MIAMI | Swerdlow Megadevelopment | FT | FLOORS

Altoic · #1 Posted **Feb 11, 2024, 6:50 PM**

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

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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/loc...#storylink=cpy

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