The chain-link fence at Southeast 10th Street and Brickell Plaza has been up since the July 4 weekend. Behind it is a quarter-acre of palm, banyan, black olive and gumbo limbo. This is Allen Morris Brickell Park, one of the last patches of shade between the high-rises of Miami's financial district. It is due to become Gavina, a 3,000-square-foot restaurant from Stefano Secchi, the chef behind Rezdôra, the Michelin-starred restaurant in New York.
The restaurant has a built-in end date. Its city permit runs one year at a time, and the developer's own attorney calls it a placeholder. A rendering that circulated among neighbors names a different future use. Anyone who walks past this corner is looking at a waiting room with a menu.
A Donated Park That Went Back to the Family
The fence is the end of a story that started more than fifty years ago.
- 1974. The Real Deal reported that L. Allen Morris Sr. donated the land to the City of Miami on condition that it stay a public park. If it was ever used for anything else, ownership would revert to the family.
- 2014. Allen Morris Companies sued the city because it had let the neighboring Perricone's Marketplace & Cafe use parts of the park for seating. Perricone's has since closed.
- 2023. An appeals court sided with the developer, a ruling that prompted the city to settle, transfer the land back and rezone it.
- April 2026. The city approved a temporary use permit allowing a restaurant on the site.
- July 2026. The park was fenced and chained, and the developer obtained a tree removal permit.
Alexander Ringleb owns Burgermeister, which has locations in Brickell and Miami Beach. He and his wife used to stop in the park for shade while walking their dog, and he put the loss plainly to the Miami Herald: "It's a shame that the city didn't respect what was something so simple: Keep it as a park."
The Permit Renews One Year at a Time
The terms of the restaurant permit explain why the corner feels unsettled. The Real Deal reported them in August.
| Term | What the city approved or allowed |
|---|---|
| Permit length | One year, starting April 2026 |
| Renewals | Annually by the zoning administrator, for up to three years |
| Beyond that | City commission approval required |
| Hours | Daily, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. |
| Occupancy cap | 132 people, staff included |
| Restaurant size | About 3,000 sq ft on a 7,780 sq ft lot |
| Zoning ceiling | 48 stories, plus up to 32 more for qualifying public benefits, for a maximum of 80 |
Javier Fernández is the developer's attorney and also the mayor of South Miami. He said he expects Gavina to operate for "the better part of the next five years" before Allen Morris Companies decides the property's long-term future. That horizon is longer than the zoning administrator's renewals cover. Somewhere in its run, the restaurant would need a city commission vote to keep going. Rolando Escalona is the commissioner whose district includes the park. He told the Herald he does not support a high-rise there: "I don't believe we need more buildings in that area."
The renderings show a wooden building with patios, set in greenery and built around a mature banyan. The developer says it will plant six new trees to make up for the ones it removes. Fernández described the project as privately funded and said much of the mature canopy would be preserved, with landscaped open space around the building that the public can use. Fernández did not immediately answer The Real Deal's question about what the cuisine will be.
The Label in the Corner of the Rendering
Elena Kasparis, a Brickell resident, has led the opposition to the redevelopment. Her online petition has drawn nearly 2,000 signatures. In emails with the developer, she received a rendering of the restaurant. Small type in its lower left corner read "BRICKELL PARK - FUTURE SUPERTALL SALES CENTER."
Fernández has addressed the label directly, and so far his answers have been consistent:
"The restaurant is not the final plan. Certainly there is an interest in doing something else with the parcel."
He said the building "could be reused in the future" as a sales center. That is not the short-term plan and not imminent, he said, but "not off the table." He told the Herald that a supertall had been discussed at one point and ran into "challenges," and "for now, it's Gavina." At an online community meeting he said he "wouldn't foreclose" a park on the site in the future.
The same developer has done something similar before. In Coconut Grove, the sales gallery for Allen Morris's Ziggurat project is also a restaurant. That precedent is part of why some Brickell residents expect Gavina to follow the same path.
Some neighbors see the change differently. Residents of the Brickell Flatiron, across Southeast 10th Street, had long complained about how the park was kept up. Casey Piket, a Miami history blogger who has spent years advocating for Brickell's tree canopy, agreed that the city was not the best steward and often let trash cans overflow.
Two Deadlines on Friday, October 2
The next date on the site's calendar is two days away. On September 22, the city posted a notice that it intends to approve relocating a live oak within the lot at 25 SE 10th Street. The stated reason is that the tree is "in conflict with the proposed construction." The application number is BD26-001425-001, and appeals must reach the city by October 2. The notice on the City of Miami site lists the environmental resources contact as (305) 413-0750.
That notice is separate from the earlier permit, which covers five trees. Those include a black olive whose trunk is nearly six feet around. The Sierra Club said it planned to appeal. One of the five is a black olive that Piket helped move into the park from the lot next door, the lot that became the citizenM hotel. No report so far says how that appeal turned out, or that construction has started.
October 2 is also the announced opening day for Granado's, two blocks south at 1250 S. Miami Ave. It is a smash-burger restaurant from Miami native John Paul "JP" Granado. On opening day, burgers are $5 all day from 11 a.m. The menu includes the Classic, the Avo Smash and the Choripan, plus burger bowls, loaded fries and soft serve. Late hours run until 3 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.
The Block Around It Is Being Re-Leased
The fence sits in the middle of a stretch of South Miami Avenue where the restaurants are changing, and the numbers help explain why a restaurant is the interim use. In late July, Omakai signed a lease for 2,500 square feet at 1108 South Miami Avenue, about a block from the park, at $120 per square foot. It is moving from the Solaris condo tower. No opening date for that space has been announced. Separately, the Omakai hand-roll site lists a Brickell location at 1200 Brickell Bay Drive as coming in early 2027.
Directly behind the park, on the South Miami Avenue side, Negroni occupies 4,200 square feet in the citizenM hotel at 955 South Miami Avenue. Its operator filed for Chapter 11 on July 1 and kept the restaurant open during the restructuring. A reorganization plan was filed September 29, and the court has set a hearing to confirm it for December 1. Reservations and online ordering are still open on the restaurant's site.
A few blocks north, Uchibā, the izakaya from Uchi founder Tyson Cole and Hai Hospitality, is listed for this fall at Mary Brickell Village, 900 S. Miami Ave. Its original target was spring 2026.
The Real Deal described Brickell as having some of the highest restaurant rents in Florida. In that market, a chef-driven restaurant on land zoned for 80 stories earns money from the site while the larger decision waits. What Gavina will pay has not been disclosed.
Where the Shade Is Now
With the corner fenced, the nearby options for shade come down to a few places, and some of them carry their own conditions. Simpson Park Hammock is an eight-acre preserve south of Brickell's dense core. South Side Park, on Brickell's west side, is being used as the sales center for a Mercedes-Benz-branded condo tower. That project has stalled and faced the threat of foreclosure, so the park's future is unclear.
There is better news from the Brickell Homeowners Association's September 29 Breakfast Briefing. City Commissioner and Downtown Development Authority Chairman Ralph Rosado reported that funding has been secured for five Greater Downtown parks. Four of them are in Brickell: Brickell Park, Miami Circle, Fort Dallas Park and Brickell Flatiron Park. On The Underline, seven of the ten miles were open as of mid-August, and the remaining central section is expected by the end of the year.
Of all the green spaces on that list, the corner at SE 10th Street and Brickell Plaza is the only one with an appeal deadline this Friday. Its future depends on a permit that the zoning administrator can renew one year at a time.
Questions about how a site like Allen Morris Brickell Park could change the view, foot traffic or feel of the blocks around your building are part of the work we do every week in Brickell. If you want a measured read on what is planned near your address, the team at Mastery of RE can walk through it with you. Work With Us.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
