Brickell Tower Advances After Developer Pledges Units To State Attorneys
Miami-Dade County officials struck an unusual deal with a Chicago-based developer as the firm seeks approval for its Starlite East Motel redevelopment in Brickell.
Focus agreed during a planning and zoning board meeting on June 20 to give lawyers in the Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office the right of first refusal for the 26 workforce housing units in its planned 39-story Miami Starlite apartment tower. In exchange, zoning board members unanimously recommend the County Commission approve the project.
Commissioners on the zoning board, some of whom were previously county attorneys themselves, pressed the developer to make the commitment, pointing to the region’s affordability crisis as part of the reason the attorney’s office has lost 156 prosecutors in the last two years.
“I have done this before, and I can tell you that those units will be rented in four hours,” Commissioner Eileen Higgins said at the meeting, according to Miami Today, which first reported the deal.
Focus’ plans for the property were first filed as a pre-application in August, proposing a 517-unit project called Miami Starlite at 128 SW Seventh St. The developer has already begun demolition of the nearly three-decade-old Starlite East Motel at the property.
The site is about 3 miles from the state attorney’s office, but lawyers could hop on the nearby Metromover for a 23-minute ride to and from work while living in Brickell, one of Miami’s most expensive apartment markets.
The starting salary at the state attorney’s and public defender’s office is $68K, according to Miami Today, more than $10K below the county’s $79,400 area median income.
Low pay has made positions tough to fill, with State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle estimating that around 35% of its roles are vacant. The public defender’s office has around 25% of its open roles unfilled, Carlos Martinez, a public defender, told Miami Today.
Focus was proposing a 140% AMI cap — a salary around $111K per year— at the Miami Starlite. Commissioners persuaded Bilzin Sumberg attorney Javier Aviñó, who is representing the developer, to lower that cap to 120% of AMI and allow state attorneys preferred access to the units, per Miami Today.
Apartments at Miami Starlite would range from 481 SF studios to 1,416 SF units with three bedrooms.
Focus is seeking a special exemption that would permit the 415-foot-tall tower’s construction by allowing it to exceed the 500-unit maximum allowed under the zoning rules for properties in a Rapid Transit Zone, according to the application.
Aviñó and Focus didn’t respond to Bisnow’s request for comment.
Gensler designed the tower, which would have a 506-car parking podium clad in glass as the pedestal for a tower with a glass and stucco facade and balconies on all sides.
Site plans include 8K SF of ground-floor retail, an eighth-floor amenity deck with a pool atop the parking garage, and a landscaped rooftop with a game room, grill area, another pool and lounges.
Focus paid $28M for the 1-acre property in November 2022 through an entity called 128 SW 77th Street Owner LLC, property records indicate. It was sold by Optimum USA Brickell 2 LLC, which is registered to Matthew Berry and shares an address with DTAM, a firm that provides services to casinos and gaming operators.
Miami’s rental market exploded during the pandemic. While rent growth has slowed, 55% of renters were rent-burdened at the end of 2023, meaning they were paying at least 30% of their income on shelter, according to Chandan Economics.
Miami remains the most competitive rental market in the country, according to RentCafe, with a 96.5% occupancy rate and 19 prospective renters for each unit. Median one-bedroom rent was $2,650 at the end of February, according to Zumper, up 56% from three years earlier but down slightly from a year ago.
The high cost of living is forcing some residents out of the area — Miami-Dade’s total population shrunk by 79,535 people between 2020 and 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported, even as wealthy individuals from the Northeast flocked to the city.
