O Cinema and Wynwood Yard, a nonprofit movie theater and an art space in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood, are ceding their location to Wynwood Green, an 11-story, 189-unit apartment rental building with nearly 17,000 square feet of commercial/retail space and 324 parking spots. Lennar Multifamily Communities, a division of the Miami-based home building giant Lennar Corp., is developing the project that will mark Lennar’s first apartment building within the city limits.
Wynwood Green will occupy eight parcels of land totaling 1.26 acres and will follow a trend of major office and residential developments that are planned or under construction in Wynwood, which spans 50 city blocks. The area was put on the map by city leaders embracing street art to turn a forgotten area of the city into a hipster mecca. “The fact that the largest home builder in the country wants to build its first City of Miami multifamily project in Wynwood is a testament to the demand for residential living options in the neighborhood,” says Manny Gonzalez, executive director of the Wynwood Business Improvement District.
But the loss of Wynwood Yard and O Cinema is bound to stoke growing concerns that the gentrification of Wynwood is robbing the neighborhood of its character. Since its inception, the 112-seat O Cinema Wynwood, which was founded by a matching grant from the Knight Foundation, has played an instrumental role in the growth and celebration of Miami’s movie culture. The theater has regularly hosted filmmaker Q&As, retrospective and midnight screenings and events for the Borscht Corp. artists collective, the Popcorn Frights Film Festival, the Miami Film Festival and the Miami Jewish Film Festival, among others.
Read More
