Two apartment buildings fully rehabilitated with federal government dollars have opened in Miami’s Overtown, adding to the architectural heritage of the historically black neighborhood as well as to Miami-Dade County’s much sought-after affordable housing inventory, the Miami Herald reported.
Built in the 1950s style of Masonry Vernacular, St. John Village, 1410 NW First Place and 1731-41 NW First Court, two-story structures with jointly 34 one- and two-bedroom apartments, was developed by St. John Community Development Corp., the developer arm of a Baptist congregation with more than a century’s roots in Overtown.
Many of the apartment buildings in Overtown, built by black pioneers who labored on Miami’s ill-fated railway, followed a similar building style.
St. John CDC gave the previously foreclosed properties a new coat of pastel paint, new landscaping and a fence, the Herald said.
The units are intended for renters earning less then half the local median income, or about $32,700 for a family of four, according to the newspaper.
The two buildings are part of a group of foreclosed properties to receive some of the $89 million in funding awarded from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the second phase of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. [Miami Herald] –Emily Schmall