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Coral Gables commission defers appeal over demolition request at contributing Obispo Avenue home
Summary
The commission deferred action on an appeal of the Historic Preservation Board’s denial of a demolition certificate for 1258 Obispo Ave., after attorneys and staff disputed whether the owners proved undue economic hardship and whether the administrative record contained required appraisals and engineering reports.
Mayor and commissioners deferred a quasi‑judicial appeal over a request to demolish a contributing structure at 1258 Obispo Avenue, sending the matter back so parties can supplement the record.
Attorney Cesar Mestre, representing the owners, told the commission the house was bought in 2021 for $1,025,000 and is structurally compromised. “To repair it…would take $675,000, and the structure is appraised at about $25,000,” he said, urging a demolition certificate under the code’s undue economic hardship criteria. Mestre said contractors declined to enter the building and that past COAs for large additions were never built.
Deputy City Attorney Stephanie Throckmorton defended the Historic Preservation Board’s decision, saying the board “found due process was followed” and concluded the owners had not established they were denied all reasonable beneficial use or return on the property. Staff and the board noted that certain supporting materials (for example, all appraisals within two years prior to purchase and some documentation of annual debt service) were not provided to the board in the form the code contemplates.
Preservation staff told commissioners a 2007 consultant survey identified the building as a contributing resource to the Obispo Avenue historic district and said its removal would ‘‘adversely affect the historic and architectural integrity of the district.’’ Commissioners pressed both sides about which documents were in the hearing record and whether an engineering report showing structural safety had been submitted and considered.
After extended questions about documentary gaps and competing engineering opinions, commissioners voted to defer the appeal to a date certain (November 18) so the applicants and staff can supplement and clarify the record and for the commission to review the materials in detail before reaching a final decision.
The commission’s action is procedural: the deferment preserves the right of review while directing the parties to provide documentation the Historic Preservation Board and the commission said will be necessary for a final legal determination.
