Atlantic Pacific plans 116 affordable housing units in Naranja 

Five months after scoring a deal to redevelop four public housing complexes in south Miami-Dade County with 605 income-restricted units, Atlantic Pacific is aiming to start a portion of the project. 

The Bay Harbor Islands-based company proposes 116 affordable units on the 4-acre site of the Heritage Village II public housing complex on the northeast corner of Southwest 270th Street and Southwest 142nd Avenue in Naranja, according to a filing to the county this week. The plan is for a pair of three-story buildings, 130 parking spaces and 110,000 square feet of open space. 

Atlantic Pacific is seeking a pre-application meeting with Miami-Dade officials to gather input on the project. A formal application would then follow. 

The proposal for Heritage Village II is part of a larger plan to redevelop aging public housing complexes in Miami-Dade. In 2019, as public housing was hit with dwindling federal funding, Miami-Dade sought companies to redevelop the complexes with new income-restricted housing. 

In December, county commissioners approved a deal for Atlantic Pacific to lease and redevelop four public housing complexes with 150 units combined. The plan is for the developer to quadruple the number of apartments to 605 income-restricted units, according to county records. 

The complexes Atlantic Pacific will redevelop are the 26-unit Heritage Village II, the 56-unit Heritage Village I on the southeast corner of Southwest 142nd Avenue and Southwest 268th Street, and the 34-unit Moody Gardens and 64-unit Moody Village complexes on the southwest corner of Southwest 135th Avenue and Southwest 268th Street, county records show. 

Led by Howard Cohen, Atlantic Pacific has ramped up its efforts on other large south Miami-Dade projects. In April, the firm proposed a 10-story, 124-apartment building at 10235 Southwest 186th Street as the second phase of its larger Quail Roost Transit Village development. 

The entire 9-acre Quail Roost project is expected to consist of more than 500 units on the southwest corner of Southwest 184th Street and the busway. 

South Miami-Dade, with a vast supply of land tracts that sell at a discount compared with the urban core, has attracted developers in recent years. Aside from Naranja, the area’s neighborhoods include Perrine, Princeton, Goulds and Leisure City. The municipalities are Homestead and Florida City. 

This month, homebuilder Lennar proposed 80 single-family homes on an 11-acre site on the northwest corner of Southwest 236th Street and Southwest 133rd Avenue near Naranja. Lennar has the land under contract for an undisclosed amount.