Michael Swerdlow and Related Urban are one step away from landing separate ground leases to develop mixed-income projects on land owned by Miami-Dade County.
The county commission is set to vote on both deals on Tuesday. Swerdlow, who heads his eponymous Coconut Grove-based firm, is planning a mixed-use project in Miami’s Little River neighborhood with 5,730 apartments. More than half the units will be set aside for affordable and workforce housing. The remainder will be “potential workforce condo units,” a Swerdlow spokesperson said.
Related Urban, the affordable and workforce housing division of Coconut Grove-based Related Group, is planning a riverfront mixed-use project with 236 apartments in Miami’s Spring Garden neighborhood. Nearly half the units would be set aside for low income residents, and the other half would be designated workforce housing units. Related Urban is led by Albert Milo.
Swerdlow’s Little River project financials
Under a 99-year ground lease, Swerdlow would pay the county $5.3 million in annual lease payments, and 30 percent of the estimated $37.6 million developer fee. Should Swerdlow sell or refinance the development, Miami-Dade would receive 16 percent of the proceeds, a county memo states. Miami-Dade staff estimates the ground lease could generate $9.6 billion to the county over 99 years.
Swerdlow would demolish five existing public housing complexes at 520 Northwest 75th Street, 7200 Northeast Miami Court, 7101 Northeast Miami Court, 7200 Northeast Second Avenue and at the intersection of Northwest 71st Street and Northwest First Court. The low-rise buildings with a combined 314 apartments were completed between the 1950s and 1970s, records show.
The developer would provide new apartments for current residents from the 2,284 planned affordable housing units in the new project, which will also have 1,398 workforce housing units; 370,000 square feet of commercial space such as offices and a school; 250,000 square feet of open space and amenities; and a new Tri-Rail passenger train station.
In 2023, Swerdlow was the sole developer that responded to a county competitive process to redevelop five of 10 public housing properties. The firm and Nashville-based AJ Capital are also planning a separate mixed-use project with 2,100 market-rate apartments and 293,000 square feet of retail on land AJ Capital owns near the five housing complexes.
Related Urban Spring Garden project’s financials
In another 99-year ground lease, Related Urban would pay Miami-Dade an annual rent payment of $1.2 million, a 16.5 percent share of the project’s annual net operating income and an estimated $4.5 million developer’s fee, a county memo states. Over the life of the 99-year lease, the county would receive an estimated total of $280.2 million.
Related Urban is planning Gallery at Riverwalk, a 19-story building on a vacant 1-acre site at 1175 Northwest South River Drive. The 108 apartments set aside for affordable housing would include 36 units for former residents of a shuttered downtown Miami public housing building, a county memo states. To qualify for the affordable housing apartments, residents can only make up to 80 percent of the county’s average median income of $79,400.
Gallery at Riverwalk would also entail 1,550 square feet of retail and 188 parking spaces. Related Urban won a competitive bid for the development site last year, county records show.
