Atlantic Pacific, Catholic church propose 600 affordable apartments in Leisure City 

Atlantic Pacific Companies and the Archdiocese of Miami want to develop a 600-unit affordable apartment complex next to the St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church in Leisure City. 

Miami-based Atlantic Pacific and the Archdiocese of Miami propose the complex with five apartment buildings with roughly 120 units each at 28520 Southwest 148th Avenue in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, according to the developers’ application filed to the county last week. Designed by Corwil Architects, the project, called St. Martin de Porres Residences, also would have two garages, one four stories and the other five stories, according to a preliminary site plan. 

Atlantic Pacific and the Archdiocese of Miami are asking the county for a zoning verification for the first 147 units. 

An existing Catholic church and a child care center on a portion of the site will remain, and the project would be built on the vacant west portion of the property. 

The Archdiocese of Miami is led by Archbishop Thomas Wenski. 

Atlantic Pacific, led by Howard Cohen, is a prolific affordable and workforce housing developer. In Miami’s Overtown neighborhood, the firm wants to build an eight-story, 375-unit building with below-market rate apartments at 800 Northwest Fifth Avenue, near the Culmer Metrorail station. 

Atlantic Pacific also proposes to redevelop the long-closed Carver Theater in Miami’s Liberty City with an 11-story, 71-unit affordable apartment building. Nonprofit Martin Luther King Economic Development Corporation is partnering on the project at 6016 Northwest Seventh Avenue. 

In south Miami-Dade, Atlantic Pacific is developing the multi-phase Quail Roost Transit Village on roughly 9 acres on the southwest corner of Southwest 184th Street and the busway in the Perrine neighborhood. The entire project will have about 500 units, including workforce and affordable apartments.  

South Miami-Dade has become a magnet for developers. The area is home to the county’s biggest supply of buildable land. 

In Princeton, Paxton Development Group proposes a 230-unit affordable apartment complex at 13850 Southwest 248th Street. Vestcor plans the 590-unit Ambar Station at 27742, 27860 and 27862 South Dixie Highway in Leisure City. 

Argentine developers Martin Racca and Pablo Buttice want to develop a 25-story, 300-unit Live Local Act tower on the northeast corner of Southwest 214th Street and U.S. 1/South Dixie Highway in Goulds.