Make me an offer I can’t refuse: city of Miami seeks proposals for Allapattah site

Current zoning allows for up to 6.5M sf of development, 2,800 resi units

The Allapattah properties and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez (Credit: CBRE, Getty Images)
The Allapattah properties and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez (Credit: CBRE, Getty Images)

The city of Miami is looking to develop an 18.75-acre site it owns in Allapattah, as investment and development in the neighborhood ramps up.

The city tapped CBRE to issue a request for information from developers and investors for the property between Northwest 19th and 20th streets, and Northwest 12th and 14th avenues in Miami. The two-block site is north of Jackson Memorial Hospital in the Miami Health District.

Responses are due Aug. 12, according to CBRE. Michael McShea, Lee Ann Korst and Chris Wood of CBRE are representing the city.

The property is currently zoned CI-HE, which allows for about 6.5 million square feet of development across a mix of uses and 2,800 residential units, said Andrew Schimmel, senior project representative in the city’s real estate and asset management division. It could also be proposed as a special area plan, which would require at least 9 acres of land.

After the city receives responses, it will review them, meet with planning and zoning officials and the city manager’s office, and then likely issue a request for proposals, Schimmel said.

The property currently houses the city’s divisions of general services administration, public works, parks and recreation, solid waste and a fire station.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

Schimmel said the goal of the request for letters of interest is to get the development community’s input on the highest and best use of the property, which could include keeping all five of the city departments on site, relocating them to other city-owned properties in Allapattah, and more. “Everything is on the table,” he said.

Several projects are currently planned for Allapattah.

Developer Robert Wennett is planning a 1.4 million-square-foot mixed-use development on the Miami Produce Center property at 2140 Northwest 12th Avenue. Designed by Bjarke Ingels, the project will have as many as 2,400 co-living units and 637 traditional residential units, 231,000 square feet of office space, 129,000 square feet of retail space, 22,000 square feet for educational uses and more than 1,000 parking spaces.

On 20th and 21st streets between 10th and 11th avenues, Deco Capital Group recently purchased land where it eventually plans to build a mixed-use medical office development.

Developer Lissette Calderon also filed plans for her second planned apartment project in the neighborhood. The latest proposed mixed-use development, called 16 Allapattah, would have 323 apartments and a 336-space parking structure at 1625 Northwest 20th Street.