Mary Palacio is on the search for a temporary home for the nonprofit private school she founded 16 years ago in Coral Gables, a challenge in pricey South Florida. Crystal Academy needs to move out of its aging building by summer 2027, when it and a neighboring church are expected to be razed for the construction of a new luxury high-rise.
The fate of Crystal Academy, a school for kids with autism, will depend on a promise made by a now-deceased developer and the outcome of the controversial project he left behind.
The late Sergio Pino, whose company Century Homebuilders bought the land in 2021 to build an apartment complex, had signed a contract with Palacio that year, promising her a new rent-free school as part of the development. Three years later, he died by suicide in July 2024 amid an FBI investigation into death threats against his estranged wife…