In April 2025, Hermès spent 10 days on the Coconut Grove waterfront staging "Wings of Hermès," a multimedia performance about the craftsmanship behind its leather goods. It took place inside a seaplane hangar built in 1934, on city-owned land at Dinner Key. More than a decade earlier, Miami voters had been told that the building would house marine retail, meaning bait, fishing gear and boating accessories.
That building is now The Hangar at Regatta Harbour, and its fall 2026 schedule is full. Sumo wrestling and sushi in October, a jewelry and watch show in November, and an art fair marking its 20th anniversary in December. Every one of those dates falls inside a city waiver that ends December 31, 2026. The ordinance that could have made event use permanent was withdrawn in July. Next year's calendar on this stretch of waterfront hasn't been decided, and it will be decided at City Hall, which sits a short walk away in the old Pan Am terminal.
The Calendar, Date by Date
These are the confirmed public dates on and around Dinner Key from now through December, taken from the venues' and organizers' own pages.
| Date | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday, Oct. 10, noon to 6 p.m. | Fall Mercadito, an open-air market | Regatta Grove, 3415 Pan American Dr. |
| Saturday, Oct. 10, 6 to 9 p.m. | King Mango Strut poster unveiling with live music | Fuller Street |
| Oct. 16 to 18 | Sumo + Sushi Miami | The Hangar, 3385 Pan American Dr. |
| Nov. 13 to 15 | Coconut Grove Jewelry & Watch Show | The Hangar |
| Dec. 3 to 6 | PINTA Miami, 20th-anniversary fair | The Hangar |
October 10 is the easiest day to fill. The Mercadito runs into the late afternoon, and the Strut poster celebration on Fuller Street starts right as the market ends. The parade itself is set for Sunday, January 3, 2027, from 2 to 6 p.m.
Regatta Grove runs on a steadier rhythm than The Hangar. It is a 1.3-acre open-air food hall next to Regatta Park, operated by Breakwater Hospitality Group, and its current lineup has five food concepts: Phuc Yea Modern Vietnamese, Tackle Box, The Piefather, House of Birds Drop Biscuits and JJ's Guilty Pleasures. The fall schedule has happy hours on Thursdays and Fridays from 4 to 7 p.m., "Sip, Savor, Celebrate" on Saturdays and "Smooth Sailing" on Sundays. Bayshore Club, the 300-seat open-air restaurant run by Grove Bay Hospitality Group on the former Scotty's Landing site, covers the sit-down side of the waterfront.
There is also a newer table across the water. La Sponda, an Italian restaurant from the Daniel's team at 4 Grove Isle Drive, appeared in The Infatuation's list of new Miami openings for September. Its menu includes caviar carbonara, cotoletta and tiramisu.
Why The Hangar's Season Has an End Date
The Hangar's schedule runs past a rule most venues never deal with. City-owned, leased sites in Miami are limited to 10 special events a year, with a maximum of 14 days per event. The City Commission can waive those limits. Run the arithmetic on this fall alone. Sumo + Sushi, the jewelry show and PINTA take up 10 days among them, all in a 20,000-square-foot building where the city's Fire-Rescue Department has recorded crowds of up to 1,600 people.
The commission waived the cap for The Hangar for all of 2025. On April 23, 2026, at the request of District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo, it waived the cap again, covering events from that date through the end of 2026. That makes two consecutive years of exemptions, the first covering all of 2025 and the second running from late April to December 31. PINTA's closing day on December 6 is the last public date currently on the books before the 2026 waiver ends.
The lease explains why the venue depends on waivers. The City of Miami signed an 80-year lease in 2014 with Grove Bay Investment Group, the owner and operator of the seven-acre Regatta Harbour complex. The lease lists permitted uses that include marina operations, boat repair, marine services, restaurants and retail. The Coconut Grove Spotlight's review found no reference to concerts or fairs in either the technical proposal or the promotional version shown to voters. The Spotlight also reported in December 2025 that city records showed no certificate of use issued for The Hangar. A certificate of use is the authorization confirming that a type of business at a particular address complies with zoning and safety codes.
The Permanent Route That Was Withdrawn in July
A permanent answer was proposed. A citywide ordinance would have let designated historic buildings operate as event venues through an exception granted by the Historic and Environmental Preservation Board. The city described it as an adaptive-reuse measure, and the Spotlight reported that it could provide the zoning authorization a certificate of use for The Hangar would need. The proposal was deferred in January after residents raised concerns about noise, traffic and the commercialization of public waterfront. It came back largely unchanged, and on July 23, 2026, the commission withdrew it unanimously.
The lease raises a question the ordinance never addressed. The lease has no provisions on event revenue, so it says nothing about how that income should count toward rent paid to the city. No source located through early October 2026 confirms a new certificate of use, a lease amendment or a 2027 waiver. Programming at The Hangar after December would likely take another vote, either a third waiver or a different legislative route.
The Rest of Dinner Key Is Also Being Renegotiated
The Hangar is not the only city-owned site at Dinner Key whose terms are under discussion this year. Within a few hundred yards along the bay:
- The Pan Am terminal. In September the commission voted to keep City Hall in the historic terminal rather than move it to the new administrative building under construction in Freedom Park. Commissioner Pardo sponsored the resolution, and the Spotlight noted that a future commission could reverse it.
- Grove Harbour. The operator of the marina and marketplace that includes The Fresh Market, a city lessee since 1999, sued the City of Miami in Miami-Dade Circuit Court over its rent. An appraisal commissioned in 2024 put fair-market rent at about $990,000 a year for the 2020 period and about $1.12 million for 2025. The operator says a revised appraisal valued the two historic hangars alone at about $2.86 million a year, based on uses such as a food hall and retail that do not currently exist there. The city did not respond to the Spotlight's request for comment.
- Regatta Harbour itself. Grove Harbour also sued Regatta Harbour's ownership group in March, alleging that a promised joint-marina operation was abandoned.
All three disputes raise the same question as The Hangar's waiver. Each asks what a piece of public waterfront is for and what it should earn for the city. The Museum of Miami has offered its own answer for the terminal. The day after the City Hall vote, it sent the city a letter of intent proposing a long-term partnership: a civic commons with a museum building, an archive, and a continuous baywalk with protected water views.
"We have very few spaces in Miami on the water that are still accessible to our community," said Natalia Crujeiras, CEO and executive director of the Museum of Miami.
A city spokesperson has said the city "is not entertaining any proposals for a different use of the Dinner Key facilities at this time." If the museum chose to file a formal unsolicited proposal, it would have to pay a $25,000 application fee, and the district commissioner would decide whether to consider it further.
The same question about public waterfront is on the November ballot. Referendum 3 asks Miami voters whether to approve an $80 million marina redevelopment on Virginia Key, leasing nearly 28 acres of public waterfront to private developers for an initial 45-year term, with options extending it to as long as 75 years.
What Is Settled Past December
Some dates are fixed beyond December 31. The King Mango Strut parade is set for January 3, 2027, and the Coconut Grove Arts Festival for February 13 to 15, 2027. City Hall stays in the Pan Am terminal unless a future commission votes otherwise. Regatta Grove's weekly happy hours have no announced end date. Whether The Hangar keeps hosting public events in 2027 depends on a commission action that has not yet been scheduled. The 2026 waiver covers PINTA Miami on December 3 to 6.
Questions about a building's permitted uses, its lease and its zoning are the kind Héctor Silva worked through on the City of Miami's Planning, Zoning & Appeals Board. If you're weighing a Coconut Grove purchase near Dinner Key and want to understand how the waterfront's leases and pending votes could shape the area around it, Privé Advisory Group can walk you through the record. Request a Private Call.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
