Can’t wait for St. Patrick’s Day? Then plan on spending Saturday, March 14 enjoying Irish music, dance and food, at the Annual St. Patrick’s Day Irish Festival in Coral Gables.
Category: Coral Gables
What does a Friday night with free music, wine, cheese and art gallery visits mean? It must be Gallery Walk Night in Coral Gables! Visit with the artists and discuss their work or just look at the art, nibble and sip the goodies, and enjoy the evening. From 7-10 pm the first Friday of every month.
One of the many things I enjoy about living in South Florida is it’s cultural diversity, but I never appreciated the architectural diversity until I started driving around taking pictures for this blog. Thanks to George Merrick, we have the Old Spanish style that graces Coral Gables and is sprinkled throughout South Florida. Our proximity to the Florida Keys resulted in Key West-style homes, though the ones in Miami-Dade County are significantly larger than the original Key West homes. In downtown Miami we have amazingly modern skyscrapers such as the Espiritu Santo Plaza/Conrad Hotel building, Four Seasons, and the Jade. Miami Beach, known for its Art Deco and Mimo architectural styles, also has modern, Miami-chic style homes, some of the most spectacular on Dilido, Rivo Alto, Palm, Star, or one of the other islands. What’s your architectural style? No matter what it is you can probably find it in South Florida.
One of the many things I enjoy about living in South Florida is it’s cultural diversity, but I never appreciated the architectural diversity until I started driving around taking pictures for this blog. Thanks to George Merrick, we have the Old Spanish style that graces Coral Gables and is sprinkled throughout South Florida. Our proximity to the Florida Keys resulted in Key West-style homes, though the ones in Miami-Dade County are significantly larger than the original Key West homes. In downtown Miami we have amazingly modern skyscrapers such as the Espiritu Santo Plaza/Conrad Hotel building, Four Seasons, and the Jade. Miami Beach, known for its Art Deco and Mimo architectural styles, also has modern, Miami-chic style homes, some of the most spectacular on Dilido, Rivo Alto, Palm, Star, or one of the other islands. What’s your architectural style? No matter what it is you can probably find it in South Florida.
Single Family Homes
- 2% increase in sales of single family homes from 2007 to 2008.
- Total sales of single family homes increased from 318 in 2007 to 325 in 2008.
- If you average the number of homes sold in the last quarter of 2008, there is still a 23 month supply of single family homes for sale in Coral Gables.
The median price for a single family home in December was $542,000, down from $788,000 in December 2007.
Condos
- The number of sales of condos decreased 19% from 2007 to 2008 from 141 to 114.
- There is 37 month inventory of condos.
- The median price in December 2008 was $250,000 down from $1,005,000 in December 2007.
I wrote a blog the other day about walkable neighborhoods in Miami-Dade County and decided to blog about each neighborhood in more detail. The first neighborhood on my list was Coral Gables, also known as the City Beautiful.
The Gables, as it is known to most residents, stretches into south Miami-Dade County and runs parallel to 
the village limits of Pinecrest and Palmetto Bay, so not all parts are convenient to walk to shops, restaurants, entertainment and work, if you happen to work in the Gables. However, using a combination of the City’s hybrid-electric trolley, which runs along Ponce de Leon between the Douglas Metro Rail station and 8th Street, Metro Rail and bus routes you can get to downtown Coral Gables, the University of Miami and downtown Miami from just about anywhere in the Gables using public transportation.
According to a study by the University of Florida about consumer confidence, gas prices are a big reason that consumer confidence has hit a 16-year low. Should you be considering a move, think about where most of your driving takes place (to and from work, children’s activities, pursuing hobbies and interests) and take this into consideration when you look at different neighborhoods and homes within them.
Do you live in an area of Coral Gables and walk or use public transportation? If so, please share your commuting experience.
will be celebrating its 50th birthday the weekend of October 17, 2008. If you attended Palmetto or are a current student, save the date and please update your information so the alumni committee can keep you informed of all of the upcoming events and special dedications.
I attended the champagne and caviar tasting at the Whole Foods in Coral Gables last night and learned a lot! I already knew I love caviar and am extremely picky about my champagne, so I was thinking I would just go and have fun.
Little did I know I would actually learn that champagne has 56 million bubbles per bottle, that the reason for checking the cork from a champagne bottle is to make sure it matches the label, and that proper champagne opening etiquette is to make the cork “kiss” instead of “pop”!
Well, I went to my first event at the Coral Gables Whole Foods since the grand opening last week. On Thursday they had a sangria tasting and it was a good excuse to hang out in their Whole Lifestyle Center (LC) and chat with friends and neighbors who stopped by. The Tarantas Sangria, an organic bottled sangria, was the better of the two and could serve as a starting point to doctor your own, but nothing beats homemade sangria.
Patrick, one of the sommeliers at Whole Foods, was extremely friendly and helpful, and took time out to chat about wines and sangria. I an organic wine tasting on
Friday, but will be there tonight for a champagne and caviar tasting.
My only critique of the store is that the LC is inconveniently located on the opposite side of the store and can only be accessed from the outside. This was poor planning since it discourages shoppers from meandering through the store prior to an event or from returning to the store to purchase items after an event. I am sure they will be working on fixing this oversight so they can maximize the marketing potential of their tastings, cooking classes, and demonstrations.
Gotta admit that I am a food geek who has been anxiously awaiting the opening of Whole Foods in Coral Gables. I loved shopping at Whole Foods in California and though I wouldn’t trek to the Aventura store, I did trek all the way to Fairfax, Virginia to visit the store there. Actually, I was visiting family and we just made this a side trip to plan dinner.
Geek that I am I signed up for the pre-opening behind the scenes tour today and enjoyed eating my way through the isles. In addition to fresh squeezed orange juice, bananas, cookies, cake, a turkey empanada with mango chutney, and Parmesan cheese, we were treated to a wine tasting in their Whole Lifestyle Center, a community-hall style room for cooking demonstrations and wine tastings.
They have several tastings coming up: Sangria on Thursday, September 27 from 7-8:30, Intro to Organic Wined Friday, September 28 from 7-8:30, Caviar and Moet Champagne Tasting on Saturday, September 29 from 7-8 and a Cheese and Wine Pairing on Sunday, September 30 from 4-5. The Cheese and Wine Pairing is a fundraiser for The Pet Project, which helps individuals with disabling illnesses keep their pets.
I am looking forward to the lifestyle center offerings as much as I am to the store opening. I don’t like to shop and find grocery shopping especially tedious, but I like cruising (and tasting my way) through the isles at Whole Foods. It can bring out the cook in anyone. And if you don’t like to cook, take home their delicious meals. A nice change from rotisserie chicken!