Dallas REIT wants to build mixed-use rental complex in Wynwood

One of the nation’s largest multifamily companies is planning a major project for the north end of Wynwood.

Dallas-based Westdale Real Estate Investment Management is seeking to redevelop 19 properties in Miami’s hot neighborhood into a 202-unit apartment complex with some office and commercial space, according to documents and plans submitted to the city’s planning and zoning department. The 3.42 acre site is located about a block north of Northwest 29th Street between Northwest Second Avenue and Northwest Third Avenue.

Westdale needs city approval to rezone most of the parcels, which currently consist of single-family homes and duplexes. The new development, to be called Westdale Wynwood, would be a mix of buildings, including three-story towers on the northern and western parcels and townhouse-style apartments on the southern lots. Some of the buildings would feature Spanish Mission and Mediterranean Revival design elements to fit in with neighboring properties.

Westdale executives could not be immediately reached for comment. The company’s application is scheduled to go before the Miami Planning and Zoning Board on Nov. 15. A site analysis by project architect Cesar Garcia-Pons of Perkins + Will claims that rezoning the properties is appropriate because of the transitional nature and poor condition of the existing neighborhood.

“The existing one-story single-family residences are no longer in scale or compatible in character with the existing buildings or current uses to their immediate east, south and west,” Garcia-Pons wrote. He added that the site would provide a townhouse buffer between the proposed higher density buildings and existing “higher intensity uses.”

However, Miami’s land development chief Jacqueline Ellis is recommending the planning board deny Westdale’s application because rezoning the properties would be inconsistent with the goals of the Miami 21 zoning code. In her analysis, Ellis said the proposed development is not compatible with surrounding properties in Wynwood. “The proposed change in zoning is an intrusion of higher density and intensity into the established neighborhood,” she wrote.

Through an affiliate led by Westdale CEO Joseph Beard, the company assembled the 19 properties between June and October of last year, paying a combined $16.39 million. The REIT owns more than 200 commercial and multifamily properties in 30 cities valued at $4 billion, according to its website.