Developers want to build a 480-unit Live Local Act project near Interstate 95, marking a surge in proposals under the state law meant to address housing affordability.
Two entities managed by Barbara and Sebastian Cobas of Miami filed an application for a 19-story development called NoMi 7|90 on nearly 3 acres at 9001 Northwest Seventh Avenue and 663 Northwest 90th Street in unincorporated Miami-Dade County. 10. The site is west of I-95, near El Portal.
The developers are seeking a pre-application meeting with the county, which is generally done to gauge Miami-Dade staff’s input on a project before filing a formal application.
The project draws on height and density increases from the Live Local Act and the county’s workforce housing program.
Under Live Local, developers can build up to the tallest height within a mile and the greatest density permitted within a jurisdiction. In exchange, developers have to designate 40 percent of apartments for households earning up to 120 percent of the area median income for at least 30 years.
Through the state law, the Cobases are allowed to develop a 13-story building on the site that’s restricted to 12 stories, according to their application. Out of the 480 units, 192 will be for households earning up to 120 percent of the AMI.
The county’s workforce housing program gives the developers an additional six stories. In exchange, the Cobases will designate 60 units to households earning no more than 140 percent of the AMI.
Miami-Dade’s annual AMI is $87,200, according to the Florida Housing Finance Corporation.
The Cobases bought the two-lot site for $2.7 million in two deals in 2015 and 2021, records show.
Developers have jumped on Live Local with applications across South Florida to entitle sites for bigger projects.
In Allapattah, Coral Rock Development Group is building the eight-story, 227-unit Dulce Vida Live Local project.
Spanish developer Pablo Castro and his business partner Laura Tauber plan The HueHub in West Little River, which at 4,032 units is South Florida’s largest Live Local Act development.
Although proposals under the state law proliferate, just over 3,000 Live Local units have been completed statewide, according to Florida TaxWatch. More than 42,000 apartments are in the pipeline.
Read more
“You’d be an idiot not to”: Multifamily owners tap Live Local tax breaks
Development
South Florida
“It’s a disaster”: First Live Local Act proposal in Surfside riles up small coastal town
Development
South Florida
Miami board approves two major projects in Midtown and Edgewater