Related Urban is eyeing a public housing site in Coconut Grove for a mixed-income multifamily project.
The Miami-Dade County Commission housing committee on Tuesday will review a resolution that would authorize Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s staff to begin negotiations with Related Urban, led by President Albert Milo. The firm is seeking a 99-year lease to redevelop Gibson Plaza, a 62-unit affordable housing project for seniors 62 and older at 3160 and 3170 Mundy Street.
The resolution is scheduled for a full county commission vote on March 5, Miami-Dade records show. The deal would also require approval from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Related Urban, Coconut Grove-based Related Group’s affordable housing and workforce housing arm, won a competitive bidding process after submitting plans for Gallery in the Grove, a $148 million. 20-story tower with a mix of 345 market-rate, affordable housing and workforce housing units. Designed by Miami-based Cohen Freedman Encinosa & Associates, Gallery in the Grove would also have 303 parking spaces. Gibson Plaza, completed in 1982, would be demolished.
Under the proposed lease agreement, Related Urban would pay the county a lump sum of $1.7 million, a one-time fee of $150,000, an annual asset management fee of $25,000, and 16 percent of Gallery in the Grove’s annual net receipts, a county memo states. Miami-Dade officials project the county’s share will be an estimated $561.8 million during the 99-year term. Related Urban also agreed to build a new county library.
The redevelopment site is across the street from the Douglas Road Metrorail Station, where 13th Floor Investments and Adler Group recently completed the first phase of Link at Douglas. That project, which is on county-owned land adjacent to the train station, features two apartment towers with 733 units and a 30,000-square-foot Milam’s Market.
While Related Urban seeks approval for Gallery in the Grove, the firm recently walked away from a deal with the city of Homestead to develop a mixed-income project.
Last month, Related Urban canceled negotiations with Homestead officials to purchase the former Homestead city hall, a 16-acre redevelopment site near U.S.1 and North Campbell Drive. The city and the developer ended nearly four years of wrangling over the planned private-public partnership to build CityPlace Homestead, a mixed-use project that would have featured 426 market-rate, affordable housing and workforce housing apartments, and roughly 41,000 square feet of office and retail space.
