Doral

In the late 1950s, real estate pioneers Alfred and Doris Kaskel purchased 2,400 acres of swampland between Northwest 36 Street and Northwest 74 Street and from Northwest 79 Avenue to Northwest 117 Avenue for about $49,000, intending to build a golf course and hotel. In 1962, the Doral Country Club opened in western Dade County, featuring the blue, red and par-3 golf courses, along with a hotel on Miami Beach. The “Doral” name combined Doris and Alfred. As Doral’s very first structure, the Doral Hotel and Country Club became the area’s hot spot: guests were transported from the beach to the country club for a day on the golf course.

In the second year of operations, the Kaskels hosted the first Doral Open Invitational, Florida’s major PGA event. Alfred offered $50,000 in prize money to attract well-known golfers. According to the South Florida Golf Foundation, at the time only three other tournaments were held in Florida, offering a combined total of $65,000 prize money.

By the early 1980s, Doral started to experience its first residential growth spurt, when Alfred’s and Doris’ grandson Bill developed Doral Estates, followed by a joint venture with Lennar Corporation to build Doral Park. Both communities were named after the hotel, a trend that was to be repeated many more times. Although younger families started flooding the area, there were no stores, schools, or parks. Initially, most new homes were investment properties or second homes, but early full-time residents started coming together as a community.

From 1983 to 1985, Miami-Dade County imposed a building moratorium to protect the area’s water wells. Once the ban was lifted, Doral experienced tremendous growth. In 1989, Morgan Levy helped organize the West Dade Federation of Homeowner Associations to stand strong against any proposals that threatened the community’s welfare. Thus, they secured a police station instead of a jail, as well as convinced county officials to implement higher development standards as well as more lighting, roads and landscaping.

In 1995, residents began lobbying for incorporation in earnest, dissatisfied with the high tax rate relative to the services they received, as well as unchecked growth. The county met the first attempt at incorporation with a year’s deferral. Some classified Doral as a “donor community,” meaning that the taxes paid were more than the cost of operations. With the deferral, incorporation efforts intensified even more. In 1996, the community elected its first community council: Jose “Pepe” Cancio, Sr., Mario Pita and Barbara B. Thomas were elected and three other members were appointed. The council initially met once every month.

In 2002, Governor Jeb Bush appointed Cancio to fill the remainder of Miami-Dade Commissioner Miriam Alonso’s term of office. Doral residents hoped that his appointment would bring the community closer to incorporation, and their hopes were realized. Although Cancio endorsed Juan Carlos Bermudez, the City of Doral’s first elected Mayor, as his replacement on the Community Council, Bermudez declined the offer, ran for the seat and was elected. At the time, Bermudez was president of One Doral, a civic organization formed to counteract the perceived influence of the West Dade Federation on the new Council. However, both One Doral and the West Dade Federation proved essential to the incorporation process.

In January 2003, following a seven-year battle, 85% of Doral’s voters voted in favor of incorporation. In June of the same year, 92% voted to accept the City Charter and elected their first Mayor and City Council.

The new City of Doral was named as an attractive location for entrepreneurs with an interest in the Latin America market. Mayor Luigi Boria, elected in November 2012, became the second Venezuelan-American mayor in the United States. He was replaced by Juan Carlos Bermudez who won a reelection bid in 2016.

The city of Doral has its own newspaper, “Doral Community Newspapers, which is published bi-weekly and is part of Miami Community Newspapers. Also, ”The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald publish from their headquarters in Doral.

The City of Doral, Fla. is served by the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale market for local radio and television. Doral has its own local map, Discover Doral City Map, published quarterly since 2005 and distributed in all the shopping centers, hotel lobby, car rental, and visitor information centers. Two big media outlets have their headquarters in Doral: Univision Network/Fusion and CBS-owned & operated affiliate WFOR-TV, Channel 4. Several studios and other TV operations work out from Doral. In addition, the Telemundo chain has a presence in the City of Doral, with one of its main office and production units located there.

In 2005 Doral had over 10,000 businesses. During that year Carnival Cruise Lines, Ryder, and Univision had operations in Doral. For years leading into 2005, Doral attracted businesses of various sizes.

Carnival Corporation and subsidiary Carnival Cruise Lines have their headquarters in Doral. In addition, Amadeus North America, AAXICO, Benihana, and Perry Ellis International have their headquarters in Doral.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Miami Branch Office, one of the five Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta branch offices, is located in Doral.

Martinair operates its Americas headquarters in the Doral Corporate Center One in Doral. Avianca operates a Miami-area sales office in Doral. Grupo TACA operates a Miami-area TACA Center in Doral. El Al has its Miami-area office in Doral. Hellmann Worldwide Logistics has its USA head office in Doral.

Before Doral was incorporated, the second (1996–1998) Pan American World Airways had its headquarters in Doral. At one time Ryder had its headquarters in Doral. In 2002 Ryder announced that it would move its headquarters to a new site in Miami-Dade County.

Portions of CSI: Miami episodes were filmed at CBS’ Doral studios, which is home to its owned-and-operated affiliate, WFOR-TV, as well as MyNetworkTV affiliate WBFS-TV.

In September 2017, Doral published a comprehensive economic study which noted that “The City is home to 6,802 establishments employing 102,235 workers. The total volume of sales revenue from these companies, concentrated in such a small geographic area, represents $679,634 per worker, or over $1.35 million per resident making Doral one of South Florida’s and the State’s most productive local economies.”

The City of Doral Trolley was launched on February 1, 2008 and has been available to residents and visitors alike for a convenient free ride. The pilot program involved a weekday route that ran from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm with one trolley servicing one route. Since then, the City has added five new trolleys and has expanded service with two additional routes, one of which connects to the Metrorail. Currently the system has three routes serviced by seven trolleys.

The city of Doral operates and maintains seven parks with an abundance of amenities for every age and lifestyle.

• Doral Meadow Park
• Doral Central Park
• Trails & Tails Park
• Veterans Park
• Downtown Doral Park
• Morgan Levy Park
• Doral Legacy Park

Colleges and Universities

• Miami-Dade Community College-West Campus
• Millennia Atlantic University
• Carlos Albizu University
• San Ignacio University
• Polytechnic University
• West Coast University

Primary and secondary schools

Public schools

Doral is a part of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools system.

Residents are zoned to the following education facilities:

Public Schools (MDCPS)

• Eugenia B. Thomas K–8 Center
• Ronald W. Reagan/Doral Senior High School
• Dr. Rolando Espinosa K-8 Center
• John I. Smith K-8 Center
• Toni Bilbao Preparatory Academy

Charter Schools

• Doral Academy Charter High School
• Doral Academy Charter Middle School
• Doral Academy of Technology
• Renaissance Elementary Charter School
• Renaissance Middle Charter School
• Downtown Doral Charter Elementary school
• Just Arts and Management Charter Middle School

Private schools

• Divine Savior Academy
• Shelton Academy
• Joy of Learning Child Care Center
• Kids Corner

The Miami-Dade Public Library System operates the Doral Branch, which had re-opened on July 5, 2003 after an expansion, in the Doral Isles Shopping Center. In addition the system operates the 7,500-square-foot (700 m2) International Mall Branch in Doral. The library was the second to be built after the opening of the Main Library in 1985.