Affiliated Development started construction on a Live Local Act project in Fort Lauderdale after scoring a $74 million construction loan.
Pacific Life Insurance Company provided financing for The Cove, an eight-story, 376-unit development at 1055 North Federal Highway. The project is also being capitalized with equity from Affiliated Housing Impact Fund, along with family office capital partners, according to a news release.
Fifty-five percent of the building, or 207 units, will be restricted to people earning up to 120 percent of the area median income, which is $97,600, according to Fannie Mae. Under Florida’s Live Local Act, developers must dedicate at least 40 percent of units to below market-rate housing in order to qualify for tax breaks and zoning incentives.
Affiliated Development Co-founder Nick Rojo said the development aims to “offer as much affordability as [possible]” by leveraging the Live Local Act as well as a partnership with Fort Lauderdale and Broward County. The developers received property tax rebates from the city and county in 2024 and 2025. Fort Lauderdale awarded the project a 100 percent property tax rebate for 15 years, capped at $8.8 million, while Broward County approved a 50 percent property tax rebate for 30 years, capped at $5.5 million, according to the release.
The Cove will sit on a 1.8-acre site that was formerly a hotel, which the developer demolished. Completion is slated for 2028.
Rojo said South Florida’s affordable housing deficit is driving lender appetite for projects like The Cove.
“Tenants in South Florida are the most cost-burdened in the entire country,” he told The Real Deal. “There is a lot of demand for workforce housing, especially in this market where it’s the most supply-constrained.”
Roughly 59 percent of Florida renters spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing and utilities, the highest cost-burden rate in the country in 2024, according to Harvard University’s “State of the Nation’s Housing” and 2024 Census data.
South Florida needs more than 30,000 housing units to meet current demand, the South Florida Business Journal reported. Miami-Dade, Fort Lauderdale and Tampa have some of the most severe shortages. As of April, Broward County had a shortage of more than 10,200 units, Florida Realtors said.
Rojo said the Live Local Act and the projects it enables are a step toward closing the gap.
The Cove is the second Affiliated Development project financed by Pacific Life, according to the release. Last year, the developer secured a $72.6 million construction loan for The Dune, a Live Local Act project in Boynton Beach.
The Cove joins a growing list of Live Local developments in the tri-county region. Earlier this month, The Faith Group proposed to replace an building near Aventura with a 14-story development with 376 residential units, using the act for a density boost.
Last month, Kolter Multifamily broke ground on Alton Delray after securing $91.7 million in financing. Of the 386 units in the project, 155 are designated as workforce housing.
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