Three Projects. One Vision for Coconut Grove’s Urban Core

Walk down Grand Avenue today and you see the Coconut Grove most people expect: restaurants spilling onto sidewalks, new apartments above retail, and residents moving easily between neighborhood destinations on foot. 

But not long ago, this stretch told a different story. Vacant parcels sat beside boarded buildings. One site informally doubled as a weekend farmers market. Nearby areas thrived, yet this corridor — a key connection between major streets — remained disconnected from the neighborhood’s activity. 

A local developer committed to reinvesting in a familiar place, and a transformation was born. Bohler’s team is working alongside them across multiple projects to make each phase buildable — and to ensure the next one becomes easier. 

Building Where It Matters

For the developer, investing in this corridor wasn’t an expansion strategy — it was personal. With deep ties to the neighborhood, the goal wasn’t just to build a project, but to rebuild a stretch of the community. 

The first ground-up development became a learning process for everyone involved. Rather than assembling a large site all at once, the team started with a single parcel and expanded as feasibility was proven. 

From the outset, Bohler’s role extended beyond engineering a building site. The team helped the developer understand what could realistically be achieved under existing regulations and how infrastructure would affect future parcels. 

Navigating Multiple Layers of Regulation and Review

One of the most significant challenges across the portfolio was coordination. Each project had to satisfy multiple layers of oversight — city and county regulations, corridor and streetscape standards, overlay district requirements, and transit-oriented development expectations.  

The difficulty wasn’t simply the volume of regulations, but the fact that they occasionally conflicted with one another. Bohler played a central role in facilitating agency coordination, organizing meetings, aligning interpretations, and helping resolve impasses so the developer could continue moving projects forward. 

Tackling the First Project: Elemi at Grove Village Phase I

The effort started with Elemi at Grove Village Phase I, a constrained urban site where the team introduced 46 two-story luxury rental units and established key infrastructure. With Bohler’s help, they designed and implemented the vertical vehicle stackers that resolved the site’s parking limitations, and engineered the stormwater injection wells to manage drainage within the dense urban footprint.

The team also designed a 300‑foot water‑main extension to support future development phases. 

Phase I delivered a robust amenity package — a pool deck, rooftop lounge, fitness center, and more — setting a new standard for the corridor and creating a walkable Grove lifestyle for residents.

Building Momentum: Elemi at Grove Village Phase II

Elemi at Grove Village Phase II built directly on that foundation, adding 27 apartments and 3,111 square feet of retail to activate Grand Avenue. As with Phase I, the tight urban footprint required thoughtful engineering to balance parking, utilities, and stormwater demands.

Bohler led due diligence, schematic and preliminary design, permitting, and construction documentation, coordinating with both the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County to secure approvals across jurisdictions. This time, the team successfully permitted a 500-linear-foot, 12-inch water main extension within the County right-of-way to support long-term infrastructure needs, while incorporating the vertical vehicle stackers and injection wells from Phase I. 

When complete, the two Elemi buildings will share amenities, reinforcing their connection as a unified community. 

Creating a Community: Nassau Coconut Grove

As the vision expanded, Nassau Coconut Grove shifted focus toward placemaking. The mixed‑use design incorporates ground‑floor retail, a public plaza along Grand Avenue, and Bahamian‑influenced architecture.

Bohler modeled delivery and truck circulation to ensure efficient operations while maintaining a walkable environment. The team designed an additional 500 linear feet of water main extension for this phase, and carefully designed around existing units, preserving several mature trees slated for protection. 

Anticipated to break ground soon, the project’s Class A office, high-end retail space, and generous amenities will further strengthen the corridor’s activity and connectivity. 

Supporting the Developer’s Vision

Together, these three developments function as a single, thoughtfully sequenced neighborhood transformation — bringing 73 new residences, 110,000+ square feet of retail and commercial space, and over 30,000 square feet of shared amenities to Coconut Grove.  

Across all three Coconut Grove projects, Bohler served as a trusted consultant, turning complex challenges into actionable solutions. The team led infrastructure planning, designing water main extensions sized for future buildings, installing connection points to anticipate future acquisitions, and coordinating off-site improvements that unlocked additional development potential.  

On the stormwater front, Bohler introduced injection wells to manage runoff on dense urban sites, a strategy that was applied across multiple properties, and guided the developer through evolving flood regulations.  

Permitting coordination was equally critical: Bohler facilitated communication between city and county agencies, resolved conflicting requirements, and kept multiple concurrent approvals moving forward.  

The result was more than successfully completed projects — Bohler facilitated a repeatable process that reduced uncertainty, accelerated approvals, and empowered the developer to advance to each phase with confidence.