Miami commission approves permits for Midtown 6 and 7 towers

A pair of new residential towers proposed at Midtown Miami cleared a final government hurdle. on Thursday.

The Miami City Commission approved permits for Midtown 6 and Midtown 7, as well as tandem loading berths and height increases for the two projects.

A partnership between the Magellan Development Group and Alex Vadia, who owns the development site totaling nearly 4 acres on Northeast First Avenue from 30th and 31st streets, is building the two 32-story towers with 838 total units. The towers are being built on top of a four-story podium that includes 39,718 square feet of retail and office space. The buildings will also share a common courtyard and pedestrian plaza, but will each have a garage with a total of 1,101 parking spaces.

The commission voted 3-0 to grant a major use special permit for Midtown 6, which will house 447 units, and a class II permit for Midtown 7, which will have 391 units. In addition, the commissioners also approved a height increase of up to 10 percent for both buildings and tandem loading berths.

As a condition for approval, the developers agreed to hire 40 percent of the construction workers from Miami-Dade County. According to a description by project design firm BLK Architecture of Chicago, the podium will be made of local coral limestone and the towers are defined by a dynamically textured facade created by angled balconies. Midtown 6 will also have 73,590 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenities, including a pool and spa, fitness areas, game room, lounge, business office, kitchen and bars, and fireplaces.

In early January, Magellan opened its Midtown Five 400-unit apartment building, which has already signed more than 70 leases. Rental prices in the 24-story tower are just above $3 a square foot. The project has 52,000 square feet of amenity space, along with ground floor retail.