Little Santo Domingo business owners fear becoming next Wynwood

MIAMI – A colorful neighborhood with busy restaurants, noisy barber shops and bakeries could be in danger. That’s what small business owners on NW 17th Avenue, between 28th and 36th Street say. They are part of little Santo Domingo, in Allapattah.

“Gentrification is definitely here, we already see it,” says Julio Diaz, who has owned a clothing store on the corner of 17th Avenue and 35th Street for 19 years. “This is prime real estate, this corner lot. I could just imagine a building here,” said Diaz, who fears the future could be months away.

Meanwhile, the owner of Nuevo Amanercer Restaurant, Carmen Robles, says that the customers who come to her establishment for sea food or Dominican platters have seen what is happening. 

“Developers are coming to the area asking business owners if we own the property, we fear they want to purchase the area to make it another Wynwood,” said Robles referring to the modern neighborhood only a mile away from Little Santo Domingo.

“What we would like is the transformation that is happening to take into consideration a balanced approach where the community can remain,” said Mileyka Burgos Flores. She is the founder of the Allapatah Collaborative CDC, a non-profit organization that works to prevent the displacement of small businesses, she said they are trying to come up with a plan.

“Our work is to prepare them to provide them technical assistance and financial back up so they can own that store front,” said Burgos Flores.

Fernando Trinidad, known as “power,” because of his barber shop and hair salon, said in the last two years he has felt the change.

“We are no longer getting leases for five years as we used to, if we are lucky three years maximum. Some landlords are only offering one year, which is a bad sign,” said Trinidad.

Flores said it was in the last 30 years that the Dominican presence became evident in Miami.

According to the US Census, almost 60,000 Dominicans live in Miami-Dade County and the heart of their businesses is in Allapatah, which is under the jurisdiction of City of Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla. 

CBS News Miami contacted his office Friday morning, but by the evening, he had not responded.

Julio Diaz, who owns a clothing store, says his dream is to pass on the business to his son, but for the first time he is having doubts.

“I fear I won’t be able do it here in Allapattah, where it all started.”