On September 10, the Pinecrest Village Council agenda included a resolution letting the Village buy up to $100,000 in furniture, fixtures and equipment for Charisma. The agenda calls Charisma "the new restaurant at Cypress Hall in Pinecrest Gardens." The resolution waives competitive bidding. It says the pieces were "specifically selected and coordinated for the Cypress Hall space and restaurant concept." Buying them through the Village uses its tax-exempt status, which lowers the cost of the project for both sides.
Most restaurant news is about a chef or a menu. This item is about who owns the outcome. Cypress Hall used to bring in a fixed fee. Under the new deal, the Village buys the chairs, splits the revenue and earns more only if the dining room fills. That is a new relationship between Pinecrest and the building that has carried more of the Gardens' history than any other.
A room with a long memory
Cypress Hall goes back to before the Village owned the grounds. It once held the café at the historic Parrot Jungle, which was a local fixture for nearly 50 years before the attraction moved to Watson Island in 2002. Hurricane Wilma damaged the building badly in 2005, and it then sat empty for years.
Since then, the tenants have run like this:
- Until 2002: the café at Parrot Jungle.
- 2005 to 2018: empty after the Wilma damage.
- 2018: reopened after a renovation as an art exhibition and lounge space. Hartvest Coffee ran the coffee bar and the Hartvest Project taught art classes. The design added floor-to-ceiling bi-fold windows onto the botanical gardens, a terrazzo floor designed by Hartvest Project founder Carola Bravo, and a handmade chandelier by Greek artist Fragiskos Bitros.
- 2025: Bohemian Spark Café opened, serving breakfast and lunch with globally inspired dishes. It closed on August 23, 2025.
- Next: Charisma, run by Platea Group.
The 2018 renovation treated the room as a cultural space that happened to serve coffee. The 2025 tenant pushed it toward a café, and in August of that year its owner, Carmen Rodríguez, told Miami New Times she planned to add dinner service in September. The café closed before dinner service began. Charisma will be the first operator to take over Cypress Hall from the start as a full restaurant.
How Platea Group got the keys
Platea Group did not win the contract outright. In 2024 the Village asked for proposals and received three by March 7. In April the council authorized talks with the top-ranked bidder, Bohemian Spark Café. After that café closed, the Village went to the second-ranked bidder, Platea Group.
Many Pinecrest diners will know the name already. Chef Fernando Salazar and his business partner Andrés Marmolejos founded Platea, which they describe as a Peruvian-inspired prime steakhouse. It sits at 12175 S. Dixie Hwy. in Pinecrest. The Village's resolution names the concessionaire "Platea Group (dba Charisma)."
None of the documents released so far names Charisma's chef, cuisine, hours or opening date. The September resolution says only that buying the furniture through the Village supports "the anticipated opening schedule." For now, the building's history and the shape of the deal are the firmest information available.
The terms that change the incentives
The council approved the Platea agreement on October 14, 2025. The resolution and staff memo compare it with the arrangement it replaces:
| Prior agreement | Platea Group agreement | |
|---|---|---|
| Payment model | Fixed monthly fee | 40/60 split of net revenue |
| Private events on site | Not specified | 50/50 split of catering revenue |
| Annual value to the Village | Capped at $144,000 | Projected above $175,000 |
| Term | Not specified | Five years, plus up to two five-year renewals |
| Village capital | Not specified | Commitment of $100,000 toward furniture, fixtures and equipment |
Two things in the table matter for anyone who spends Sundays at the Gardens. The old fee had a ceiling, and the new projection is higher than that ceiling. But the projection depends on the restaurant doing well, because the Village's share grows or shrinks with sales. The 50/50 split on private-event catering also links the restaurant to the Gardens' main business as a venue. Each wedding or party booked in Cypress Hall now earns money for both the operator and the Village.
The $100,000 furniture commitment comes from that same logic. The resolution says the Village's contribution was part of the profit-sharing deal from the beginning. When both sides share in the profits, a lower startup cost helps both of them.
The same approach, applied to the Sunday market
The Charisma deal was not the only change this season. On September 22, the council approved an agreement with Miami Culinary Kitchen to manage and run the Pinecrest Gardens Farmers Market. The item had been put off from the September 10 meeting.
For people who shop the market, little appears to change. Miami Culinary Kitchen's contact details were already on the Gardens' website in July, and the company already called itself the market manager. Gables Courier reported that it was unclear what formal arrangement had covered that work before. The new contract came out of a formal request for proposals that drew four bids. It runs for three years, with up to three one-year renewals. The resolution and staff memo describe management services and do not announce changes to the market's format.
The posted hours are a different matter. In July, Gables Courier described the market as running Sundays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Gardens' fall schedule now lists Sundays from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the South Parking Lot, with dates starting October 4. Baptist Health sponsors a free community Vinyasa yoga class from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. The intro text on the same page still says 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., so confirm the hours before an early trip. There will be no market on January 24, 2027, because the Art and Design Fair takes the grounds that day.
The market and the restaurant now run on the same model. In both cases, a long-running use of Village property has been turned into a formal agreement with a set term.
What happened in the south parking lot
The same September 22 meeting approved emergency tree work at the Gardens. Gardens director Cristina Blanco's memo covers six Ficus trees, numbered 34 through 39, in the south parking lot's EV-charging row. The trees had long been treated for Hypoxylon canker, a disease with no cure. A December 2025 arborist assessment rated them at elevated risk of failure, and staff cited the danger to visitors and property in wind and tropical storms.
The memo lists the work vendor by vendor.
- Axcex Media LLC: electrical work before removal, $2,614.
- Big Ron's Tree Removal: tree removal and median-bed preparation, $45,291.
- Pahokee Growers: replacement trees and pre-plant pruning, $21,000.
- Fresh Start: replanting, $20,000.
- Wilco Electrical LLC: electrical work after planting, plus reinstalling the parking-lot lighting and EV charging stations, $28,750.
These five items add up to $117,655. The memo does not print a total, and an earlier version for the September 10 meeting estimated about $109,291. The work list covers removal, replanting and putting the chargers back. Market shoppers and concertgoers park in that lot, so the replacement trees are the new canopy they will see.
Where the Gardens' business model goes next
One question is still open. In September the council rejected a separate proposal to give Pinecrest Gardens more operating flexibility and more ways to earn revenue. A revised resolution is expected at the December 2026 council meeting. The restaurant deal and the market contract are already set. The broader question of how much freedom the Gardens has to earn its own revenue goes back to the council in December.
The fall calendar keeps the venue busy in the meantime. These programs bring in the crowds that a restaurant inside the Gardens would serve:
- October 2: The Rocky Horror Picture Show, 8 p.m., with a live cast and a costume contest.
- October 3: Her Market, featuring women-owned brands and makers, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- October 11: Flamenco y Folklórico, an Orchestra Miami family concert, 3 p.m.
- October 24: Pinecrest Uncorked! with a 12-wine tasting at 6:30 p.m., followed by Hazmat Modine's Sound Session concert at 8:15 p.m.
- October 25: Greater Miami Symphonic Band Halloween Concert, 4 p.m.
- November 7: The jazz season opens in the Banyan Bowl with Allyson Briggs & The Dan Gabel Big Band, "America: Together in Harmony," 8 p.m. The Gardens notes that dates and lineups may change.
- November 8: Orchestra Miami's Beethoven Triple Concerto, 6 p.m.
- November 14: Todo el Mundo Dice Aho 2026, 6 to 10 p.m.
Each of these nights brings people through the same paths that lead to Cypress Hall. Under a fixed fee, the Village earned the same amount no matter who came. Under the Platea agreement, a concert night that fills the dining room or a wedding booked in the hall now earns money for the Village too.
Bringing an old building like Cypress Hall back into use depends on decisions made early: what the room was built to do, what it has been asked to do since, and which systems and finishes will support its next use. At Jomed Construction, our pre-construction planning starts with those questions, for historic structures and new architect-led work alike. If you are planning to restore or reuse a building with a past of its own, we invite you to Request a Project Consultation.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
