More than 300 affordable apartments are on tap in two Miami-Dade County projects, as developers turn to the asset class that promises quicker leaseups than market-rate multifamily.
In Brownsville, Redwood Dev Co, Magasi Management and Lennar are taking the preliminary steps to redevelop a portion of the Annie Coleman public housing complex with 180 apartments and 39 villas, according to filings to the county. Farther south, in the Naranja neighborhood, affordable housing developer Lewis Swezy filed an application for a 112-unit senior affordable housing building.
Affordable housing construction relies on a mixed bag of capital stacks that include government grants and loans, as well as low-income housing tax credits, but it offers a hedge to market fluctuations such as slower leaseups.
In South Florida, developers jumped on building market-rate units in recent years, leading to an oversupply defined by slower leasing, a decrease in rents and more concessions. The glut started easing up this year, though market watchdogs warn the oversupply may take hold late next year, when close to 28,000 units are expected to be completed, according to CoStar Group.
By contrast, Miami-Dade is short over 90,000 units for households earning less than 80 percent of the area median income, according to nonprofit Miami Homes For All’s 2024 research. The high need ensures quick leaseups for affordable housing developers.
Brownsville project
Miami Beach-based Redwood and Coconut Grove-based Magasi Management are redeveloping Annie Coleman through the federal Rental Assistance Demonstration program.
RAD is designed to allow local governments to partner with developers to modernize or entirely redevelop aging public housing complexes, many of which are consistently underfunded by federal budgets. In land-constrained Miami-Dade, RAD also unlocks buildable sites for developers.
South Florida developers using RAD usually sign 99-year leases for the properties, demolish obsolete low-rise buildings and build new mid-rises or high-rises with additional affordable and workforce units. Under RAD, their projects have to include the same number of public housing units they demolished and keep them designated for low-income renters. In most cases, current tenants are temporarily relocated and have a right to return to the new buildings.
Redwood, led by David Burstyn and Brian Sidman, and Magasi scored approval last year for their Annie Coleman redevelopment with a total of 287 affordable units in three eight-story buildings, plus townhomes and retail.
They advanced the project recently, filing for a pre-application meeting with the county for the first phase, consisting of an eight-story, 180-unit building on the 3-acre site at 2479 Northwest 50th Street. The project will include a six-story, 362-space garage and 7,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space.
Of the 180 apartments at the building, 73 will be the new public housing units.
Developers hold pre-application meetings with Miami-Dade staff members to gauge their input on projects prior to filing official applications.
The first phase is proposed under the rapid transit zoning, which allows wiggle room on height and density for projects closer to mass transit stops. The development site is within a quarter-mile from the Brownsville Metrorail station.
The project will be financed with 4 percent LIHTC, tax-exempt bonds and Miami-Dade financing sources, according to the application.
Miami-based homebuilder Lennar also is partnering on the project, filing for a pre-application meeting for its portion of the project: 39 two-story villas on a 2.1 acre site at Annie Coleman.
Naranja senior housing
Miami Lakes-based Centennial Management, led by Lewis Swezy, wants to develop the eight-story, 112-unit Villa Valencia I building.
The project is planned for the 1.4-acre site on the northwest corner of Southwest 268th Street/Moody Drive and Southwest 139th Avenue in unincorporated south Miami-Dade, according to the filing. It will be a senior living project and part of a three-phased development.
Records show an affiliate of Centennial paid $1.2 million for the 9-acre site on a portion of which Villa Valencia I is planned.
The project will add to Centennial’s portfolio of roughly 3,500 affordable housing units.
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