Mar. 15--The Coconut Grove Expo Center should be history this fall.

Miami city leaders said Wednesday they would like to see the planned demolition of the 152,000-square-foot building done in October, Robert Weinreb, a project manager, said.

The blowup would occur after Burn Notice, a crime series from the USA Network, wraps up filming of its third season in August.

The demolition is the most visible element of a plan to open up Coconut Grove's waterfront so people can take fuller advantage of its views.

Plans call for open space and an amphitheater where the expo center now stands.

A white elephant -- best known as the spot where Jim Morrison was arrested for allegedly exposing himself during a Doors concert -- the expo center has had its share of ups and downs in recent years.

It was damaged by hurricanes and shut down in 2006, although city leaders later decided to lease production space at cheap rates to the show.

A waterfront implementation committee, formed at the behest of City Manager Pete Hernandez, met Wednesday at Miami City Hall, 3500 Pan American Dr., to discuss how changes would take shape.

Enrique Nunez, the city's chief of urban design, said during Phase I:

Workers will relocate trees and fence off where the demolition would occur.

They also would make street improvements to Pan American Drive, such as curbing the gutters, creating parallel parking spaces, planting trees and extending the sidewalk so that people can walk from South Bayshore Drive to City Hall.

Trailers also would be set up along an area on Southwest 27th Avenue.

Meanwhile, the parking spaces for the marina adjacent to City Hall and the dock master will be reconfigured at a later date.

On another front, city officials are applying for six different grants from the Florida Inland Navigation District to cover some expenses for projects, said Dorcas Perez, a community partnerships manager in the city's grants department.

These include: shoreline stabilization at Kennedy Park, dock replacement at Kennedy Park, seawall replacement at the Marine Stadium and Knight Center, mooring bollards at Bicentennial Park as well as design of a bay walk and public pier at Dinner Key.

By September, city officials will know which projects could receive money. Awards will be made in October, Perez said.

The fate of trees, a perennial concern to Grove residents, came up Wednesday.

Parks and Recreation Director Ernest Burkeen told committee member Dusty Melton that officials would take an inventory of trees and create a plan showing where they would be replanted after construction.

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