UPDATED, Oct. 9, 12:30 p.m.: More than three years in the making, a North Miami mixed-use development composed mostly of apartments for seniors, is moving forward.
The North Miami City Council recently approved the $45 million development. Called Residences at NoMi, it will be built at 950 Northeast 124th Street on a 1.95-acre vacant site. The project will have 175 apartments in three buildings that will surround a five-story, 224-space parking garage. The ground floors of the buildings will have a total of 24,675 square feet of office, retail and restaurant space.
Prior to approval, the developer, Trise Development, led by Moe Yaghoubi, had to allay neighbors’ fears that the project would be too large or generate excess traffic, and that it would not be integrated into the quiet residential neighborhood. The developer changed the original design so that, among other things, traffic enters and exits only on 124th Street, instead of all three streets bordering the complex.
The developer paid $800,000 for the site in September 2015.
As planned, the three buildings will include a three-story building with 46 units: 20 studios, 14 one-bedrooms and 12 two-bedrooms; a five-story building with 38 units: 13 studios, 21 one-bedrooms and four two-bedrooms; and a seven-story building with 91 units, including one studio, six one-bedroom apartments and 84 two-bedroom apartments.
Markus Frankel of Frankel Benayoun Architects, the project’s architect, said that the whole complex will be in a parklike setting, with oak and mahogany trees and tropical plants. The project will feature a 54.5-foot-wide pedestrian promenade along 123rd Street and 25-foot-wide pedestrian plazas along Northeast 10th Avenue and NE 124th Street. Also included in the plan are seating areas, places for public assembly, sculptures and water features.
Savino & Miller Design Studio is the landscape architect.
Frankel said that the project could break ground within nine months and Residences at NoMi could be completed 20 months after that.
Yaghoubi, president of Trise Development, said financing will depend on the final mix of units. “We are obligated to set aside 15 percent of the units as affordable,” but for the remainder, the categories could change, he said. If the project is not predominantly affordable, then rental rates will depend on lenders’ guidelines, Yaghoubi said.