A developer proposes a 284-unit Live Local Act project near Miami International Airport, marking a continued flurry of applications under the state’s affordable housing law.
Miami-based Keystone Holdings Group proposes the 16-story Azul at Blue Lagoon building at 1200 Northwest 57th Avenue in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, according to Keystone’s application filed to the county this month. The project would have a 266-space parking podium.
Keystone, through an affiliate, paid $4.5 million for the 1.2-acre site in 2020, records show. The property now has a pair of warehouses spanning 15,400 square feet, combined.
Azul at Blue Lagoon will consist of 26 studios, 180 one-bedroom units, 52 two-bedroom units and 26 one-bedroom units with a den, the application shows.
At least 113 of the apartments will be at affordable rents, consistent with the Live Local Act’s requirement to designate 40 percent of units at below-market rents. The apartments are designated for households earning no more than 120 percent of the area median income.
Miami-Dade’s annual AMI is $79,400, according to the Florida Housing Finance Corporation.
Keystone is asking the county for a pre-application meeting, which is generally requested so county staff members can provide feedback on a project before a developer files an official application.
Keystone –– led by Miguel and Reinaldo Mouriz, as well as Enrique Puig –– develops commercial real estate in South Florida, according to its website.
It completed the 10,000-square-foot Keystone Shoppes at 190 Northwest 42nd Avenue in Miami, selling it in 2022 for $9.4 million, records show. In 2006, it paid $8.3 million for the Coral Way Entrance retail property at 2209 Southwest 37th Avenue in Miami, selling it in 2018 for $16.4 million.
Keystone also has sold properties to developers. In 2022, attorney Alex Hanna bought the 50,000-square-foot building at 4231 West Flagler Street and surrounding parking lots from Keystone for $15 million. In 2020, Estate Companies purchased the development site at 16395 Biscayne Boulevard in North Miami Beach from Keystone for $13.1 million. Estate completed its 23-story, 367-unit Soleste NoMi Beach apartment tower on the property last year.
The Live Local Act, approved in 2023 and tweaked last year, incentivizes developers to include below-market rate apartments by allowing them to build bigger projects than a site’s zoning permits. The law also gives developers property tax breaks.
The Pérez family’s Related Group filed a proposal this month for a 14-story, 398-unit Live Local building at 750 Northwest 18th Terrace in Miami. Also, the Haccoun family’s Monceau Real Estate proposed this month a 120-unit Live Local project at 26710 Southwest 144th Avenue in Naranja, as well as a 252-unit Live Local project south of the Black Creek Canal, between Southwest 117th Avenue and West Dixie Highway, in Goulds.
