Published Date: 01/06/2022
McDowell Housing Partners filed plans for an 11-story affordable housing project in the Goulds neighborhood of southern Miami-Dade County.
The Miami-based developer, which serves as the affordable housing division of Dallas-based McDowell Properties, filed a pre-application for Southpointe Vista with county officials. It concerns the 3.46-acre vacant site at the northeast corner of Southwest 214th Street and Southwest 117th Court. The developer has the property under contract from Miami-based Cutler Ridge Investment Group.
In early 2020, Cutler Ridge Investment Group filed plans to build 211 apartments in five stories there, but the McDowell Housing plan is significantly larger.
Southpointe Vista would have 326 affordable apartments in two 11-story buildings and 483 parking spaces, including a 328-space parking garage and the rest surface parking. Amenities would include a fitness center, a yoga room, a business center and a kid’s room.
Christopher Shear, COO of McDowell Housing, said the project would be developed in two phases, with the first phase having 124 units and the second with 202 units. All of them would be affordable, with income requirements ranging from 60% to 80% of area median income.
The median household income in Goulds is $41,051.
Shear said the Florida Housing Finance Corp. has already awarded $28.82 million in 9% housing tax credits for the first phase of Southpointe Vista. Generally with such programs, the developer generates extra housing tax credits from its partners, so Shear plans to allocate the extra credits to the second phase of Southpointe Vista, turning them into 4% tax credits. That provided extra funding for the second phase to help make the project possible, he said.
McDowell Housing is also working on a tax-exempt bond through the Miami-Dade Housing Authority and county surtax funds in order to pay for the second phase, he added.
This is an opportune site for affordable housing because there’s a shortage of apartments in the area for people at these income levels and it’s within walking distance of the South Dade TransitWay Corridor, where the county is planning a bus rapid transit system, he said.
If all of the sources of funding come together as expected, the developer plans to break ground in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Rep R Twar in Miami is the architect of the project.
“Developing affordable housing is never easy but it’s always worth it,” Shear said.
McDowell Housing is also working on an affordable housing project in partnership with Miami Jewish Health.
