Coral Rock Development Group Announces Mixed-Use Workforce/ Affordable Housing Project Buena Vida In Little Havana

Coral Gables-based Coral Rock Development Group today unveiled plans for Buena Vida, a Little Havana-based workforce/affordable housing mixed-use project. Located at 22nd Avenue and Flagler Street, Buena Vida will encompass 175 units of workforce and affordable housing boasting a compelling mix of one, two and three-bedroom floorplans ranging in size from 471 to 1,105 square feet along with structured parking. The eight-story project will also include 15,000 square feet of retail space.

Full-service featured community amenities will include a gym, dog park, conference center, pool and BBQ area. The retail space will include a medical wellness center for the benefit of residents and the surrounding area, along with a mix of retail shops and restaurants designed to enrich the neighborhood.

Buena Vida was designed by RSP Architects. Groundbreaking on the project will begin in 2022 and is scheduled for completion in 2023.

“We are very pleased to announce Buena Vida and create a high-quality workforce/affordable housing offering for families and seniors,” said Michael Wohl, principal of Coral Rock Development Group. “We are grateful for the support of Commissioner Joe Carollo in seeing our vision come to life to add to the growth and development in the Little Havana neighborhood. His endorsement has been critical in bringing this forward. As we’ve seen throughout the pandemic and the disruption of livelihoods for so many members of our community over the past year, now more than ever there’s an overwhelming need to provide apartments for those who cannot afford the high current market rate and are as a result paying a high percentage of family income for rent.”

Coral Rock Development Group is also developing Pura Vida Hialeah, a nine-acre major mixed-use development set to be the first of its kind in more than 20 years. Pura Vida Hialeah topped off earlier this year and is on schedule for completion in Q1 2022.

Rendering via RSP Architects/ Coral Rock Development Group

Terra Unveils Master Plan for CentroCity Mixed-Use Development in Miami and Signs 77,000 SF Lease with Target

Terra, one of South Florida’s most active residential and commercial development firms, has announced plans for the redevelopment and repositioning of what is currently known as Central Shopping Plaza into a 38-acre mixed-use project in the center of Miami-Dade County. The master plan for the newly reimagined community, CentroCity, includes up to 1,200 market-rate residential apartments, green space for residents, an office building, and a revamped shopping center with 300,000 square feet of lifestyle-oriented retail and restaurant space anchored by a 77,000-square-foot Target store.

Located in Miami’s West Little Havana neighborhood, CentroCity will come alive in multiple phases, beginning with the redevelopment of the property’s retail component with a newly re-imagined façade, common areas, landscaping, and signage. The project’s first phase of residential development will follow, encompassing three 8-story multifamily buildings with 460 garden-style rental apartments. Future phases with additional multifamily units and a 250,000 square foot class A commercial office building are also planned. Construction is expected to commence in Summer 2021.

The plan’s residential component has been designed by Arquitectonica, while the retail upgrades have been conceived by RSP Architects. The vision includes seven new multifamily buildings lining the perimeter of the property behind the L-shaped Target-anchored shopping center. The residential buildings will feature a series of courtyards, pool decks and lushly landscaped sidewalks. Units will range from one- to three-bedroom apartments measuring between 500 and 1,250 square feet in size. Community amenities will include multiple pools, poolside cabanas, barbecue grill areas, a children’s playground, a dog park, resident lounges, game rooms, and more.

“Our mission at Terra is to improve communities through developments that fill a void in the market, and that’s exactly what we plan to do at CentroCity,” says David Martin, CEO of Terra. “Our goal is to enhance this underutilized asset and make it a more positive contributor to the community through low-impact infill development that will enhance the property while bringing much needed market-rate housing to the neighborhood.”

The property’s central location – bounded by Northwest 37th Avenue on the east, Northwest 7th Street on the south, Northwest 39th Avenue on the west and Northwest 11th Street on the north – is near some of Miami’s largest employment centers, including Miami International Airport, the Coral Gables Business District and Blue Lagoon office complex.

Terra Reveals Plans For Arquitectonica-Designed Multifamily Project in Little Havana

Terra Group has revealed plans for their newly proposed redevelopment of the Central Shopping Plaza, located across from the Magic City Casino in Little Havana, with the addition of a multifamily project with roughly 1,384 residential units and 1,559 square feet of commercial space on the 38 acre property. The project would feature seven 8-story garden style buildings designed by Arquitectonica, located at 3800 NW 11th St., 3899 NW 7th St. and 901 NW 39th Ave. Terra Group would not demolish but would upgrade and renovate the 301,806 square foot shopping center, which was built in 1959, and features a Walgreens and Party City. The project’s total development would measure roughly 1.74 million square feet. Terra is currently under contract to acquire the property from HayDay Inc., an entity controlled by Barbara Havenick and Isabel Amdur, who also own the Magic City Casino. The proposal was recently reviewed by Miami’s Urban Development Review Board.

“Terra is seeking approval to reposition the underutilized Central Shopping Plaza into a 38-acre mixed-use development. Plans for the development include preserving and upgrading the existing retail center with significant infrastructure and landscaping improvements, while adding an adjacent market-rate multifamily housing component with on-site parking and new green space,” said Terra Group in a statement.

Avra Jain To Break Ground On 555 River House In January 2020

Avra Jain is planning to break ground on the Carlos Zapata and O’Donnell Dannwolf and Partners-designed 555 River House in January 2020. Located on the Miami River, River House will be a mixed-use development with 39 luxury condos, a 175-key hotel, 120,000 SF of office space and 36,650 SF of commercial space. The hotel will be managed by the New York-based Sixty Hotels and the condos will be under the same brand, both of which will share the amenities. The condominium component is expected to ask around $1,150 PSF, priced between $1 million and $1.5 million. 555 River House will also feature 10 boat slips and a 600’ public river walk.

New Renderings Revealed For Naeem Khan Studios, The Designers New Headquarters & Fashion School On The Miami River

New York designer Naeem Khan, a celebrity designer who has dressed Beyoncé, Michelle Obama and Kate Middleton, has officially proposed Naeem Khan Studios as he plans to move his headquarters to Miami in conjunction with a high school dedicated for students to study fashion. The project, which is being designed by Alfonso Jurado Architecture, is located on the Miami River at 1175 NW S River Drive and the proposal was reviewed by the Miami River Commission’s Urban Infill and Greenways Subcommittee in March 2019. The proposal calls for two separate buildings with a total of 80,080 SF of development, 45,420 SF of which will be the 5-story studio building an 34,460 SF will make-up the 4-story school structure. Naeem Khan will use the studios as both a corporate headquarters and manufacturing facility while the school will operate as an extension of Miami Dade’s Design and Architecture Senior High, also known as DASH. The developers are asking for a 34% parking reduction from 70 to 46 spaces and they will lease off-site parking.

Metronomic, Inc. Announces First All-Female Construction Team To Build La Elaina In Little Havana

Miami-based real estate development company Metronomic, Inc. has announced an all-female construction team to build the first of its new infill multi-family development designs, La Elaina Apartments in Little Havana. The townhouse-style duplex building will make history by being the first building in Miami built entirely by women. Located at 857 & 859 SW 14 Avenue, the company plans to break ground on March 7, 2019, just in time to celebrate “Women in Construction Week”.

Promoting positive change in the community, Metronomic is leading the women in construction movement working with numerous sub-contractors to recruit the team of nearly 20+ female employees who are joining together to help break gender barriers in construction. The groundbreaking of La Elaina will also kick off National Women’s History Month. The company has also received support from Director and former President of National Association of Women in Construction’s Miami Chapter, Lucia Soria. She says, “the core purpose of our organization is to continue inspiring women and enhance their success in the construction industry. When women unite, they can accomplish anything, and I am proud to witness a company like Metronomic demonstrating this and making history in Miami.”

Leading the team will be Camila Osorio as Senior Project Manager. Camila has over 14 years of expertise in all aspects of the real estate development process and is currently the project manager for all Metronomic projects in Little Havana. Arlene Melendez will serve as Construction Coordinator with 18 years of construction and development experience in South Florida. The project will be constructed and managed entirely by women, which includes machine operators, excavators, masons, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, painters, and more.

“La Elaina is going to break barriers for women in construction, and we couldn't be happier to spearhead this movement,” says Ricky Trinidad, President of Metronomic, Inc. “We believe an all-female team will create positive change in the community – and hopefully encourage permanent change in a male-dominated industry”.

Designed by local architecture firm CLAD Architecture and Design, the two-unit building will span 5,800 SF and feature six bedrooms and six bathrooms rooms per residence. Each 2,850 SF unit will include an exterior terrace, kitchen, living room, private yard, 2-car covered parking and attractive interior and exterior finishes.

La Elaina is designed to offer larger or multi-generational families’ maximum comfort and convenience by providing separate living environments within the home. It is also suitable for families with special-needs children or relatives that require the special care of a live-in nurse, nanny or caregiver to live in the home, providing separate rooms for treatment and care. The first floor can provide accessibility options for such needs, while the second floor is accessible from the first floor through a private interior stairwell for optional privacy, offering 3 bedrooms with 2.5 bathrooms on each floor totaling 6 bedrooms with 6 bathrooms per unit. This creative layout conveniently provides 2 private and separate living areas in each unit.

The first La Elaina development will be located across the street from the Villas Beny More I apartments, another recently completed town home community by Metronomic Inc. Metronomic Inc. plans to develop additional La Elaina duplex buildings offering the “extended-family lifestyle” model throughout the community of Little Havana and similar communities in Miami where the need for extended family living is strong.

La Elaina is slated to break ground early March and completed by 2020. Full pre-leasing of the project will take place prior to completion of construction.

For more information about La Elaina, private showings or purchasing/ leasing information please fill out the form below:

Metronomic Breaks Ground On TriniSuites Calle Ocho, Their New Off-Campus Student Housing Project In Little Havana

The Miami-based real estate development company Metronomic, Inc. has broken ground on TriniSuites Calle Ocho, an eight-story off-campus student housing building located at 2500 SW 8th Street in Little Havana. TriniSuites Calle Ocho will offer 30 turn key, fully furnished one- and two-bedroom student housing units ranging from 445 SF to 510 SF. The 20,788 SF building is designed by local architecture firm CLAD Architecture and Design. TriniSuites Calle Ocho part of a new seven building student housing community which will accommodate college students of Miami-Dade College, Florida International University (FIU), the University of Miami (UM) and numerous other colleges and universities, providing students with ease of access leasing, and a state-of-the-art student experience while filling the much-needed void for off-campus student housing throughout Miami. The decision to rent by the bed, co-living, or long term leases have yet to be determined.

Residents of seven TriniSuites buildings will have access to amenities including fitness centers, pools, rooftop garden/terraces, party/special-event rooms, student café’s, game rooms, a business center and more. The TriniSuites community will also offer a secure keyless entry system, 24-hour security, nearby public transportation, turn-key furnished units, and many other features and amenities designed to enhance student life. Metronomic, Inc. is also planning a student exchange and cultural immersion program for foreign students that will be incorporated into the TriniSuites community, to be announced at a future date.

“Metronomic understands there is a dire need for convenient student housing throughout Miami. The TriniSuites community is designed to help students easily secure quality housing while improving their quality of life and education,” said Ricky Trinidad, President of Metronomic. “The TriniSuites community and Metronomic are committed to enhancing education and student life in Miami, while benefiting the community of Little Havana and the City of Miami with quality new infill developments that create and produce impactful aesthetic, environmental, social and economic improvements.”

TriniSuites Calle Ocho is Metronomic’s third student housing building to break ground and will be centrally located, only one block from Miami Dade InterAmerican Campus in the heart of the historic Little Havana neighborhood. TriniSuites MetroPlace, TriniSuites MetroPark and TriniSuites Plaza Celia are currently under construction and expected to be completed by Spring and Summer 2019, while completion of TriniSuites Calle Ocho is slated for January 2020. All of the TriniSuites buildings are planned for completion by the first quarter of 2020.

Investment Spotlight: Reinvigorating Miami’s Real Estate with Opportunity Zones

The opportunity zone program is a little-known provision of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that could be a powerful economic development tool for designated low-income communities. The program provides tax incentives to developers who invest in these areas, including 427 tracts of land in Florida, 68 of which are in Miami-Dade County. From a policy perspective, it was designed to connect new sources of capital to neighborhoods that haven’t realized economic growth in years.

The provision allows unrealized capital gains from prior investments - including other asset classes like stocks and securities - to be rolled into an opportunity fund to defer taxation. An opportunity fund is created in the private sector and is the first community investment tax incentive vehicle introduced since the Clinton Administration. The notion behind opportunity zones is that the longer the investment is held, the lower the tax burden is. So long as 90% of the investment remains in the community, the capital gains tax is reduced by:

• 10% if the investment is held for five years, or

• 15% if the investment is held for seven years

• Fully exempt if the investment is held for at least ten years

This is an innovative advance for investors to redirect their capital to support low-income communities like Little Haiti with underappreciated value. It’s a generous incentive compared to previous economic development programs because there is no government intermediary to approve projects. Now the question of intent remains: will investment spillover enough into these neighborhoods or will this just be a chance for developers and investors to cash in?

Germaine Smith-Baugh, CEO and President of Broward County’s Urban League, worries that despite the potential for growth, with investment comes a pattern of gentrification. As property values, rents, and taxes rise, longtime residents can get priced out. “I’m right here on Sistrunk Boulevard,” an economically distressed neighborhood in Fort Lauderdale, said Smith-Baugh. “Folks are buying left and right. The foreign dollars coming in to purchase here — it’s unreal.”

Smith-Baugh hopes the program doesn’t displace local business and residents, and says the solution is to attract the right kind of impact investors, or people who will work with the neighborhoods to create workforce housing and transit. “We would like to see organizations that can aggregate potential projects and make the residents and businesses feel as though they are part of the process,” she said.

In order to qualify, the real estate asset would need to be built or be converted with improvements totaling at least the purchase price of the property. It must also be an active conduct business, meaning the asset can’t simply be a home that appreciates in value over time.

The opportunity zone program is an attractive vehicle for moving capital of scale into low-income neighborhoods with enough parameters to ensure it is being deployed toward economically productive investments that ultimately create jobs and businesses.

Article by: Katya Demina

Miami's UDRB Approves The 224-Unit Altis For Little Havana

Miami's Urban Development Review Board (UDRB) has approved the 224-unit Altis at 2100 SW 8th Street in Little Havana. The project will rise 8 stories and will feature 224 apartment rentals, 351 parking spaces and ground floor retail. The developers received a 10% reduction in parking waiver. Altis is being designed by Anillo Toledo Lopez and being developed by Altman Development Corporation. 

Unique, On-Trend Hospitality Brand Selina Enters U.S. Market in Miami

Selina, a global community of boutique destinations that also provide co-working spaces, local experiences and other recreational offerings, is set to open its first U.S. location in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood this September. It embodies today's in-demand millennial trends by providing accessible hotel housing, co-working space, and tastefully curated art from the local community. In order to introduce U.S. customers to the brand, Selina has teamed up with local retailer Brothers and Brawlers to launch Selina Brawlers, a concept store in the Wynwood Arts District that will offer a mix of curated goods including eyewear, motorcycles, vintage and modern décor and productsdesigned by Selina’s Creative Director, Oz Zechovoy, and Brothers and Brawlers's Sebastian Ramirez.

Set to open in June, the store will also offer co-working space with complimentary Wi-Fi adhering to the Selina model, which aims to promote gathering and community in a comfortable environment. “Miami was the perfect location for Selina’s U.S. expansion because of the city’s energy and flavor, it’s rich history, mix of cultures, the list goes on,” said Steven Ohayon, Head of Business Development for Selina. “There’s the sand and surf that Selina guests know and love, but also a huge art scene, a growing wellness community and endless things to do. Tourism in Miami is booming, and we’re excited to host travelers and show them a holistic look at the city.”

The store’s concept came to fruition via regular inquiries from guests to purchase items on display in the hotels, which are usually crafted in collaboration with local artists and designers in the region the hotel is located. The brand is currently operating in Latin America and the Caribbean and aims to cater a holistic experience to the adventurous, nomadic traveler. Selina’s hotel will be located in the former Tower Hotel, which is currently being remodeled with local artisans in order to “bring new life to old spaces around the world."

Article By: Katya Demina