The Coconut Grove Convention Center (formerly the Dinner Key Auditorium, also known as the Coconut Grove Expo Center), was an indoor

arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

and

exhibition hall A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. It originally had been built as a hangar at International Pan American Airport in Dinner Key. The venue closed in 2005 and was used as a

production studio A production company, production house or production studio is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and video. These groups ...

for six years. The building was demolished in 2013 and the site is now home to Regatta Park.

History

The building opened in 1917 as a hangar of the Dinner Key Naval Air Facility. The base was decommissioned in 1945 and sold to the city a year later. The main hangar was converted in 1950 into a non-air conditioned exhibition hall that doubled as an arena. This was the site of the March 1, 1969 incident in which

Jim Morrison James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, songwriter, and poet who was the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band the Doors. Due to his charismatic persona, poetic lyrics, distinctive vo ...

The Doors The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, comprising vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most influential and controversial rock acts ...

was arrested for allegedly exposing himself to the audience. The

Miami Floridians The Miami Floridians, later in their history known simply as The Floridians, were a professional basketball franchise in the original, now-defunct American Basketball Association. The Miami Floridians played in the ABA from 1968 through 1970 when ...

of the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major professional basketball league that operated for nine seasons from 1967 to 1976. The upstart ABA operated in direct competition with the more established National Basketball Association thr ...

played some of their home games at the auditorium in the 1969–70 season. Because the building was not air-conditioned, management would throw open the doors, forcing players to adjust their shots by the ocean breezes that whistled onto the court. The team finished with a 23–61 record later rebranding themselves to just The Floridians for their final two seasons of existence. More recently, ''

Burn Notice ''Burn Notice'' is an American espionage television series created by Matt Nix, which originally aired on the USA Network for a total of seven seasons from June 28, 2007, to September 12, 2013. The show stars Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar, ...

'', a

USA Network USA Network (or simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was launched in 1977 as Madison Square Garden Sports Network, one of the first national sports ...

drama series, used the Convention Center for production of the show. In 2012, however, Miami City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff expressed a desire to raze the Center and build a bay-front park, noting a $1.8 million city cache in grant dollars for the project. For the seventh and final season in 2013, USA Network agreed to use the Center with an increase of its rent from $240,000 to $450,000 a year -- just enough to cover the city's demolition costs, plus taxes, a studio spokeswoman confirmed. The Coconut Grove Convention Center was torn down in November 2013.

References

American Basketball Association venues Basketball venues in Florida Defunct indoor arenas in Florida Sports venues in Miami Defunct basketball venues in the United States 2013 disestablishments in Florida Sports venues demolished in 2013 Demolished sports venues in Florida {{Miami-struct-stub