Miami’s Little Santo Domingo on list of threatened places

The sign advertises fried chicken and tostones. The irresistible aroma drifts from one of the small businesses in Little Santo Domingo, along a slice of Miami’s Allapattah neighborhood.

But fears are running through the area that one day the food and the businesses, including the Dominican hair salons in the neighborhood, might disappear as Miami continues to remake itself.

Now, a national organization acknowledges what community leaders have been warning about: Little Santo Domingo is in danger. On May 9, the National Trust for Historic Preservation included it in its list of the 11 most endangered historic places in the United States in 2023.

Click to resize

“This National Trust designation should serve as a wake-up call to our leaders about how special this community is and how development must take a balanced approach to preserving history and culture while creating a vibrant and inclusive community,” said Mileyka Burgos-Flores, CEO of The Allapattah Collaborative CDC. The nonprofit organization works to prevent the displacement of local small businesses, and to reinforce the neighborhood’s economy and preserve its cultural heritage.

KNOW MORE: Is Allapattah the next hot Miami neighborhood?

A threat to businesses in Little Santo Domingo?

The small businesses of Little Santo Domingo and the affordable Allapattah housing for workers are in the path of development that is marching through the area, including nearby Wynwood, the heart of Miami’s Puerto Rican community. The Dominican heart of Miami runs along this Allapattah corridor, Northwest 17th Avenue between 28th and 36th streets.

“The essence of small businesses is being lost,” said Jasmely D. Jackson, daughter of Luis de la Cruz, who opened the Club Típico Dominicano 38 years ago on Northwest 36th Street and 13th Avenue.

“Obviously, there is a change,” she said. “We have to advance, but it is very sad because we no longer have many small businesses; they have had to close.”

The restaurant, which turns into a club on weekends that vibrates with merengue music, is to Dominicans what Versailles restaurant in Little Havana is to Cubans. It’s a meeting place, a place of entertainment, a place to find comfort food that’s just a few steps away from La Placita Dominicana, where you can find products from the Dominican Republic.

“I don’t want to be kicked out of the neighborhood,” said Jackson, who has helped her father in the business since she was a girl and has seen the importance of the neighborhood to Dominicans.

The De la Cruz family owns the restaurant building, but other merchants in the area rent space for their businesses. Increasing rent has forced some of them to leave or sell their businesses, Jackson said.

Impact on the neighborhood

With the new developments coming into the area, the first impression is that the neighborhood is transforming for the better. The new buildings bring hope that money will flow to the community. And art galleries are starting to open.

“But those galleries are not small businesses,” Jackson warned. “They are aimed at the Wynwood, Midtown audience.”

The businesswoman favors tourism in the neighborhood. After all, many visitors come to dance at her club. But at the same time, she wants the city not to “make things difficult for older business owners.”

“It is important that the city of Miami understands that neighborhoods must have an essence, an identity, and I want to ask that they work with small businesses,” Jackson said.

What about the residents?

Burgos-Flores, of The Allapattah Collaborative CDC, doesn’t want tourism, development or construction at the expense of residents, especially the elderly, who depend on affordable housing.

“Years ago, you could buy a house in Allapattah for $100,000. Today you can’t buy it even if you have $400,000,” she said. “Back then, a family could rent a two-bedroom apartment for $1,200. Today several families have to live in a single house to pay the prices, which can reach $2,500.”

Businesses have also suffered from the increase in Miami real estate values.

“Since River Landing opened, rents for businesses in Allapattah went up by $300 to $400,” Burgos-Flores said of the riverside shopping and residential complex in the health and hospital district to the south.

The community leader, born in Santo Domingo, got to know the Miami neighborhood when she was studying at the University of Miami in 1998. Tired of the food from the school cafeteria, she searched for the flavors of her country and found the warmth and joy of local Dominicans.

She proudly talks about the “domino park” in the Juan Pablo Duarte Park, which bears the name of one of the founding fathers of the Dominican Republic. In that green area, Dominicans and other Hispanics from the neighborhood gather to enjoy dominoes, proof that the game is taken seriously beyond Calle Ocho.

“Here is a community ready to speak, there are organizations that represent them. We don’t want private development to be done like in a vacuum,” said Burgos-Flores, who has seen small businesses in the neighborhood for decades close because they couldn’t pay the increasing rent.

Community leaders are also requesting improvement to streets and landscaping. Sidewalks also need repair and expansion in order to house the sculptures of “cheeky” dolls — typical of those in the Dominican Republic. They hope those dolls do the same as a landmark for this area as the rooster street sculptures have for Little Havana.

“Not everything is lost. This is a unique place that must be protected,” Burgos-Flores said, celebrating the designation of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which works to save the nation’s historic places.

“There are so many special places in Miami, Little Havana, Overtown, that show the resilience of our communities,” she said. “We must have the audacity to do better.”