An eight-story, $25 million building and office tower is slated to go up on the southwest corner of Bird Road and Ponce de Leon Boulevard, current home of The Collection luxury automobile dealership.

Artist’s rendering (below) showing a possible design for the new eight-story
office tower and building slated for Bird Road and Ponce de Leon Boulevard.

Kenneth Gorin, president and co-owner of The Collection, has told the Coral Gables News that ground will be broken in December for the 700,000-square-foot, Mediterranean modern- styled project that when completed will house the new headquarters for his automobile dealership, as well as space for retail shops and stores on the first three floors, and an additional five stories of office space.

Kenneth Gorin, president of The Collection

"It’s going to be an office tower and retail complex and an automobile dealership," Gorin said. "There will be a basement where The Collection will be able to park its cars. My partner will construct the building."

Gorin’s partner in The Collection is Ugo Colombo, a Miami real estate financier and developer who developed Bristol Tower and Santa Maria Condominium Towers and Brickell Avenue.

Gorin said The Collection will occupy the ground and basement levels of the new building and space will be leased to upscale shops and stores on the second and third levels. He added that the project has been approved by the City of Coral Gables and he hopes to have the building completed within 18 months.

Gorin said that while construction is underway, The Collection will consolidate its operation and move its sales showrooms, service facilities, parts department and administrative offices into two existing locations nearby — one at S. Dixie Highway (US 1) and Ponce de Leon Boulevard, and the other at 3780 Bird Road. He said the company would continue doing business as usual while its new headquarters is being built.

Gorin, 43, hails from Hartford, CT, and is a 22-year veteran of the automobile industry, owning the Jaguar, Mazda and Alpha Romeo dealerships there. Now a Pinecrest resident, he sold his Connecticut holdings in 1995 and moved to South Florida to become co-owner of The Collection and run its day-to-day operations.

Founded in 1988, The Collection has six automobile dealerships — Jaguar, Porsche, Ferrari, Lotus, Aston Martin and Audi — and is one of the leading marketers of luxury cars in the United States, employing 129 sales, service and administration personnel.

For more information, call The Collection at 305-444-5555