Coconut Grove's Little Bahamas Under Pressure

MIAMI, Fla. - The area west of Margaret Street and south of Grand Avenue is a minutes-long stroll from the eclectic eateries and boutiques of Coconut Grove and its increasingly discovered waterfront.

An abandoned funeral home sits across from the gated Domino Park where young black inhabitants smoke, chat and banter the day away. Mixes of young and old black inhabitants congregate across from a corner market at Plaza Street and Grand.

All around them, young white and Hispanic homebuyers have been slowly and steadily purchasing and rebuilding quaint cottages and single family ranches.

New businesses are also becoming lured by the affordability and promise that Little Bahamas holds for the future.

Coconut Grove is one of Miami's oldest communities, retaining many original wood and rock structures and ancient, heavily rooted trees.

The area known as Little Bahamas to its west was borne from Key West recruits brought in to work Charles Peacock's Peacock Inn, where a restaurant and park are now situated.

Little Bahamas went on to produce an array of pro athletes.

These days, Little Bahamas with the rest of the Grove forms one of the most expensive enclaves in the nation.

Where Grove sales and rentals command $2.2 million and $2,227 monthly respectively, those in Little Bahamas specifically go for a more appealing $1 million and $1,500 monthly, information from realtor.com and apartments.com suggests.

Some Little Bahamas inhabitants own houses that they say have been in their families for generations. Many of the rest of the Bahamian, southern U.S. and natives rent or reside with family.

With real estate prices increasing by what Miami Today has reported is a 21 percent over the past year, residents who want to sell are guaranteed a decent profit.

And some may have sell as property taxes rise with area valuations. Even then at least one woman, a schoolteacher, expressed concerns about where she would move.

Renters are in a far more dire situation.

A college cafeteria worker who rents an apartment around the corner often depends during summers and holidays upon his wife's full-time wages - wages at a job that typically pays minimum wage.

To help supplement area earnings, local residents, nearby private and public school children and supermarkets such as Publix, Milam's and Trader Joe's keep a community refrigerator stocked with donations.

Churches serve hot meals, distribute pantry items and help to fill clothing needs.

The needs aren't stopping progress, as many of the bohemians who helped to build the Grove already know.

Moss Construction recently put the finishing touches on a luxury rental development neighboring a vacant lot that hosts an open-air Saturday green market.

Much of the east and north Grove's redevelopment has accommodated more people on the same amounts of land.
But Miami's Preservation Board in 2018 proposed that nearly four dozen shotgun and wood frame houses in the black Grove be designated historic, according to a Miami Herald report.

The designations were seen as a way to slow gentrification, though historic homes were then said to increase significantly in value and help turn depressed areas around.

Several residents according to The Herald report appealed because of the expense associated with maintaining the structures and the contention that they wouldn't be able to sell them for the best possible price.