protected parts of the bluff. Altering the bluff itself is off the table, said Vice Chair Luis Prieto y Munoz: "That is the one red line."
Grand Avenue joins Florida Main Street
Vacant storefronts now dot Grand Avenue, where restaurants, grocery stores and the Ace Theater once made the street a center of Black business under segregation. "You've got good bones there," said Katherine Beck, who coordinates the statewide program. The state's Division of Historical Resources runs it to back preservation and economic development. The Grove's version, Little Bahamas Grand Avenue Main Street, got started in September and runs from Margaret Street to Brooker Street, just past Armbrister Park. Miami Dade College, the anchor institution, is recruiting a board, an advisory council and committees for the nonprofit that will lead it. Membership opens doors to grants, including a $50,000 grant aimed at new Main Street groups. Not everyone is sold. At a recent West Grove homeowners and tenants meeting, some residents said the process hasn't been transparent or inclusive enough. A work plan with concrete goals isn't due until next fall, and Beck warned the change won't come overnight.