South Miami's Underline Stretch Is Already a Park, Even Before the Trail Connects

Behind the South Miami Branch Library, a row of log balance beams leads to a set of musical chimes. The Metrorail runs overhead and a bike path passes a few steps away. This is the Nikki Spoelstra Play Forest, at 6130 Sunset Drive next to City Hall, and it is the first playground built anywhere along The Underline.

The South Miami section was laid out as a series of places to stop, and nearly all of them sit within a short walk of City Hall and Sunset Drive. Since the formal opening on August 15, the South Miami stretch has worked as a neighborhood park in its own right. The 10-mile trail it belongs to is still missing its middle piece.

What opened on August 15

The Miami Herald reported that Friends of the Underline and Miami-Dade County held the ceremonial opening of a 1.17-mile section that Saturday. It runs from Dadeland to South Miami and ends at the edge of Coral Gables at Red Road. Kids played in the new Play Forest, a band performed, and vendors sold food outside City Hall during the dedication. After that opening, seven of The Underline's 10 miles were finished and open.

People were using it before the ribbon was cut. In the same report, the Herald said visitors had been exploring the new section since the construction fences came down earlier that summer. County Commissioner Raquel Regalado, whose district covers a long section of the trail, told the paper her neighbors were talking about it and meeting up to walk it. "It really is building community," she said.

The stops, south to north

The stretch reads best as a sequence of stops. Starting at the southern end, near SW 80th Street, and heading toward Red Road, these are the places along the path.

1. The bike-repair stand at SW 80th Street, and SOMI Bike Shop next to it. In its preview of the southern segments, the Herald reported that trail users stop at the shop for service, gear, snacks and drinks, right beside the Underline's public repair stand.
2. The rebuilt canal bridge. Just north of SW 80th Street, the path crosses a canal on a new bridge. It replaced a crossing that dated to the years when this corridor carried Henry Flagler's railroad.
3. Mariposa Gardens and the birdhouse village. At the north entry of the southernmost segment, a butterfly garden full of native pollinator plants sits beside a cluster of birdhouses painted the Underline's signature green.
4. The micro-forests. One stands near the butterfly garden and another just past SW 70th Avenue. They are dense plantings of native trees and shrubs, designed to grow quickly into a thicket that shelters wildlife and cools the air along the U.S. 1 corridor. Families planted trees in one of them during the August opening.
5. The South Miami Hospital meditation garden. Baptist Health built this landscaped spot for rest with Friends of The Underline near SW 62nd Avenue and the hospital's East Tower, and dedicated it in December 2018. According to the Herald, the garden stayed locked for years while it waited for the trail beside it to be finished. The new section now connects directly to it.
6. The Nikki Spoelstra Play Forest at City Hall. This is the centerpiece of the stretch, covered in the next section.

The garden is a good example of how this segment was put together. It was built in 2018 and sat waiting until the path reached it. The Underline in South Miami links places the city already had, and those places are what make it a park.

A playground made of logs, behind the library

The Play Forest skips standard playground equipment. It uses log balance beams, stepping logs, natural climbing pieces, musical chimes and sensory trail features, and it connects directly to the bike and pedestrian path. The Herald described an outdoor reading room, a set of musical instruments, and covered seating for parents.

Nikki Spoelstra, a South Miami resident and former Miami Heat dancer, gave $500,000 to sponsor it. SOMI Magazine reported that she described her childhood visits to Fairchild Tropical Garden with her grandmother as the inspiration. At the opening she said the space is "really about play, nature, curiosity, belonging and togetherness."

Where the playground sits matters as much as what it contains. It is directly behind the South Miami Branch Library and next to City Hall. The trail's main family amenity is part of the city's civic campus, a short walk from Sunset Drive's restaurants. A loop from the playground to dinner never has to touch the unfinished section to the north.

Where the path meets Sunset Drive

The north end of this stretch meets South Miami's downtown, which has been changing on its own schedule this year.

Miami New Times reported that Bored Cuban opened its South Miami location at 5812 Sunset Drive on March 5. Flight West, which pairs New World cuisine with a whiskey-focused bar, opened on Sunset Drive near U.S. 1 in mid-May, according to SOMI Magazine.

The bigger change at that corner is still being built. Deli Lane Café & Sunset Tavern opened in 1988 and is moving from 7230 SW 59th Ave. across the driveway into the historic Dorn Buildings at Sunset Drive and U.S. 1. Miami New Times reported that the move followed AvalonBay Communities' purchase of the surrounding property for redevelopment. Brothers Harold and Robert Dorn built the three-building complex in the 1920s. It once held the Dorn-Martin drugstore, South Florida Bank and the South Miami Post Office, and the city designated it a historic site in 2005.

"We're almost 40, and the building's 100, so it's the icon meets the icon."

That is owner Kirchoff, speaking to Miami New Times. He put the renovation at more than $3 million, including new electrical and plumbing systems. Deteriorated concrete columns delayed construction. Deli Lane has to leave its current space by January 1, and Kirchoff expects the new restaurant to open before then. Until it does, the original Deli Lane is still the one on SW 59th Ave.

The calendar through December

Two of the dates ahead are fixed. One is expected, and one is still open.

The night market is free and runs monthly with a new theme each time. It features local artisans, food vendors, drinks and live music. The city offers free parking all day in the municipal garage at 5829 SW 73rd Street. The Chewy Pack Walk is the closest Friends of the Underline event on the November calendar. It meets at the dog park in the Coral Gables segment north of LeJeune Road.

The open item is the stretch between Red Road and that dog park. In August, the Herald reported that the middle section through Coral Gables and along the University of Miami was the last unfinished piece and was expected to be ready at the end of the year. In early October, the Herald wrote that construction was expected to finish by December, years early thanks to a large federal grant. It also reported that Coral Gables commissioners had redirected $500,000 toward the trail's operations and maintenance. Annual operating costs for the full trail are expected to reach about $9.5 million. As of this writing, no completion ceremony has been scheduled.

Underline founder Meg Daly has promised that the finish will be marked with "a 10-mile-long party," according to the Herald. The trail is planned to run a continuous 10 miles from Dadeland to its northern end at Brickell and the Miami River, and the middle section is the last piece of that plan. Until then, the South Miami stretch runs from the bike stand at SW 80th Street to the Play Forest at City Hall, with Sunset Drive at the north end.

If you live near Sunset Drive and want to talk about what the new trail and the changes at the corner of Sunset and U.S. 1 mean for your block, the team at Elena Kemper Group is happy to meet you along the way. We have watched this part of South Miami change for decades, and we're glad to share what we know.