Featured Apartment:
Coral Gables - 3 bedroom and 3 baths, family kitchen with eating area and large entertainment room. The kitchen has loads of dark maple cabinetry for storage, walk in pantry, five burner gas stove, island with veggie sink and loads of granite. The master suite has large walk in closet and bath has a large soaking tub, over-sized shower and 2 vanity sinks. View More Listings -->
Renting an Apartment in Coral Gables
Coral Gables was one of the first planned communities, and prefigured the
development of the gated community and the homeowners association. It is
notorious for its aesthetic regulations. The city was developed by George Edgar
Merrick during the Florida land boom of the 1920s. The city's architecture is
almost entirely Mediterranean. By 1926, the city covered 10,000 acres, had
netted $150 million in sales with over $100 million spent on development.
Merrick designed the downtown commercial district to be only four blocks wide
and more than two miles long. The area is now serviced by a free trolley system
that runs down Ponce de Leon Boulevard, the main artery disecting the business
district. Merrick could boast that every business in Coral Gables was less than
a two block walk. The old trolley system was replaced by the popularity of
modern automobiles until a new free trolley system was initiated in November,
2003. Now, Coral Gables is known as a pedestrian-friendly destination. Located
only four miles from Miami International Airport, the "City Beautiful" boasts
more than 140 dining establishments and gourmet shops, plus many notable
international retailers. Among the beautiful and distinctive landmarks in Coral
Gables are the Venetian Pool, Douglas Entrance, the Biltmore Hotel, and many
fine residences.
In 1925, roughly simultaneous to the founding of Coral Gables, the city was
selected as the home to the University of Miami, which was constructed that year
on 240 acres of land just west of U.S. Route 1, approximately two miles south of
downtown Coral Gables.
Coral Gables is best known as home to the University of Miami, a recognized
university that ranks academically among the top tier of U.S.-based colleges and
universities, with particular national status in the fields of business,
medicine, law, and music, in which the university is considered among the best
in the nation.
The University of Miami also maintains one of the nation's most successful
collegiate athletic programs. It has won repeated national championships in both
Division I football (1983, 1987, 1989, 1991 and 2001) and baseball (1982, 1985,
1999 and 2001). Over the past 25 years, the University of Miami has been amongst
the most successful Division I college football program in the nation, as its
five national championships since 1983 are the most of any Division I university
of the past quarter century).
The University of Miami also has graduated two Heisman Trophy winners, Vinny
Testaverde (in 1986) and Gino Torretta (in 1992), and three of its former
football players--Ted Hendricks, Michael Irvin, Jim Kelly and Jim Otto--went on,
following highly successful National Football League careers, to be elected into
the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the highest honor awarded a former NFL player.
Currently, the University of Miami has more of its graduates playing in the NFL
than any other U.S. college or university. For this reason, the "U" as its known
to locals, will always be more recognized for its athletics instead of
academics. The university's current president, Dr. Shalala, has the
responsibility of changing this reality.