Parrot Jungle · Pinecrest Gardens
Saving Parrot Jungle.
When Parrot Jungle prepared to leave its historic Red Road home, Gary Matzner helped lead the campaign to keep the land public. The result is Pinecrest Gardens.
Pinecrest Gardens · Village of Pinecrest
The place
Parrot Jungle opened on Red Road in 1936.
Parrot Jungle opened in 1936 at Red Road and Southwest 111th Street. Franz and Louise Scherr built paths and coral-rock structures through an existing tropical landscape, leaving much of the native vegetation in place and making free-flying birds the attraction’s signature.
The property was more than a collection of exhibits. Its hardwood hammock, cypress slough, limestone formations, remnant Snapper Creek streambed, natural waterways, caves, and fissures formed a rare landscape in the middle of metropolitan Miami-Dade. Generations of residents and visitors associated that landscape with Red Road and the community that later became Pinecrest.
Preserve the Jungle
A campaign for public ownership.
Parrot Jungle’s planned move to Watson Island left the future of the original property in question. The land carried residential development potential, and the newly incorporated Village had to decide whether a site central to Pinecrest’s identity would remain intact and accessible to the public.
Gary became president and founder of Preserve the Jungle Inc., the nonprofit effort that supported the Village’s bid, organized public backing, and helped raise more than $4 million toward the purchase. Residents, donors, Village officials, private fundraising, and a state grant all contributed to the acquisition.
On December 17, 2002, the Village completed the 13.38-acre acquisition. Florida Communities Trust records list a $2.2 million grant, a local match of approximately $5.84 million, and a total project cost of approximately $8.04 million.
From attraction to public garden
The preservation story in five dates.
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Parrot Jungle opens on Red Road.
Franz and Louise Scherr opened an attraction built around free-flying birds, coral-rock paths, native hammock, tropical planting, and the site’s natural water and limestone features.
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The future of the land becomes uncertain.
As Parrot Jungle prepared to move to Watson Island, Pinecrest faced the possible loss of a landmark that had helped define the area for six decades.
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Gary helps organize the preservation campaign.
Gary served as president and founder of Preserve the Jungle Inc., which advocated for public ownership and helped raise more than $4 million toward the Village acquisition.
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The Village completes the purchase.
The 13.38-acre Pinecrest Parrot Jungle project closed with a $2.2 million Florida Communities Trust grant and a local match of approximately $5.84 million.
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Pinecrest Gardens is dedicated.
The former attraction reopened as a municipal park, preserving its historic entrance, garden landscape, coral-rock structures, and public relationship to Red Road.
Pinecrest Gardens
Parrot Jungle became Pinecrest Gardens.
Pinecrest Gardens was dedicated as a municipal park on March 8, 2003. Its historic entrance, tropical garden, waterways, coral rock, and original landscape remain part of a public place used for arts, recreation, education, markets, and community gatherings.
Gary later called Pinecrest Gardens the Village’s downtown. The campaign prevented the property from being divided for residential development and secured it for public use.
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