Bidders vie to redevelop Homestead’s old city hall site

Teams led by Centennial Management, Housing Trust Group, The Meyers Group, Related Urban and 13th Floor Investments want to develop mixed-use project

Five bidders vie to redevelop Homestead’s old city hall site
Rendering from the Related Urban proposal with company President Albert Milo Jr. (Getty)

Five developers are making a play for a prime redevelopment site in the city of Homestead.

Teams led by Centennial Management, Housing Trust Group, the Meyers Group, Related Urban and 13th Floor Investments submitted proposals to transform 16 acres near North Campbell Drive and U.S.1 into a mixed-use project. The development would be anchored by affordable housing apartments and complemented with medical office and retail buildings. The site, which includes the former Homestead city hall, is owned by the Homestead Community Redevelopment Agency.

Centennial Management, a Miami Lakes-based development firm owned by Lewis Swezy, is offering to build 300 residential units with retail on the first floor and a smaller office component, according to the letter of intent Swezy submitted to the CRA. “We would make sure to make the most of this iconic site,” Swezy wrote. His letter did not provide any more details.

Vilma Enterprises, a new development company started by former University of Miami and NFL football star Jonathan Vilma, partnered with Miami-based 13th Floor Investments to submit a 17-page letter of intent that focused on the firms’ development experience and projects. The group’s package includes a one-page aerial photo of the property with the areas marked for development, showing a multifamily building with ground-floor retail, an office building with ground-floor retail, an outpatient center, a parking garage and a paseo. However, a spokesperson for 13th Floor said the partnership withdrew its proposal.

Related Urban, the affordable housing arm of the Miami-based Related Group, submitted a 109-page proposal for Homestead Commons, a development that would include 328 apartments; 10,143 square feet of retail; 31,000 square feet of medical office space including an urgent care center; 7,823 square feet of educational space; and roughly 60,000 square feet of green space.

 

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

The Meyers Group, an Aventura-based multifamily and mixed-use developer led by Stuart Meyers, is teaming up with Davie-based retail builder Master Development Partners to create Homestead Park Place, according to the partnership’s 28-page submittal. The development would entail several four-story buildings with 350 apartments, and 50,000 to 60,000 square feet of retail space. Homestead Park Place could have a pharmacy, several restaurants, multi-tenant retail buildings, dual-branded hotels and free-standing medical or professional office buildings, the proposal states.

Meyers and Master Development are offering $800,000 in annual ground lease payments that would increase 10 percent every 10 years, plus a percentage of the leasing rents, according to the proposal.

Coconut Grove-based Housing Trust Group and Miami design firm Flux Architects are proposing Campbell Park, which would include 200 apartment-style modern homes, more than 100,000 square feet of commercial space, 22,708 square feet of amenities and 600 parking spaces. The joint venture is offering the city annual rent payments of $5 million.

A spokesperson for the city did not respond to requests for comment on the next steps in the bidding process, and a deadline for the city’s decision on the winning proposal.