A nonprofit organization active in the West Grove is seeking to partner with the City of Miami to build affordable housing for neighborhood residents on a cluster of seven vacant lots just south of Grand Avenue on Douglas Road.
If the project gets off the ground, backers say the mixed-use development could help to stabilize the neighborhood – and serve as a model for future projects – by prioritizing local residents and preserving the neighborhood’s history, culture and social fabric.
The Collaborative Development Corporation (CDC) and its partners are asking the City Commission this week to commit $7.2 million for the acquisition of the seven properties, the largest of which sits on the southwest corner of Douglas and Grand.
To advance the project, CDC needs a four-fifths affirmative vote of the commission on Thursday. Miami District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo is backing the request. The money, in the form of a forgivable loan, would come from District 2’s share of funding from the city’s Miami for Everyone program.
One major selling point: The partners have pledged to work with community groups in the West Grove to market the project’s 54 apartments to qualified buyers and tenants who have a “deep connection” to the community.
Unlike other affordable housing projects, the partners say the 3710 Grove Landing project won’t include funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). As a result, the developers won’t be required to market the apartments through a lottery system open to all county residents.
“The key factor is we are doing this without HUD money,” said Marcelo Fernandes, one of the partners behind project. “This is not going to be a lottery where Grove residents don’t get any piece of it.”
Another plus: The project will include a mix of homeownership and rental apartments, and a pathway to ownership for low-income tenants. Forty-eight of the 54 units will be priced for families earning between 70 and 95% of area median income (AMI).
In addition, with two to three planned retail spaces, the partners are pledging to follow the city’s Mixed Use Cultural District guidelines that seek to preserve and enhance the neighborhood’s Bahamian culture.
“We’ve done our homework,” said Joseph King, Collaborative’s chief executive officer. And, he added, “We are being strategic in our approach.”
Eleven years ago, Collaborative partnered with Pinnacle Housing Group to build affordable housing for seniors at Gibson Plaza, less than a block away on Grand Avenue. The project was named for Thelma Gibson’s family, which owned the land.
At the time, King was vice president of the Thelma Gibson Health Initiative, a nonprofit active in the West Grove. Gibson is a member of Collaborative’s board of directors. She plans to attend Thursday’s commission meeting, King said.
In addition to Collaborative, the partners behind the project include Fernandes of Grove Properties and local developers Grant Savage and Peter Gardner of Silver Bluff.
“We’re obviously very excited to move this project forward,” Savage said this week. “I think it will be great for the Grove.”
Silver Bluff has three other projects under development on the Grand Avenue corridor in the West Grove, including two mixed-use apartment projects. Neither of those projects include affordable housing.
Grove Properties will serve as project developer, Fernandes said, and Silver Bluff will participate as an equity partner. If the project is approved, Collaborative will close on the seven properties and own the completed project.
King said Collaborative was fortunate to find the right partners for this project. “It has been the perfect storm of the right people and the right partners,” he said.
“They live in the Grove, they are from the Grove, they understand the Grove,” he added. “I think they see the community good.”
The seven properties up for acquisition span two blocks fronting on Douglas Road, just north of Frances S. Tucker K-8 Center between Thomas Street and Grand Avenue. All seven properties are under contract, Fernandes said.
Current plans call for two buildings topping out at five stories, with 54 mixed-income apartments, including 14 studios, 13 one-bedroom apartments, 16 two-bedroom units, and 11 apartments with three bedrooms.
The estimated rental rate for a one-bedroom apartment (950 square feet) priced below market would range from $1,490 (70% of AMI) to $2,202 (95% of AMI), according to a project briefing document shared with city officials.
A two-bedroom apartment (1,250 square feet) priced below market would rent for $1,787 (70% AMI) to $2,426 (95% AMI), the developers estimated. The average median income (AMI) for Miami-Dade County was $79,400 in April 2024.
If everything goes as planned – including a proposed zoning change already in progress for several of the parcels – the $30 million project could be completed in three years.
The project has been in the works for several years, dating back to the time of former District 2 Commissioner Ken Russell who left office in late 2022, Fernandes said.
In the days leading up to this week’s commission meeting, Fernandes and partners have been meeting with city commissioners and West Grove community groups to secure support for the project.
“I’ve been working on this for years,” Fernandes said. “It’s been a very long process.”
If the commission approves the deal Thursday, the project will be vetted by the city’s Housing and Commercial Loan Committee. With the committee’s approval, the land sale can move to closing.
Fernandez described 3710 Grove Landing as a “one of kind” project, one that could become a model for other affordable housing ventures if it succeeds.
“By prioritizing residents in community housing, the model helps keep housing affordable for people who have a deep connection to the area but may otherwise be priced out due to gentrification or market dynamics,” the partners wrote in the project briefing document.
“This community has been punched a lot,” King added. “This is probably the last chance to have some units that are attainable” for neighborhood residents.
