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"Boom Town" (The Miami Herald - Tropical Life September 20, 1998) Since Pinecrest became a city two years ago, crime is down and the joys of small-town living are way up. But the price of admission into this venerable suburb doesn't come cheap. By Donna Gehence White, Herald Staff Writer Janice and Ted Tate grew up in Pinecrest when kids still rode horses on tree-shaded lanes and you could make a few extra bucks by selling flowers and vegetables at a roadside stand. It was a rural childhood in the shadow of Miami high-rises. So when the Tates - Palmetto High sweethearts - married and had their own children, they dreamed of coming "home" to Pinecrest. Today, the Tates and their three kids live on their own tree-shaded Pinecrest lane, just a mile or so from their parents' homes. "You know your neighbors. You are in a big city, but you get that homey feeling." said Janice Tate. Pinecrest's sense of small-town life is attracting scores of families in the 1990's from multimillionaires to the moms and dads scrimping to afford hefty mortgages. Forget disputing the logic of paying $200,000 for a three-bedroom fixer-upper. Or spending $325,000 for an acre of land. Pinecrest is that hot. Those stampeding to get in - home sales were up 24 percent in just one year according to one realty firm - figure life in Pinecrest might be as good as it gets in South Florida. The town, which incorporated as a city in 1996, has low taxes, strong public schools and its own police force - even someone whose job it is to paint over graffiti. "People call me saying they want Pinecrest. And they won't go out of Pinecrest. They are willing to pay for it no matter how they have to," said Hazel Goldman-Murphy, an associate with Prudential Florida Realty. But buying a home in Pinecrest is out of range for many; Nine our to 10 houses sell for more than $200,000, according to an analysis by Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell, the Coral Gables realty firm. That makes the Village of Pinecrest one of the most expensive cities in the county. And it's attracting a fat slice of the affluent market. Of the more than 50 permits issued for new homes this year, many - if not most - will cost a least $1 million. With an acre of and going for $300,000 and up, it's not surprising. In a county where open land is disappearing, Pinecrest offers hundreds of homes on half-acre and acre lots. That appealed to South Miami lawyers Don and Elizabeth Russo, who bought a 9,000 square foot Italian villa on two acres. Today their Pinecrest mansion towers over older, ranch-style homes in the neighborhood. Buying in Pinecrest "was kind of an emotional thing" said Don Russo, father of daughter Christy Bay, 8, and stepson Jim, 13. "It's just got a feeling with the open spaces, the big trees and lots of families. When it came down to settling permanent roots, we wanted to live in Pinecrest." "The neighborhood is changing, it's significantly more affluent," said Jon Fels, a longtime custom builder who is president of Avatar Properties and who heads the Building Industry Association of South Florida. Fels built two small exclusive communities in Pinecrest, the last of which, The Sanctuary, drew a dozen buyers willing to pay around $1 million for a sprawling house on an acre lot. Some people are buying older homes on the large lots just to bulldoze to accommodate mansions. Upgrading the ranch houses There is also substantial remodeling. Many Pinecrest homes are sprawling ranches built in the 1950s and 1960s. Their new owners want gourmet kitchens, family rooms, master suites - the '90s amenities. Up to one home for every six residents has been worked on in the last year, from updating wiring to adding rooms, according to permits issued by the city. "We are really hot," said Mayor Evelyn Greer. So hot that John Rotger didn't have to do much selling when, as sales manager of Villas of Pinecrest, he helped convert the property's 206 apartments into condos at the edge of Pinecrest, near Kendall Drive and Southwest 67th Avenue. In just a year, young families and single professionals have bought nearly all the 1- to 3-bedroom units, ranging from $63,900 to $97,900. "I wish we had more properties like this," he said. The more expensive homes go just as quickly. Two years ago, builder Ken Gomberg bought and developed six acres just south of Kendall Drive in Pinecrest is a million-dollar development he named Ashmont. He has already built - and sold - all six luxury homes, which ranged in price for $900,000 to $1.2 million. In two weeks, he'll turn over the last home to the new owners. "It went overnight," he said. The reason: Many wealthy people want the large lots that Pinecrest still has. "Most of the county doesn't have that," said Gomberg, who runs Kenser Homes. South Dade's booming Businesses are lining up to cater to Pinecrest's new families - creating a renaissance along the city's share of South Dixie Highway. Wild Oats, the upscale natural food store, and Fancy's Real Italian Cuisine restaurant have each moved into Pinecrest. Roasters 'N Toasters, a New York-style deli that opened in the early '90s, has expanded. And last spring, John Clarke and Martin Lynch, founders of JohnMartin's in Coral Gables, opened an Irish pub, O'Casey's, that is attracting more business in Pinecrest than the original did when it opened on Miracle Mile, Lynch said. Victor Pantin, who moved from Coral Gables to Pinecrest last year, appreciates the new shops. "I thought I would miss the Gables," he said. Instead, he found he could shop and dine within a couple of miles from his home - just like he used to. And like the Gables, Pinecrest has stability: It's almost a throwback to an era when families stayed in communities for generations, Greer said. "They feel Pinecrest is their hometown - they want to make an investment here," she said. You can go home again Janice Tate always knew she wanted to raise her family in Pinecrest. So did her older sister, Marilyn Mitchell, who returned to buy a there. The roots run deep: Their father, Bill Hirni, was a Metro-Dade police officer who moonlighted by growing and selling flowers off Red Road; Hirni's Wayside Garden Florists remains a landmark in Pinecrest. Anita Shuffield also wanted to move back to Pinecrest, where she grew up. So she and her husband, Ron Shuffield, president of EWM, moved to a small gated enclave several blocks from the house where she grew up. "For me, it's wonderful," she said. "My parents are a mile away. My kids love that." The small-town feel was part of the impetus for Pinecrest to incorporate as its own city. In the 1980s and early 1990s Pinecrest went through the same kind of wrenching times as did many neighborhoods in Miami-Dade. No Immunity from problems The FBI's worst bloodshed in history occurred in 1986 behind Pinecrest's Suniland Shopping Center. After five minutes and 131 bullets, four people - including two FBI agents and two bank robbers - were dead. Five others were wounded. In 1991, Pinecrest residents endured another scare: County health authorities found high levels of tetrachloroethylene, a chemical used in dry cleaning, in a number of Suniland wells. That prompted the county to order 1,200 homeowners to hood up to the county water main. Hurricane Andrew blew in yet more turmoil the following year. Then came a rash of crime and graffiti. By the mid-1990s, many homeowners were weary - and wanted out, Greer said. But she and other activists persuaded residents to try incorporation instead. And when the Village of Pinecrest officially was incorporated in 1996, Greer became its first mayor. Pinecrest resident Richard Brodsky, an attorney who opposed incorporation, still doesn't think it was a good idea. He says Pinecrest could have solved its problems by chipping in a few extra dollars and forming a special policing district. Instead, he said, the residents just got more bureaucracy - the new city administrators. Greer, however, said Pinecrest taxes are well spent on hiring the town's won police officers, planting trees, painting over graffiti, paving roads, establishing new parks and supporting its neighborhood public schools. Residents have voted their approval by staying put: Almost 15 percent fewer homes are up for sale than a year ago, which is partly fueling this year's 7.5 percent surge in the average home sale price, according to an EWM analysis. Schools and safety What residents like best about their new city, Greer said, is that they feel safe. In the year since Pinecrest started its own police force of 35 officers, the most prevalent type of crime has plummeted: Car thefts dropped from 168 incidents to 79 while car break-ins have plunged to almost half, from 429 to 266. "You can see the difference," said Pinecrest Police Chief Bruce Davis. "Before, our residents never knew a Metro cop by name," said council member Leslie Bowe. "Now they know several by name." Fernando Calcines is relieved. When thieves broke into his car, police were there within minutes and even gave chase, he said. "That's a good feeling," he said. Another reason he and other residents feel good about Pinecrest is the schools. Every week, scores of volunteer moms and dads come out to help - from grading weekly "Math Superstar" problems to reading to kids at lunch. While most Miami-Dade schools are struggling below the national test score average, the Pinecrest public schools - Pinecrest, Palmetto and Howard Drive elementaries; Palmetto Middle; and Palmetto High - consistently score well above it. This spring, Palmetto High made Newsweek's list of top 100 high schools in the nation. "Pinecrest is and has been a hot area because of the schools. A lot of couples will start in Coral Gables and have their babies. But when they start thinking about schools, off they go to Pinecrest," said Prudential Florida Realtor-associate Donna Gaines. Now, city leaders are trying to buy the Parrot Jungle grounds to keep as a park and establish another park off Southwest 82nd Street on the current site of a mobile home park. Of course, no amount of money can keep all the problems out of Pinecrest. Urban life crowds its borders, with Dadeland and Kendall Drive just to the west. Pastures are being plowed over for estate homes. Even so, a few horses still graze in fields - and a lot of kids walk home from school, just like their parents did. And so the families keep coming. The Pantins, with three girls, moved in last year. They couldn't be happier with their friendly neighbors, roomy house and big terrace and swimming pool. Said Pantin, "We found a great house in a great neighborhood."

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