Sweetwater affordable senior rental project scores $33M construction loan

An affordable senior rental project is on tap in Sweetwater with the help of a $33 million construction loan.

Developer CREI Holdings, led by managing director Raul Rodriguez, secured the loan from Centennial Bank Southeast Florida, according to a news release.

Centennial’s J.C. de Ona and Yuleisy Montalvo handled the financing.

The project, which broke ground in August, will be an eight-story, 244-unit building on the 5-acre site formerly home to Vann Academy school and day care at 400 Northwest 112th Avenue and 11239 Northwest Fourth Terrace, according to the release.

The project will offer one- and two-bedroom units, ranging from 609 square feet to 874 square feet. Apartments are restricted to renters 55 and older. All units will be affordable, with 40 percent reserved for seniors making less than the area median income. Miami-Dade County’s median income was $59,100 as of April 2020, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

CREI Holdings bought the property in 2018 for $4.2 million, property records show. Rodriguez, the developer’s managing principal, is the CEO of National Health Transport, a medical and non-medical transportation company based in Sweetwater, according to its website.

Affordable senior housing is a booming asset class in South Florida, partly because of a push to provide more affordable housing options and partly due to the state’s allure for senior residents.

In Miami’s Overtown neighborhood, Michael Swerdlow is developing Block 55 with 578 apartments for low-income seniors.

Farther north in Pembroke Pines, a Tampa-based developer won final approval for an 88-unit senior affordable housing project that will be fully rent restricted.