Interior demolition work on the iconic, long-closed Coconut Grove Playhouse has been stopped after a contractor’s error caused a partial collapse and “severely compromised” the historic structure’s roof, city of Miami officials said Friday.
The streets in front of the 1927 theater’s wing-shaped front building have been closed while the building is stabilized, including Main Highway through the Grove village center from Franklin Avenue to McFarlane Road, the city said.
On Thursday, a day after what the city called “a construction accident” by the contractor, John Bell Construction, two engineering assessments determined the theater’s front wall facing Main Highway was rendered unstable and posed “a serious risk of collapse,” a statement from the city says…