An excavator’s big claw tore down the façade of the Lake Katharine Shopping Center on a rainy Wednesday in June, the start of a project that will transform the 52-year-old commercial district in Miami Lakes with new dining and retail spaces.
“We’ll divert at least 90 percent of debris from the landfill,” said Ronny Herrera, president of Thunder Demolition of Miami of the work that began on June 26.
His company, flattening the site on behalf of owners The Graham Companies, will recycle the old metal and concrete.
The project is at the eastern end of town, at 6105 Miami Lakes Drive.
Plans by Albert Gonzalez, of AOG Architects in Hialeah call for a new single-story building with 12,300 square feet.
Not part of the rebuilding project are the NQC drive-thru restaurant or the office condominiums along the north side of the center, which all remain open.
Restaurants are proposed for the northern and southern ends of the new building.
The design planned for the southern end closer to Miami Lakes Drive has a large outdoor space which could be good for al fresco dining, according to Danny Martinez, commercial leasing manager for The Graham Companies.
He compared it to restaurants at one of the company’s other shopping centers, Cypress Village.
Other than NQC, customers on that side of town must travel to Red Road to find restaurants.
There is a need for dining and other services for the residential neighborhood that also has the Miami Lakes Youth Center, a large business park that is a destination in the southeast corner of town and numerous office parks.
If weather doesn’t interrupt the schedule, Herrera estimated demolition would be finished by July 9.