Related Group, partners plan workforce housing at Marina Village 

Riviera Beach officials cleared a path for Related Group’s affordable arm to develop a 149-unit workforce housing project at Marina Village.

The Riviera Beach City Council on Wednesday approved the replat of 2.4 acres between Broadway and Avenue C just south of East 12th Street for the Residences at Riviera Beach. The eight-story apartment building will be for households earning between 30 percent and 110 percent of Broward County’s area median income. The AMI is $81,900, according to the Broward Housing Council.

Residences at Riviera Beach will include 62 one-bedrooms and 87 two-bedroom apartments, as well as a five-story, 276-space parking garage and retail. The building will be constructed on land owned by the Riviera Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA).

Related Urban, led by Alberto Milo, and Tezra Partners, led by former CRA director Tony Brown and general contractor Ezra Saffold, are the developers. 

A site plan for the project and a 99-year-lease between the developers and the CRA was previously approved by Riviera Beach officials. Related Urban also secured $20.1 million in low-interest affordable housing loans from the state of Florida and Palm Beach County, plus a $1.5 million loan from the CRA.

The replat will allow the developers to secure permits. Construction could begin in the fall, according to a spokesperson for Related Urban. 

Residences at Marina Village will be the first residential component of Marina Village’s master plan, which aims to redevelop 90 acres of publicly owned land near the Intracoastal Waterway with apartments, hotels and entertainment. At present, Marina Village mainly consists of marinas (including a ferry to Peanut Island), surface parking lots, an event space and the Rafiki Tiki Bar & Grill.

As part of that master plan, the city recently started accepting bids from developers interested in building restaurants and a hotel at Marina Village after a proposal to build a Margaritaville-branded hotel fell apart. The deadline to submit proposals is expected to close at the end of June.

Related Group, BH Group and Tezral Partners also plan a 20-story mixed-use project just north of the Residences at Marina Village called Gallery at Marina Village. The development will include 418 market-rate apartments, 3,300 square feet of retail and 3,000 square feet of office. It’s still in the pre-development stage, according to Related.

Besides revamping Marina Village, Riviera Beach officials have sought to encourage additional development in the city to create more jobs and increase the city’s tax base and infrastructure.

Among the builders that have gravitated toward Riviera Beach is Forest Development’s Peter Baytarian, who plans to build a pair of 25-story condo towers at 3700 Broadway.

Baytarian has also expressed interest in building a $325 million mixed-use property on 2.2 acres of land owned by the city and the Riviera Beach CRA at 1851 Broadway. After Baytarian offered to pay $3.5 million for the property, the CRA put the land out to bid for additional offers.