MIAMI | Swerdlow Megadevelopment | FT | FLOORS

[Altoic]

Massive Miami makeover? 5,000 affordable apartments proposed for aging industrial area

A gargantuan redevelopment proposal by a prominent Miami developer would dramatically reshape a nearly mile-long stretch of the city’s Little River and Little Haiti neighborhoods, bringing big-box stores, a new Tri-Rail station and nearly 5,000 affordable and workforce apartments to a hardscrabble area in dire need of new housing and jobs but leery of gentrification.

Swerdlow submitted the plan to Miami-Dade County in response to a request for proposals to rebuild and expand four of its public housing projects in the neighborhood. But the veteran developer’s plan goes significantly beyond that, encompassing an eye-popping 65 acres of private and public land in total. The $2.6 billion project, which requires county approval, would be mostly privately financed and take nearly 10 years to finish.

Swerdlow and a project partner that owns extensive property in the area, AJ Capital Partners of Nashville, were the only developers to respond to the county bid request. AJ Capital, which bought a majority stake in a 27-acre collection of mostly industrial properties in the neighborhood in 2021 from Miami owners who had converted several into hip cafes, workplaces and shops, would redevelop its piece separately but under Swerdlow’s guidance, likely for a more upscale market.

The developer, whose partners in the Little River venture also include Alben Duffie and Stephen Garchik, said the group has already secured financing commitments for the plan’s major elements. Federal tax credits would help finance the affordable housing pieces. The plan would also require creation of a special taxing district that would use property taxes generated by the new construction to pay for installation of modern infrastructure, such as water and sewer lines, new streets and sidewalks as well as the proposed Tri-Rail station. Dech, the Tri-Rail director, said the rail spur’s owner, FECR, would also have to approve the station plan.

The station would be critical to getting the kind of height and density the development calls for. Under special county rules governing development around transit stations, the county can override local zoning to allow significant increases in height and density over what the city’s Miami21 zoning code would permit.

If the proposal is approved, build out of the full master plan, drawn up by the Miami architectural and planning firms Arquitectonica and PlusUrbia, would take about eight years, Swerldlow said.

Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article285160947.html#storylink=cpy

Renderings and Site Context:

[Dale]

Miami is just en fuego.

[Altoic]

Necesitamos mas torres!!!

[wanderer34]

An ambitious project indeed!!!

[Busy Bee]

That lowrider train is sick

[UrbanImpact]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

That lowrider train is sick

Are we finally getting a Transrapid Maglev?

[Altoic]

[Urbannizer]

Developers got city land for affordable housing in Little Havana. Is it a good deal?

The unusual no-bid deal, which Carollo conceived of and oversaw, was not a secret.

The agreements to transfer land to the developers won unanimous City Commission approval in a December hearing and attracted modest news coverage. Carollo, termed out and having failed to make the runoff for the mayor’s seat he had been campaigning for, resigned the next day, a week before the inauguration of his successor in District 3. On Thursday, a modified agreement with one of the developers won City Commission approval.

The original agreements, under which two developers have received city land at no cost, also came with a city commitment for millions of dollars more in direct subsidies to the four planned housing projects, raising questions over whether they represent a good deal for Miami taxpayers and the Little Havana community.

The three developers, who were set to receive $4 million each toward their housing projects from District 3 funds under the Carollo deal, must now apply for financing from the city in a public vetting process.

That will happen in a public hearing May 6, when the city’s Housing and Commercial Loan Committee, an appointed board, will review applications from developers Nir Shoshani and Michael Swerdlow for up to $4 million each from federal housing money that’s allocated to the city every year.

“Swerdlow has a track record that’s second to none, and Nir has a lot of experience. He is a serious player,“ Carollo said.

All three also plan to use property-tax breaks provided under the state’s Live Local Act for their Little Havana projects but won’t seek to use its controversial zoning provisions, which allow for supersized buildings if a percentage of apartments is set aside as workforce or affordable housing.