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Masoud and Stephanie Shojaee secured more time to obtain a master building permit for Shoma Bay, a delayed condo tower planned in North Bay Village.
“Right now I am spending my own cash and giving the money for the project,” Masoud Shojaee, CEO of Coral Gables-based Shoma Group, told commissioners last week. The commission voted 4 to 1, with North Bay Village Mayor Rachel Streitfeld voting against amending the development agreement for the project planned for 1872 79th Street.
Shoma now has until Halloween to secure the permit. The deadline was previously set for Aug. 30.
The developer will make an additional contribution of $1.5 million in two $750,000 payments. The first is due within one year of the master building permit being issued, and the second is due before the building is completed.
Shoma’s 24-story mixed-use tower will include at least 333 condos, with units ranging from 344-square-foot studios to 2,700-square-foot, three-bedroom condos, plus 10 townhouses. The Shojaees plan to live in one of the penthouses, according to a press release issued last year about the groundbreaking.
But Shoma will likely seek a density increase. The developer’s attorney, Mario Garcia-Serra, said that Shoma may seek another amendment to increase the density by 53 units, from 119 units per acre to 150 units per acre. The height could increase about 40 feet, or four additional stories.
“Shoma may very well pursue an amendment to its approval plan to add these units, which may require additional height,” he said during last week’s meeting. “We would start construction pursuant to the existing plan, but seek approval of this modification, and submit a plan revision at the appropriate time.”
Masoud Shojaee suggested the firm is paying the $1.5 million before increasing the density. Streitfeld interjected to make it clear that North Bay Village charges fees for more density.
“If you do come back to take advantage of the full scope of the density that’s allowed, you will need to pay those fees for the additional density,” she said, directing her comments to Garcia-Serra, Shoma’s attorney.
“Mario, respectfully, I would appreciate it if we could have a really honest conversation here. I feel like what’s in your and your client’s mind is not what’s being presented and discussed here on the dais, and that’s what got us into this mess in the first place,” she said.
While the lot has been cleared and site work is underway, Shoma has not been able to obtain a master permit due to millions of dollars in fees owed to the village, the South Florida Business Journal reported earlier this year.
The building is expected to include a 37,000-square-foot Publix supermarket and nearly 16,000 square feet of retail space. Masoud Shojaee said it would be an “organic… upscale” Publix. He denied rumors that the Lakeland-based grocery giant had pulled out.
“We have an extension that goes beyond 2027 with Publix,” Shojaee said.
Shoma paid about $16 million for the site in May 2022, with plans for a rental apartment tower and retail development anchored by Publix. North Bay Village approved the project that year. But Shoma changed course to build condos instead of rentals, launching sales by September of that year.
The project’s estimated completion date is now the end of 2027. It was previously the first quarter of 2027, Masoud Shojaee said.
Shoma did not immediately respond to a request for comment, including an update on presales.
Shoma shed two properties earlier this year: the completed mixed-use Shoma Village in Hialeah for $80.9 million, and a 2.5-acre shuttered car dealership at 3650 Bird Road at a likely loss for $35 million. With the latter, the developer abandoned plans to redevelop the site into a two-tower mixed-use project with 748 apartments and 20,000 square feet of retail. Shoma paid $34 million for the property in 2022, and obtained a $38.8 million loan secured by the former dealership.
