New TOD Project For Low-Income Seniors Breaks Ground
A new, transit-oriented development for seniors called Caribbean Village will break ground this week.
The seven-story, 123-unit project in South Miami Heights will be built for low-income tenants earning 60% or less of the area median income, which in Miami-Dade County is $52,300. Five percent of the units at 19755 SW 110th Court will be designated for extremely low-income people making as little as 28% of the AMI.
"We think it's a wonderful poster child for affordable senior housing, and in an area of the county that's not seen any real new housing for seniors in over 20 years," said one of the developers, Pinnacle Housing Group partner Mitch Friedman. Units will be reserved for residents 55 and older.
Rents for the one- and two-bedroom units will cost between $378 and $976 per month. Amenities include a fitness center, a lounge and a computer lab. Friedman said that in the coming months, a leasing office will open adjacent to the site, and that potential tenants can begin the process of qualifying for units.
The development is part of a two-phased plan to develop transit-oriented affordable housing in Miami, REBusiness Online reports. It is adjacent to the South Dade Transitway, which has dedicated bus lanes that connect with Metrorail, and the developers are revitalizing an existing “kiss-and-ride” facility with over 100 parking spaces.
Miami-Dade County contributed the land, which will be leased to a partnership of Pinnacle and South Miami Heights Community Development Corp., and $11.5M in funding. Other funding for the project came from housing tax credits, $5M in tax-exempt bonds and a $5.3M loan from Florida Housing Finance Corp. Citibank purchased both the bonds and the tax credits.
"Phase 2, we don't know when that will happen, but it will be for families," Friedman said. "It took us three or four years to garner enough financing to do Phase 1. We anticipate it might take the same time frame."
In 2017, federal prosecutors found that Pinnacle, using a subsidiary, had inflated costs of four affordable housing projects built during the recession. The company was banned for two years from applying for state funding, but, following litigation, has continued to get contracts and tax incentives to build for other low-income housing projects. Friedman said the matter is now behind them.
Initially, 20% of units were supposed to go to extremely low-income people, but Pinnacle reduced that to 5% of units, and also decreased the rent it pays the county from a one-time payment of nearly $430,000 down to $195,000.
Friedman said the county approved those changes because a legal dispute over an easement forced Pinnacle to rack up attorney's fees and order two redesigns, and because "construction costs have gone up, in fact every single month, 2, 3, 4 percent."
Over the past 16 years or so, the legislature and governor have taken money taxed for the express purpose of affordable housing and diverted it for state general revenue needs. Friedman said this has made building housing far more difficult.
"We're not getting as much as we used to," he said. "The less surtax funds, the less development is able to be built. Here in South Florida, to go vertical requires a lot of block, a lot of steel, but costs are so high that we can no longer build as high as we wanted to. Instead of 12, 14, 15 stories, today we have to keep at seven or eight stories to make the budget work."
The zoning in Miami prevents affordable housing from getting built in many areas, and while building is easier in unincorporated areas of Miami-Dade County, developers can't build as tall.
Despite the challenges, he said, Miami-Dade County continues to kick in funds for building, and the city has implemented some changes proposed from its long-debated Miami 21 plan, so hopefully things will continue to improve.
