Miami’s Arts and Entertainment District is getting two more NR Investments projects.
Just two blocks south of its Canvas luxury condo tower and its apartment building, Filling Station Lofts, the developer is proposing a two-tower, mixed-use project split into condos, a hotel and office space.
And just north of Canvas and Filling Station Lofts, NR Investments seeks to build a smaller development consisting of a 30-story, 225-unit residential tower with 8,000 square feet of retail and some office space.
Nir Shoshani, a principal of NR Investments, said the company has not set a definite timetable for the construction of either project. “I have no idea yet,” Shoshani said. “It is a tricky market out there. We are in the analysis phase of both projects. The idea is to start moving forward in late 2018 on one of the two.”
The Miami City Commission last week voted in favor of requests made by NR Investments to increase bonuses to the floor areas of both proposed projects from 30 percent to 40 percent above what is permitted. Iris Escarra, NR Investments’ attorney, told commissioners that the developer is not increasing the number of units and the height even though the zoning change would allow up to 573 units and up to 60 stories.
For the first project, NR Investments brought in architect Carlos Zapata to design a 45-story tower with 457 condos, an 11-story hotel with 150 rooms and 30,000 square feet of office space, according to documents submitted to the city commission. The hotel would act as a buffer between the taller residential tower and a historical firehouse. The development would rise on a 1.14-acre site on Northeast 14th Street between North Miami Avenue and Northeast Miami Court.
The second project is on a 24,700-square-foot site consisting of two lots at 70 and 90 Northeast 17th Street and a third property at 1642 Northeast First Avenue. The rezoning would allow a building with maximum square footage of 370,500 and 283 units. However, NR Investments is only seeking 225 units.
Escarra told commissioners that the developer would set aside 10 percent of the units for workforce housing if NR Investments decides the project will be all condos. If NR Investments makes it a rental building, the set aside would be 14 percent.
NR Investments would seek to offer buyers Fannie Mae financing for the 14th Street project or the 17th Street development if the company decides to do condos there, Shoshani said. In 2016, the firm was approved for Fannie Mae financing on its Canvas project. Shoshani said NR Investments is running bi-weekly seminars on Fannie Mae for potential qualifying buyers.
“We believe the market is ready for the next step after the last three to four years were mostly about investors,” he said. “We are very optimistic. Banks are slowly, but surely, starting to lend to the end user. The young generation of professionals can save their rent money and with a little bit of a down payment, they can get back to purchasing homes.”