The Pérez family’s Related Group proposes a 390-unit Live Local Act project for the second phase of its redevelopment of a South Miami public housing complex.
The application comes as the Coconut Grove-based firm has seized on the state law that incentivizes development of apartments at affordable and workforce rents, with a flurry of new proposals.
Related wants to build an 11-story building with 8,700 square feet of retail and 501 parking spaces on a 3.3-acre site at 5949 Southwest 68th Street, according to the company’s application filed to Miami-Dade County last week. The project, called Gallery at SoMi Parc, would consist of one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments.
Related is asking the county for a pre-application meeting to discuss building the project under the Live Local Act and Miami-Dade’s Rapid Transit System-Development Zone — SMART Corridor Subzone, a regulation that gives wiggle room for development due to a site’s proximity to a public transportation station or major road. Pre-application meetings are generally requested before a developer files an official proposal.
Gallery at SoMi Parc marks the second phase of Related’s redevelopment of a 6.2-acre county-owned site that was home to South Miami Gardens Apartments public housing complex. The project’s first phase is the 172-unit Residences at SoMi Parc mixed-income building that opened last year at 5961 Southwest 68th Street, adjacent to the Gallery at SoMi Parc development site.
In 2020, Miami-Dade sought a request for proposals to redevelop the 58-unit South Miami Gardens Apartments complex and selected Related’s affordable housing arm, Related Urban Development Group, later that year, according to a 2022 county commission meeting agenda item when the development agreement was approved. Under the agreement, 58 units at Residences at SoMi Parc replaced the 58 public housing units lost in the South Miami Gardens Apartments redevelopment.
Related Urban signed a 75-year ground lease with the county for the Residences at SoMi Parc in 2022, according to records. It is expected that Related Urban will sign a similar ground lease for the Gallery at SoMi Parc site after securing project financing, the 2022 agenda item says. The county will receive a total of $101.7 million in payments over the term of the development agreement.
Related –– led by patriarch Jorge Pérez and his sons Jon Paul and Nicholas Pérez –– has ramped up its development pipeline. The firm for years partnered with the county to redevelop public housing, and in recent months has seized on Live Local Act for some of these projects.
Under the state law, approved in 2023, developers can build bigger projects than a site’s zoning allows, as long as at least 40 percent of apartments are for households earning no more than 120 percent of the area median income. The law also provides tax breaks and a reprieve on floor area ratio and parking requirements.
In Miami’s Little Havana, Related wants to supersize the 1,379-unit Haley Sofge public housing complex with a 1,038-unit Live Local Act project in a pair of 21-story towers and a 12-story building. The site is at 800 Northwest 13th Avenue, 780 Northwest 13th Court and 1389 Northwest Seventh Street.
In Miami’s Health District, Related wants to replace the Claude Pepper age-restricted public housing building with a 398-unit Live Local project where all units will be at below-market rents. The site is at 750 Northwest 18th Terrace.
This month, Related, New York-based LeFrak Organization and Coconut Grove-based 13th Floor Investments purchased a 2.5-acre development site 3650 Bird Road in Miami for $35 million. The property has approvals for two 40-story towers with 748 apartments and 20,000 square feet of retail.
