CLIENT NEWS: Apartment Project Near Miami park to Break Ground Next Year
December 4, 2024A real estate investment firm intends to break ground on a new 337-unit residential project near Legion Park in Miami’s Upper Eastside next year.
The new zoning and comprehensive plan amendment, approved by the Miami City Commission on November 21, will enable an affiliate of Atlanta-based private equity firm ACRE to build a six-story apartment building on 3.25 acres of land between Legion Park, Northeast Seventh Ave., Northeast 64th Street, and Biscayne Boulevard.
As part of its deal with the city, the developer vowed to break ground within three years, said Jesse Kehoe, ACRE’s director of development in Miami.
“We would like to break ground in Q2 or Q3 next year,” he added.
The future rental building will be the second phase of Adela at MiMo Bay, a 236 apartment project that ACRE Multifamily Fund IV REIT, led by Michael Van Der Poel, built just south of Legion Park in 2020, Kehoe said.
Kehoe said that ACRE has the funding it needs to start building sooner rather than later.
“The capital markets are extremely difficult to deal with right now, but fortunately we are a private equity firm and we have the capital available… to get into the ground in 2025,” Kehoe said.
According to its website, ACRE (originally known as Asia Capital Real Estate) has $4.1 billion in assets under management. Besides its headquarters in Atlanta, ACRE has offices in Miami, New York, and Singapore. Managing partner Van Der Poel is also based in Miami, ACRE’s website stated.
South Florida’s residential market took off since the pandemic as high-income households migrated to the region from other parts of the U.S. to escape state income taxes and Covid-19 regulations. Although the pandemic has largely subsided, wealthy households continue to migrate toward South Florida, brokers and developers have told the Business Journal.
Kehoe said his firm is eager to build its next apartment.
“Honestly, we love the area. We feel that there are not many multifamily buildings next to a [large] park,” Kehoe said.
City commissioners passed the zoning changes sought by ACRE without any discussion last week. However, when the item came before the city’s Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board in September, several nearby residents spoke out against the zoning changes. Among their fears was that the zoning change would encourage more developers to seek their own changes within the Upper Eastside, an area that includes multiple historic districts.
To help alleviate some of those fears, developers also proffered a covenant that promised not to seek additional zoning changes, especially through the state’s Live Local Act. Under that state law, projects that reserve 40% of its units for affordable or workforce housing must receive the highest density a city allows.
