Related closes on construction loan for Liberty Square redevelopment

The Related Group’s affordable housing division just closed on construction financing for a mixed-income redevelopment of Liberty Square in Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood.

Related Urban Development Group secured the $23.1 million construction loan from Bank of America, according to the developer. The financing will be used to build 204 units in six garden-style buildings as part of the first phase of the project.

Phase one, expected to open in the spring of 2019, will include 73 public housing units, 121 apartments of affordable housing and 10 units of workforce housing on 6 acres of the 55-acre development plot. The land is being redeveloped as a public-private partnership under a 75-year lease from Miami-Dade County.

Related Urban, led by principal Albert Milo, won the bid last year for what’s one of the largest affordable housing developments in the county at more than $300 million. Liberty Square, built in the 1930s under President Franklin D. Roosevelt as one of the nation’s oldest public housing projects, has been in disrepair for decades.

Once completed, the affordable housing community is expected to include a 40,000-square-foot grocery store, more than 1,500 residential units, 15,000 square feet for local retailers, and a community and health center. It will have units set aside for very low-income residents with special needs, low-income seniors and those in workforce housing.

Earlier this week, Related Urban and partners Doug McCraw and Lutz Hofbauer secured approvals for a mixed-use affordable housing project, the Gallery at FATVillage, in Fort Lauderdale.