A mixed-use, multifamily project with up to 340 units is to rise north of Homestead on land now used mostly as a scrap yard.
The development trio of Jose Canero, Simon Ferro and Carlos Fernandez plans to build the complex on 5.4 acres at 29055 Southwest 162nd Avenue, after scoring county zoning approval this week. The project will include 3,000 square feet of retail.
Units will range from one- to three-bedrooms, and the community will include a gym, pool and an artistic water feature, according to Canero.
CFF Development Group, led by Canero and Ferro, bought the property last year for $1.5 million. The site includes a single-family house, whose owner operates the scrap yard.
Canero, president of Coral Gables-based The Canero Group real estate brokerage, and Ferro, a land use and zoning attorney at Avila Rodriguez Hernandez Mena & Garro, partnered with Fernandez after the purchase, Canero said.
Fernandez, president of Miami-Dade County-based Galloway Builders Group, has developed more than 1,200 single-family houses in the county as well as several townhouse projects, he said. They include the 88-unit Killian Commons at 11731 Southwest 106th Terrace.
Canero said it’s unclear when they will start and complete construction, as county administrative approvals still are needed.
The project was not initially welcomed by some nearby residents, with the Concerned Citizens of South Dade advocacy group raising issues over traffic, building height and other aspects.
The developers agreed to limit heights to four stories on the lot portion fronting Old Dixie Highway, and three stories along Southwest 162nd Avenue, Canero said. Also, heights are capped to two stories for buildings that will front neighboring lots, including a plant nursery. The tallest five-story buildings will be concentrated in the center of the lot.
This and other design features, including more landscaping, were hammered out in a declaration, prompting the Concerned Citizens of South Dade to support the project.
“I am not here to oppose, but rather to agree,” group member Ernesto Echauri told the zoning board, although he implored the board to keep the declaration in place. “We have come a long way in negotiations. There [are] properties that are consistent with what they are trying to do there.”
South Miami-Dade has caught the eye of other developers, with various projects planned. Baptist Hospital of Miami wants to redevelop a strawberry farm at 9501 Southwest 137th Avenue into a medical facility with a 354-unit multifamily complex, which would be built by The Altman Companies. Approval is pending.
GL Homes plans to build 550 homes on the long-closed 169-acre Calusa Country Club golf course at 9400 Southwest 130th Avenue, after buying the site for $32 million in February. In October, the Miami-Dade Zoning Board did away with a covenant that mandated the property remain a golf course long term.