Graham Companies pitched plans for a 541-unit apartment complex in Miami Lakes, in a proposal that hasn’t received full-throated endorsement from locals.
The family firm, which developed Miami Lakes and is a major landlord in the town, wants to build the complex on a site previously slated for a “senior village” and an assisted living facility.
The 22.2-acre lakefront development site is at Oak Lane and Commerce Way in Miami Lakes. Graham owns the property, records show.
The Town of Miami Lakes Planning and Zoning Board deferred voting Tuesday on a requested future land use map amendment and rezoning necessary for the project. The board will take up the items on March 10.
The proposal marks the latest iteration for a project on the site. Graham worked on a plan in 2010 for a senior village with age-restricted apartments and an assisted living facility with skilled nursing. That project fizzled out when Miami Jewish Health, a nonprofit with health care facilities for the elderly in South Florida, backed out of the partnership in 2019. Another health care partner eventually also opted out of collaborating.
The firm previously discontinued construction of an office building on a portion of the site after the pandemic unraveled the market, partly due to remote work.
Graham president Luis Martinez framed its recent proposal as Graham putting Miami Lakes’ needs first, avoiding over-development. The project would consist of three-story buildings fronting Commerce Way, and four- and five-story buildings on the rest of the site. Graham would contribute $1.3 million toward a town senior center.
Although the firm could use the Live Local Act, which allows for high densities and heights as a way to incentivize affordable housing, Graham has no experience operating below market rentals and pointed out the law allows for property tax abatements, he told the board. Under Live Local, all units designated for households earning up to 80 percent of the area median income get a 100 percent tax break, and all units for households earning up to 120 percent of the AMI get a 75 percent break.
This “can hurt” a municipality that has to collect taxes to continue “thriving,” Martinez told the board. If density is maximized, it would allow for 978 units, he said.
“We sincerely wish we had been able to create the senior village. Unfortunately, we just could not make it happen,” he said. “The two paths available are Live Local or the applications in front of you today.”
Some residents still weren’t persuaded by Martinez’s presentation.
“Everybody is furious … because they already are overwhelmed with the traffic in this town,” said Bonnie Cintron, adding that the site previously was rezoned for the senior village under the promise that zoning would revert back to industrial if the project fizzled. “Maybe it was a boldfaced lie. I don’t know. It seems to be.”
Graham traces its roots to milk, bottling and distribution company Graham Dairy, started in 1932 by the late Ernest R. Graham. His descendants have expanded the firm into real estate, including the development of the 3,000-acre master-planned Miami Lakes, according to Graham Companies’ website. Prominent family members include the late Phil Graham, who was publisher and co-owner of The Washington Post, and the late Bob Graham, a politician.
The company is now led by CEO Stuart S. Wyllie.
Graham also plans a 220-unit apartment complex on a site near its recently proposed project. In 2024, it paid $69 million for the ground lease for the 448-unit Courtyards at Miami Lakes at 6431 Cow Pen Road in Miami Lakes.
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