Miracle Mile is a section of

Coral Way Coral Way is a neighborhood within Miami, Florida that is defined by Coral Way, a road established by Coral Gables founder George E. Merrick during the 1920s. It is located in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The Coral Way neighborhood is served by ...

between

LeJeune Road State Road 953 (SR 953), locally known as Le Jeune Road (pronounced "Luh-JOO-n"), is a long north–south street in Miami-Dade County, Florida running a few miles west of central Miami from U.S. Route 1 in Coral Gables to State Road 916 in ...

(SW 42nd Avenue) and Douglas Road (SW 37th Avenue) in Coral Gables,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. It is the main east-west road through the city's downtown central business district, consisting of many shops, financial institutions, restaurants and arts institution. The LeJeune Road end of Miracle Mile is anchored by the

Coral Gables City Hall The Coral Gables City Hall is a historic site in Coral Gables, Florida. It is located at 405 Biltmore Way. On July 24, 1974, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The city hall was built in the Mediterranean Revival ar ...

. Miracle Mile and the surrounding Downtown Coral Gables area is served indirectly by the Miami Metrorail by transferring from the Douglas Road station to the Coral Gables Trolley at the station. The trolley runs up and down Ponce de Leon Boulevard from Miracle Mile to the Metro. The boulevard is lined with restaurants, shops, boutiques, art galleries, and today "Downtown Coral Gables, including Miracle Mile, is one of South Florida's most sought-after shopping destinations."

History

Like all of Coral Gables' commercial district, Miracle Mile was designed by George Merrick. Upon its construction, every business in Coral Gables was less than a two-block walk from Miracle Mile. The Colonnade Building at 133-169 Miracle Mile was designed in 1926 by

Phineas Paist Phineas P. Paist (August 28, 1873 – May 2, 1937) was an American architect who was the supervising architect for the Coral Gables Corporation. Paist was an architect working for S. Gifford Slocum at age 20. In 1893 he became an associate of ...

in collaboration with Walter De Garmo and

Paul Chalfin Paul Chalfin (1874-1959) was an artist and interior designer with an interest in architecture, most known for his work on Villa Vizcaya. Paul was openly gay; his longtime partner was Louis Koons. Early life Paul Chalfin was born in New York C ...

in a mixture of Spanish Colonial and Baroque. The main purpose, in Merrick's planning, was to house his growing sales operation. Since the 1920s, the Colonnade has had many tenants including the Colonnade Movie Studios and a World War II parachute factory. Today it houses a hotel and office building designed by Spillis & Candela. The downtown commercial district was once serviced by a free trolley that ran down Ponce de Leon Boulevard, the main artery bisecting the business district. The old trolley system was replaced by the popularity of modern automobiles until a new free "trolley system" (buses with a "retro" trolly-like livery) was initiated in November 2003. After declines during the Great Depression and World War II, developers and business took to rebranding the area to turn it into a "high-end shopping destination." Through this vision and investment effort, the area was named Miracle Mile in 1955. George K. Zain and his wife Rebyl Zain contributed their leadership, enthusiasm and faith to the conception of the high-end shopping boulevard. Zain created a plan to resolve the solution to parking and built parking garages in the area. In 1960, George Zain was nicknamed "Father of Miracle Mile." In Spring 2016, Miracle Mile and Giralda Avenue began undergoing a street-scape design update. New York-based architecture firm Cooper Robertson has undertaken this $21 million re-design project. The new concept includes wider sidewalks, curb-less street edge lined with low stones and greenery, and a change in the parking structure.

References

{{Greater Miami Roads in Miami-Dade County, Florida Shopping districts and streets in the United States Tourist attractions in Miami-Dade County, Florida Coral Gables, Florida

History

See also

References