The Miami City Commission voted unanimously on Thursday to advance a proposed affordable housing project in the West Grove by committing $7.2 million in public funds for the acquisition of seven vacant lots on Douglas Road near Grand Avenue.
In comments delivered before the vote, a handful of community leaders expressed tentative support for the project but stopped short of a full endorsement, saying they needed more time to vet a development plan that just recently became public.
Those community leaders also asked the city to ensure that Collaborative Development Corporation, the nonprofit organization behind the proposed 3710 Grove Landing project, works with community members going forward to shape the development.
Collaborative and its partners are seeking to build a mixed-used development on Douglas Road south of Grand Avenue with 70 apartments (up from 54 earlier in the week) for rent and for sale, 90% of which would be priced within reach of low and moderate-income families.
Project details are fluid, the partners have said, and will be shaped by the decisions and discussions that follow the city’s funding commitment. On Thursday, West Grove leaders asked for a seat at the table.
“I feel it’s essential that we ensure that the community’s voice is central in this process,” said Carolyn Donaldson, vice chair of GRACE, an organization that advocates for fair housing and economic development in the West Grove. “I think the community should definitely have a voice and ensure that their input shapes the future of this project.”
Reynold Martin, chairman of GRACE, urged the city, Collaborative and its partners to move slowly, to give the community time to evaluate the project and provide input.
“We are excited. We wish there was more time to evaluate this, but we are excited,” Martin told commissioners. “We would love for you to slow down a little bit, but in the meantime, I want to hear more, I want to work with this group of people.”
The commission voted 4-0 without discussion to approve the funding after others urged the city to advance the project. The $7.2 million in public funding, in the form of a forgivable loan, would allow Collaborative to close on seven parcels of vacant land facing Douglas Road between Grand Avenue and Thomas Avenue.
Thelma Gibson, a Collaborative board member whose family provided the land for the Gibson Plaza development with affordable housing less than a block away, said this new project offered an opportunity for residents pushed out of the West Grove by rising real estate prices and gentrification to return.
“We want to be able to bring those people back,” the 98-year-old Gibson told commissioners. “I think all of you will agree with me that this is the best project that you have heard about in a long time.”
Merline Barton, president of the Thelma Gibson Health Initiative, a nonprofit active in the West Grove, also urged the commission to act. “The partners in the project did a lot of soul-searching – how could they help our community maintain some of our residents, and bring (others) back,” she said.
In addition to Collaborative, partners involved in the project include Marcelo Fernandes of Grove Properties and local developers Grant Savage and Peter Gardner of Silver Bluff, which has three other projects under development on Grand Avenue.
With commission approval in hand, the partners will now present the project to the city’s Housing and Commercial Loan Committee on March 25. The commission’s funding commitment is contingent on the committee’s approval.
