12.16.2024
University of Miami on Lennar and Campus Master Plan
It was our great privilege to represent the University of Miami under President Donna E. Shalala in the negotiation of a comprehensive thirty (30) year development agreement with the City of Coral Gables. President Shalala described the agreement as one of the signature achievements of her presidency because it ensured the long-term growth and health of the University’s Coral Gables Campus. Of equal import, it ensured a long and durable partnership with our host jurisdiction – the City of Coral Gables.
The development agreement vested the University of Miami with 6.2 millions SF. It comprised a comprehensive rewrite of the City’s land development code to recognize the unique attributes of a university campus. Together with the City’s professional planning staff, we drafted the text of a new zoning district – called the University Campus District (UC District) – that afforded the University more flexibility in the development of the campus core in exchange for greater restrictions along the campus perimeter that interfaces with the adjacent single-family residential neighborhood.
The development agreement notably included a significant package of community benefits ranging from medical lectures from the University’s Miller School of Medicine, to concerts from the University’s Frost School of Music, to sporting events featuring the Miami Hurricanes. Then University President Donna Shalala described the Development Agreement as one of the greatest achievements of her Presidency because it ensure the long-term health and growth of the University in a positive, collaborative way with the City of Coral Gables.
Together with the University’s team of planners, we development a new campus master plan. We served as lead negotiating and entitlements counsel who successfully advocated for the adoption of the new campus master plan and the adoption of the new UC District.
Notably, we wrote the UC District regulations and campus plan to allow – for the first time – a healthcare use on the campus to serve the medical needs of the community.
This is the origin story of the Lennar Foundation Medical Center – a visionary masterstroke by the University – to bring a host of its extraordinary academic medical practices closer to the Coral Gables Community.
We are extremely proud of this achievement which serves the health care needs of our community on a daily basis.
