Coral Gables

  Coral Gables’ founders imagined both a “City Beautiful” and a “Garden City,” with lush green avenues winding through a residential city, punctuated by civic landmarks and embellished with detailed and playful architectural features. Known as The City Beautiful, Coral Gables stands out as a planned community that blends color, details, and the Mediterranean Revival architectural style.

INTERNATIONAL

From its inception, Coral Gables was designed to be an international City, and is now home to more than 20 consulates and foreign government offices and more than 140 multinational corporations.  As early as 1925, City Founder George Merrick predicted Coral Gables would serve as "a gateway to Latin America."  To further establish international ties, the City has forged relationships with six Sister Cities: Aix-en Provence, France; Cartagena, Colombia; Granada, Spain; La Antigua, Guatemala; Province of Pisa, Italy; and Quito, Ecuador (emeritus).

HISTORIC

Coral Gables, The City Beautiful, stands out as a rare pearl in South Florida. It is a cohesive community built on a grand scale that blends color, detail, and the Mediterranean Revival architectural style to create harmony with the environment. Early city planners and visionaries were influenced by the aesthetics of the City Beautiful Movement that swept across America in the early 1900s. Inspired by the works of landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead, who designed New York’s Central Park, The City Beautiful Movement encouraged the use of wide tree-lined avenues, monumental buildings, winding roadways, green space, ornate plazas, and fountains. All these elements of style have been and continue to be incorporated throughout the City.
 

The City continues to promote a Mediterranean architectural aesthetic by offering incentives for buildings designed in this style, paying tribute to George Merrick's initial designs that were largely based on the Andalusia area of Spain.  Many properties in the City are on the National Register of Historic Places, and more than 1,000 properties are on the Coral Gables Register of Historic Places.  In addition, the Biltmore Hotel is a designated National Historic Landmark.

DYNAMIC

Coral Gables is a major employment center, with almost as many people working in the City as living there. The Coral Gables economy is comprised of local and international businesses, but unlike other parts of Florida, it is not influenced as strongly by seasonal shifts.  The City is especially desirable to businesses because of its proximity to Miami International Airport, the Port of Miami, and downtown Miami, while also being convenient for executive housing.  In addition, a vintage style trolley connects many of the commercial districts, Grand Avenue and the Metrorail.  The City has a strong offering of banking, investment institutions, health care, and professional services, as well as being the international headquarters for Bacardi and Del Monte Fresh Produce.  The University of Miami is also located in Coral Gables, and is the City's largest employer.

Coral Gables attracts national and regional retailers along with an abundance of boutiques and retail shops.  Miracle Mile is the center of a true downtown district, and is internationally known as the place for every bride to shop for all her wedding needs. For more information, visit www.shopcoralgables.com.The Village of Merrick park is a 780,000 square foot mixed-use retail, residential and office project anchored by Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom, and has more than 100 other select retailers including Tiffany & Co., Burberry, Coach and Gucci.www.villageofmerrickpark.com .

The Coral Gables hospitality industry is positioned to support the high-end leisure and corporate traveler, and also has many prominent restaurants boasting more than 100 cafes and restaurants.

The City supports a new museum and art cinema on Aragon Avenue, across from the renowned independent bookstore, Books & Books.  In addition to this cultural center, Coral Gables has the distinction of having four live theaters, as well as many fine art galleries.  The 230 acre+ campus of the University of Miami also provides the community with access to lectures and performances, as well as an art cinema and the Lowe Art Museum.  Visitors and residents also enjoy Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, as well as festivals and performances held throughout the year including the Tropical Baroque Festival and Beaux Art Festival.  Coral Gables is one of the few cities in the area to offer a grant program supporting local non-profit cultural programming as well as a Public Art program, encouraging the investment in public art to enhance the community.  The City also conducts a Farmers Market each spring in front of City Hall.

UM, a research university lead by Dr. Julio Frenk, is ranked 50th among the nations top-tier institutions in the U.S. News & World Report ratings of "America's Best Colleges."  Also located within the City is Northwestern University's prestigious Kellogg School of Management Executive MBA Progra m.  Coral Gables' lower schools offer strong academic and international programs including an international baccalaureate program at Coral Gables Senior High and at Gulliver Preparatory School.  Coral Gables Preparatory Academy was awarded the Elementary Blue Ribbon School of Excellence Award by the U.S. Department of Education.  The City also houses the first international public-private partnership in the nation with the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the City of Coral Gables, and the Spanish, Italian, and French education ministries which joined together to open the International Studies Preparatory Academy dedicated to international studies.

In addition to exciting college sports available to attend, such as the UM Hurricanes football, baseball and basketball games, the City offers 22 parks with seven active playgrounds as well as 33 public tennis courts.  There are two public and two private golf courses, as well as hiking and bike paths, the Matheson Hammock Park and Marina, and the Venetian Pool, which was named by Travel & Leisure magazine amon the top "World's Coolest Pool."

The City provides excellent municipal services, including an accredited Police Department, as well as a Class 1 Fire Department and a Class 1 Building Division.  In addition, Coral Gables has been named a Tree City USA for the last 31 consecutive years by the National Arbor Foundation, and selected as a Playful City USA for eight years in a row by the non-profit organization KaBOOM!

Excellent municipal services, high quality of life, convenient access, responsible growth and a diversified economy make Coral Gables a highly desirable place to live, work and play.  

Officially called the City of Coral Gables, is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, located southwest of Downtown Miami. The United States Census Bureau estimates conducted in 2017 yielded the city had a population of 51,095.[7] Coral Gables is home to the University of Miami.

History

Coral Gables was one of the first planned communities, and its planning was based on the popular early twentieth century City Beautiful Movement. It is infamous for its strict zoning regulations.[8] The city was developed by George Merrick during the Florida land boom of the 1920s. The city's architecture is almost entirely Mediterranean Revival style, mandated in the original plan,[9] including the Coral Gables Congregational Church, donated by Merrick. The domed Catholic Church of the Little Flower was built somewhat later, in a similar Spanish Renaissance style. By 1926, the city covered 10,000 acres (4,000 ha) and had netted $150 million in sales, with over $100 million spent on development.[10]

Demographics

As of 2010, there were 20,266 households, of which 11.4% were vacant. In 2000, 24.45% had children under the age of 18 living with them. In Coral Gables, 61.11% were family households, 17.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.89% were non-families. The average household size was 2.36, and the average household had 1.68 vehicles.

In 2000, the city population was spread out with 17.4% under the age of 18, 14.58% from 18 to 24, 25.02% from 25 to 44, 27.01% from 45 to 64, and 16% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39.44 years. The population consisted of 51.31% females and 48.69% males.

In 2015, estimated income figures for the city were as follows: median household income, $93,934; average household income, $150,808;[15] per capita income, $57,195. About 7.6% of citizens were estimated to be living below the poverty line.[16]

As of 2000, Spanish was spoken at home by 51.06% of residents, while English was the only language spoken at home by 43.83%. Other languages spoken by the population were French 1.09%, Portuguese 0.80%, Italian0.72%, and German speakers made up 0.53% of the populace.[17]

As of 2000, Coral Gables had the eighteenth highest percentage of Cuban residents in the US, with 28.72% of the populace.[18] It also had the sixty-fourth highest percentage of Colombian residents in the US, at 2.27% of the city's population,[19] and the sixteenth highest percentage of Venezuelan residents in the US, at 1.17% of its population.[20]

Tourism

Coral Gables is a pedestrian-friendly destination. Located four miles from Miami International Airport, the "City Beautiful" has around 140 dining establishments and gourmet shops, and many notable international retailers. Among the landmarks in Coral Gables are the Venetian Pool, Douglas Entrance and the Miami Biltmore hotel.

Coral Gables is served by Metrobus throughout the area, and by the Miami Metrorail at:

·   Douglas Road (SW 37th Avenue and U.S. 1)

·   University (Stanford Drive and U.S. 1)

The City of Coral Gables also provides a free trolley service, with a trolley running a continuous circuit up and down Ponce de Leon Boulevard during the day.

Coral Gables is served by rapid transit on Douglas Road at Douglas Road station, at the University of Miami at University station, and near Sunset Drive and Red Road at South Miami station, connecting the city with Downtown Miami and Miami International Airport.

Further information: Transportation in South Florida

Main article: University of Miami

Coral Gables is the location of the University of Miami, a university ranked in the top tier of national universities,[38] with particular national status in the fields of business, engineering, law, marine science, medicine, communications, and music.[39]

Coral Gables schools are part of the Miami-Dade School District, which serves Miami-Dade County. The district has one high school in Coral Gables, Coral Gables Senior High School, which educates students in grades nine through 12. It also has a K-8 school, Coral Gables Preparatory Academy (formerly Coral Gables Elementary School), with two campuses, including a historic campus located on Ponce de Leon Boulevard. Henry S. West Laboratory Elementary is another school for K-6. Finally it has two middle schools: George Washington Carver Middle School located on Lincoln Dr, and Ponce de Leon Middle School located across from The University of Miami on the East side of U.S. Route 1 on Augusto Street. Present day George Washington Carver Middle was moved to the current location on Grand Avenue on land donated by George Merrick. When Carver died in 1942 the school was renamed in his honor.[40]

Gulliver Academy - Marian C. Krutulis Campus, a PreK-8 school that is a member of Gulliver Schools, is within Coral Gables.[41] The management offices of Gulliver Schools were formerly located in Coral Gables.[42]

The historic St. Theresa Catholic School, a PreK-8 school is located near Coral Gables Biltmore Hotel. St. Philip's Episcopal and Riviera Day School, both PreK-5 schools, are also located in Coral Gables. Riviera Day School is also one of the Riviera Schools.

Miami-Dade Public Library System operates the Coral Gables Branch.[43]

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Main Source of Reference: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 

Additional Source of reference

http://coralgables.evogov.com/about-coral-gables