Miami-Dade dev flurry: BH eyes Ojus rentals, Prologis bets on Beacon Lakes expansion

In other applications, McDowell Housing Partners filed plans for second phase of Goulds affordable housing project

Leaflet map created by Adam Farence | Data by © OpenStreetMap, under ODbl.

Developers in Miami-Dade County are betting on two asset classes that remain in high demand despite broad economic shifts: multifamily and industrial.

The latest proposals filed to the county show that developers are planning apartments, including affordable units. Also, industrial giant Prologis wants to add more space at its already massive Beacon Lakes business park.

BH bets on Ojus

(Source: BH Group)

(Source: BH Group)

BH Group wants to build an apartment project in Ojus, a Miami-Dade neighborhood largely jump-started by Brightline’s Aventura Station.

BH is under contract to buy nearly an acre on the northeast corner of Northeast 24th Avenue and 184th Terrace, according to an application submitted to Miami-Dade County late last month. The purchase price is not disclosed.

BH, based in Aventura, is partnering with investor Avy Shlomo on the project.

Plans call for a nine-story, 132-unit rental building with 162 parking spaces, the application shows. The filing is asking for a pre-application meeting, which is commonly used to gain county staff’s input before submitting official plans.

BH, founded by husband-and-wife Isaac and Liat Toledano, is active in South Florida. The firm is partnering with Jorge Pérez’s Related Group and investor Teddy Sagi on three South Florida projects: the mixed-use Transit Village in downtown West Palm Beach, a condo development in Miami Beach’s Fisher Island and the redevelopment of the closed White House Inn in North Miami.

Developers have zeroed in on Ojus in a bet that the Brightline stop, which is expected to open by year end, will prompt an appetite for residential and commercial real estate.

While BH’s Ojus site is several blocks south of the station, other builders have made the first steps to claim a development site closer to the stop.

Arnaud Karsenti’s 13th Floor Investments is the prospective buyer of a 2.4-acre property that is separated by one building from the Brightline station. 13th Floor has proposed a 350-unit apartment building that rises 17 stories along West Dixie Highway but tapers down to four stories along Northeast 26th Avenue.

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Prologis’ Beacon Lakes

(Source: Prologis)

(Source: Prologis)

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Prologis, led by Hamid Moghadam, wants to expand its already massive Beacon Lakes business park in west Miami-Dade County.

The San Francisco-based firm wants to build four warehouses on 55 acres at Beacon Lakes, according to an application submitted to Miami-Dade County late last month. In an emailed statement, Prologis said it wants to add more than 500,000 square feet.

The 436-acre, master-planned Beacon Lakes, which spans from Florida’s Turnpike to Northwest 137th Avenue and from Northwest 12th Street to 25th Street, also includes offices and retail.

Prologis, a real estate investment trust, cited in its statement the strong demand for industrial space in South Florida as a reason for its planned Beacon Lakes expansion.

In the third quarter, Miami-Dade’s industrial vacancy rate hit a record low of 1.8 percent, according to JLL. The average asking rent increased to $14.35 a square foot, up from $8.84 per square foot during the same period of last year.

Affordable Housing

(Source: McDowell Housing Partners)

(Source: McDowell Housing Partners)

McDowell Housing Partners filed plans for the second phase of its Southpointe Vista affordable housing project in Miami-Dade’s Goulds neighborhood.

Plans call for a 10-story building with 208 apartments on 2.4 acres of land on the northwest corner of Southwest 214th Street and Southwest 117th Avenue, according to a submittal to the county filed late last month. The unit mix will be studios, as well as one- and two-bedroom apartments.

The development would add to Southpointe Vista’s 124-unit first phase planned for the same site, according to media reports. The units will be reserved for households earning from 60 percent to 80 percent of the area median income, according to media reports. With Miami-Dade’s median income at $68,300, a one-person household earning from $40,980 to $54,640 annually qualifies, according to a breakdown by the Florida Housing Finance Corporation.

McDowell Housing, which has offices in Miami and Dallas, uses low-income tax credits to finance construction of some of its properties.

The firm is the affordable housing arm of W. Patrick McDowell’s McDowell Properties.

McDowell Properties has been betting on developing below-market rentals in south Miami-Dade. In March, the firm proposed a seven-story Coronado Park building with 201 workforce housing units at 29500 Old Dixie Highway near Homestead.

South Miami-Dade — which includes the Naranja, Leisure City, Goulds and Princeton neighborhoods, as well as the municipalities of Homestead and Florida City — has attracted developers of multifamily and other commercial real estate. The area offers large expanses of buildable land at costs below the skyrocketing prices of Miami’s urban core.