Developer wins approval for senior affordable housing project in Pembroke Pines

88-unit building will be for tenants 62 and older with up to 60% of area median income

Renderings of the Pembroke Tower project (Forum Architecture)
Renderings of the Pembroke Tower project (Forum Architecture)

A Tampa-based developer won final approval for an 88-unit senior affordable housing development in Pembroke Pines.

Commissioners on Wednesday approved an amended site plan that raises the height of the project at 2201 North University Drive to 73 feet and 4 inches, to allow for a ground-floor parking pedestal under five stories of apartments.

The 100 percent rent-restricted, affordable housing development will have one- and two-bedroom apartments for tenants 62 and older whose income does not exceed 60 percent of the area’s median income.

The owner of the development site is DP Pembroke LLC, which is managed by J. David Page of Tampa, according to state records. In 2006, DP Pembroke LLC paid $8.9 million for the site, property records show.

In 2011, the commission rezoned the site from “commercial” to “residential high” (25 to 50 dwelling units per acre). The commission approved the 2011 rezoning together with a restrictive covenant on the land. The covenant requires age-restricted and affordable-housing designations for all residential units built there, up to a maximum of 200 units. The original age restriction required tenants 55 and older.

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In 2019, Pembroke Pines raised the age range to 62 and older. It also approved a zoning variance that reduced to 188 from 395 the total number of parking spaces required for the planned apartment building and an existing one on an adjacent parcel.

The site of the planned apartments, known as Pembroke Tower II, is just east of Pembroke Tower I, an existing five-story apartment building with 100 units, all of which are rent-restricted affordable housing units for senior tenants.

Page also has an equity interest in that building. SP Tower LLC paid $10 million in September 2019 to acquire the 100-unit building, according to property records. State records show SP Tower LLC is managed by another limited liability company that shares the same business address as Page’s Tampa-based company, Southport Financial Services.

Page did not respond to a request for comment.

Southport Financial Services has invested in 214 multifamily properties with more than 20,000 units in 20 states, according to the company’s website.

Among other rent-restricted affordable multifamily properties, Southport Financial Services in 2018 acquired the 130-unit Colony Park community in West Palm Beach for $12.6 million, as well as the 192-unit Marina Bay Apartments complex in Lantana for $15.8 million.