This Gables school has helped kids with autism for 16 years. Why it’s moving
Mary Palacio is on the search for a temporary home for the nonprofit private school she founded 16 years ago in Coral Gables, a challenge in pricey South Florida. Crystal Academy needs to move out of its aging building by summer 2027, when it and a neighboring church are expected to be razed for the construction of a new luxury high-rise.
The fate of Crystal Academy, a school for kids with autism, will depend on a promise made by a now-deceased developer and the outcome of the controversial project he left behind.
The late Sergio Pino, whose company Century Homebuilders bought the land in 2021 to build an apartment complex, had signed a contract with Palacio that year, promising her a new rent-free school as part of the development. Three years later, he died by suicide in July 2024 amid an FBI investigation into death threats against his estranged wife.
His estranged wife, Tatiana Pino, has since taken over Century and is honoring the contract he had signed with Crystal Academy. Palacio says it’s a life-changing offer for the school, whose children largely rely on scholarships and insurer reimbursements to cover therapeutic services. But a multi-year feud over the project’s plans has left the school’s future in limbo.
A vocal group of neighbors in the area are at odds with developers over the future of the land, which currently houses Crystal Academy, the since-closed St. James Evangelical Lutheran Church, a religious garden known as the Garden of Our Lord and a playground with an ancient live oak tree.
Residents have argued that the development’s density, height, style and other factors are not compatible with the neighborhood. Many said the project doesn’t have enough green space and are asking the city to protect the garden and the large and old trees in the area, including the one in Crystal Academy’s playground.
One of those neighbors recently filed a lawsuit against Coral Gables as part of an effort to save the tree, a move that has stalled the project’s ongoing approval process.
That complicates things for Crystal Academy, which is caught in the crossfire.
Uncertainty about the project has made it difficult to shop around for a lease, according to Palacio. Even the move-out date of summer 2027 is tentative and could be delayed.
“Should I move now and leave this beautiful space that has been [filled] with our heart and passion for over 16 years?” she wonders. “What if I move this summer — next summer, and then what? And then this project keeps being delayed and delayed and delayed?”
For Palacio, whose son has autism, the larger goal is to find ways to expand and improve the services offered at Crystal Academy, which has cared for hundreds of children, from toddlers to teens, since its doors opened in 2009 on Antilla Avenue.
“Our challenge is just to find a space that we can tailor to the needs of the students that we serve,” she said.
A ‘blessing’ for students
Crystal Academy is a one-stop shop for kids with autism and other neurological disorders, offering academic studies, visual and performing arts instruction, and a vast array of therapies, including occupational, behavioral, music and speech. Every child that enrolls in Crystal undergoes an assessment so that teachers and therapists can personalize lessons based on their needs.
One student from Broward, for example, usually arrives stressed and overwhelmed from the long and gridlocked drive to school. Staff give her time to play with Play-Doh to help relax and adjust before she joins the rest of the class.
Walk the halls of Crystal Academy, and you’ll see children who are non-verbal carrying tablets filled with pictographs, including visuals that represent the bathroom, toys and food, so that they can easily tell staff what they need or want to do.
“It’s been a blessing,” said Carlos Segrera, whose 13-year-old daughter has attended Crystal Academy since she was 3.
Segrera said he enrolled his daughter in Crystal Academy when it was only a therapy center and did not have an academic program. She did first grade at a public school and, while the teachers were great, “the resources were not there,” he said. He noticed his daughter was “struggling” and not talking much.
Then, Crystal Academy began offering an academic program for students with autism and other neurological disorders. Segrera enrolled his daughter and, within months, “saw progress.”
“I wish there were more schools like Crystal,” Segrera added.
During a recent visit to the K-12 school, students were being taught in small groups and in one-on-one lessons. Inside a colorful and sensory-friendly room, a child swayed on a swing as his speech therapist helped him practice making different sounds.
Elsewhere, inside a classroom in what once was part of the now-defunct church, a boy in a wheelchair sat near a stained-glass window. He uses an assistive device to speak.
“Hi, I’m Miles,” he said through the device, which uses a software that tracks and translates his eyes’ movements into speech.
For Palacio, the goal of Crystal Academy is not just to teach students. It’s also to encourage them to be independent and involved in the community.
Older students do weekly field trips to Publix to learn how to count money and shop within a budget, either with cash or card. Students are then taught how to cook and meal prep.
“It’s about independence,” lead therapist Jessica Reyes said while helping one of her teenage students cook pasta.
Other field trips take students to buy books at a nearby bookstore, eat at a restaurant, watch a movie or see a play. Sometimes, they go to the city’s sensory-friendly playground at Salvadore Park, which the city created with input from students at the school. They use the free trolley service to get around the city. Sometimes they’ll walk, instead, to learn how to read traffic signals and safely cross the road.
Palacio, who is a member of the city’s school community relations committee and has previously served on the city’s disability affairs advisory board, said the school tries to connect students with extracurricular activities, too. Crystal Academy students perform at the city’s annual holiday show. Others explore acting through the nonprofit Area Stage’s sensory-friendly theater program.
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Crystal students are artists, too. Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago sponsored an initiative several years ago to raise a flag designed by students from Crystal Academy at City Hall in April for Autism Awareness Month.
“Crystal Academy represents the very best of what we strive for in the City of Coral Gables, a community that is inclusive, compassionate, and deeply committed to every child’s potential,” Lago told the Miami Herald in a statement.
The deal
Crystal Academy left an impact on the late Sergio Pino, too.
After being given a tour of the school in 2020, Pino said that he liked what it was doing, Palacio recalled. She said that Pino told her and her attorney that as long as Crystal’s mission stayed the same, the school would get a new facility on the property as part of the development and would be “rent-free for 98 years.”
She said the conversation happened at the playground, not too far from the ancient tree that neighbors are trying to save.
Palacio’s jaw dropped.
“I thought I was losing it,” she said.
But she said Pino was serious and signed a contract with her to make sure Crystal’s rent-free deal on the property was locked in, no matter what happened in the future. Palacio said Pino told her the contract was necessary “because if something happens to me, you’re going to be left without nothing.”
Not having to pay rent would free up more money to provide and expand services for students, many of whom rely on Medicaid and other insurers to cover therapy, she said. And the need is high — autism diagnosis rates in the country have risen over the past two decades. In 2022, about one in 31 children in the U.S. were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder by age 8, according to the most recent federal data.
“Autism doesn’t stop. It gets better with therapy and intervention,” said Palacio. “Once you have a child being able to communicate and regulate, a new window opens. Opportunity opens.”
The new development would also give Crystal Academy a brand-new school, taking away another headache for Palacio: repairs.
Crystal Academy has spent thousands repairing the aged building in recent years. Repair costs this year alone have ballooned to $27,000, she said. It would have been more, but the school found another ally in Sergio Pino’s ex-wife Tatiana, who is now president of Century, the largest Hispanic-owned home builder in the nation, and also Crystal Academy’s landlord.
Tatiana Pino, through Century’s foundation, has helped cover another $30,000 in repairs this year for the nonprofit school, according to Palacio. She hasn’t raised Crystal Academy’s rent and has also helped connect Palacio with people who could guide her on applying for grants.
“I’m going to be always grateful,” said Palacio.
Crystal Academy raises funds for scholarships
Before it was Crystal Academy, the building housed a private Christian school, which Palacio’s son Joshua attended. The owner of the school, who was ready to retire, encouraged Palacio, who worked in advertising, to take over the lease.
When Palacio finally opened Crystal Academy in 2009, it was initially a therapy center offering services inspired by Palacio’s own needs and experiences with her son David, who was diagnosed with autism as a toddler. It was thanks to donations from supporters that Crystal was able to expand its services and add more grades, according to Palacio.
She’s hoping supporters this year will help the school hit its $150,000 goal to raise funds for scholarships, its creative arts program, a pre-vocational training expansion, and to also help prepare for its upcoming move, through Give Miami Day 2025, the Miami Foundation’s annual fundraising event for nonprofits across the county. Early giving starts Saturday, giving people time to donate to their favorite causes ahead of Give Miami Day’s Nov. 20 finale. Palacio, who describes Give Miami Day as the school’s main fundraising event, said the money raised will not just help cover student tuition but will also help fill payment gaps to ensure the school can continue to offer a one-to-one ratio of therapists to students.
Palacio said the school is also planning to kick off a campaign in the future to help fund its upcoming move.
Her hope is to find an understanding landlord who will give the school an affordable lease in a nearby building that can be converted into an accessible and sensory-friendly space for students. Palacio, who recently gave a tour of the school to South Miami Commissioner Steve Calle, is eying a potential spot in South Miami.
But she’s still browsing around. Once the new school is built, Palacio said she’d like to bring the younger children back to the original Gables location and keep the second space open to offer services for adults with autism and other conditions.
For now, Palacio knows she needs to be patient while the legal process plays out.
Still, the uncertainty is keeping Palacio up at night.
“The dates keep moving,” she said. “I need to really follow, like I have been following for almost five years, how this project is unfolding.”
This story was originally published November 15, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misidentified the South Miami official who spoke with Palacio.
