School Space Shortage Poses Headwinds For Coral Gables CRE

Private schools in Miami are full to the brim, and Coral Gables real estate leaders say it's making families think twice about moving to the area.

With private schools in the area — and even some public schools — facing long waitlists, the limited options are becoming a headache for developers and brokers operating in one of Florida's wealthiest cities, they said at Bisnow’s Coral Gables State of the Market Event on Tuesday.

“It's a big problem,” Terranova Corp. founder and Chairman Stephen Bittel said at the event, held at 255 Alhambra. “I never thought part of my job would be fielding calls to help kids get into either Rambam at Temple Beth Am or Ransom Everglades or Gulliver.”

Coral Gables' office market is among the most coveted in the area, with an 8.2% direct vacancy rate and positive absorption of 88K SF, according to a fourth-quarter Colliers report. It has reeled in tenants like Apple, FIFA and Bank of America, all drawn to the area’s built-in amenities.

“What community do you know has the best private schools, best education, University of Miami, in or around? Coral Gables,” said Gaetano Caltagirone, president and co-founder of The Calta Group. “Healthcare, best in or around? Coral Gables. You're 10 minutes from the airport, walkability, shopping, retail, restaurants, everything here.”

The city's Gulliver, Ransom Everglades and Miami Country Day private schools all rank among the top 10 private schools in Florida, according to Niche. The push for access to these schools has only increased with time.

At Gulliver, seven students apply for every available seat, according to the David Siddons Group.

Charter schools in Miami-Dade are also being swarmed with new students — enrollment went from 85,043 in the 2023-2024 school year to 86,545 this year, Axios reported.

The overwhelming demand has left schools struggling to accommodate the incoming students, and even industry leaders can’t get around it.

“Like most young families, they are looking to put these kids into these great schools, but the waitlists are insane,” said Anniella Tabraue, director at Coral Gables-based MG Developer. “I'm seeing it for myself. I need two spots for my twins. It's difficult.”

The surge is driven by wealthy families seeking top schools and a Florida program offering up to $8K in taxpayer-backed vouchers through a priority system starting with students from households earning around $51K annually, NBC 6 South Florida reported.

Judy Zeder, a Coral Gables-based real estate agent at The Jills Zeder Group, said developers should be looking to convert commercial spaces into schools to address the demand.

“The schools are really, they're just bursting at the seams,” Zeder said at the event. “The applications for all of the private schools is insane.”

There are expansion efforts afoot. Miami Country Day, a K-12 private school at 601 NE 107th St., is adding 142 student spots, 52 parking spaces, and a new athletic and fitness center, set to finish this year, Biscayne Times reported last April.

Nine other schools in South Florida are following suit, like BaseCamp305, a private elementary school that is building a four-story school designed by Arquitectonica in South Beach expected to open this year, the South Florida Business Journal reported.

But, while private schools are getting all of the attention, the public school system can't get enough.

Last spring, Miami-Dade’s traditional public schools enrolled 254,852 students, but that number dropped to 249,295 at the start of this school year, Axios reported.

Two Miami-Dade schools, Poinciana Park Elementary and Country Club Middle School, are in discussion to be converted into specialized exceptional student education or full-service resource centers, but plans are still to be determined, Axios reported.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the third-largest school district in the nation, are often outdated compared to other institutions around the nation, Zeder said, making them less appealing to families considering relocation.

“I mean, some of them actually look a little scary,” she said. “I think that everyone who lives in Coral Gables and lives in these cities needs to be effective in making our public schools better.”

While the market leaders at the event talked up the city's appeal, its population has been on the decline, falling by 1.8% between April 2020 and July 2023 after growing by 5.3% over the previous decade, according to census data.

The limitations on school accessibility appear to be a worry incoming residents can’t seem to shake.

“We have a lot of people that we're working with right now who cannot get into the schools, and so far they're not coming to Miami,” Zeder said. “So it's not that they're leaving, except they're not coming.”

“We do have the issue with the schools, and I think that is the biggest hesitation at the moment,” Tabraue added.