Altman wants to build 370-unit apartment project with grocer near Homestead

Altman Companies wants to build a 366-unit multifamily project with a shopping center near Homestead, amid the ongoing rush to develop rentals in the robust South Florida market.

The Boca Raton-based developer is seeking to build Altis Palms on the southeast corner of Southwest 112th Avenue and Southwest 248th Street, and also just west of the Florida Turnpike, according to an Altman zoning pre-application meeting request and site plan filed last week to Miami-Dade County.

Baptist Health South Florida, through an affiliate, owns the 25.5-acre site in an unincorporated area of south Miami-Dade, records show. Altman’s application does not indicate it has the land under contract.

Altis Palms would have a 70,354-square-foot shopping center on the west side of the property. It would include a 55,454-square-foot grocery store; a 4,900-square-foot gas station and convenience store; and a 10,000-square-foot retail section, the filing shows.

The multifamily would span six buildings, each six stories, on the 14.8-acre eastern portion of the property, according to the site plan. It would have 656 parking spaces in garages and surface lots. Recreation areas for residents would include a 3-acre artificial lake.

Altman Companies, led by co-CEOs Joel Altman and Seth Wise, has developed, purchased and managed more than 26,000 apartment units since 1968, according to its website. Its portfolio is largely in Florida, with other properties across the Southeast, as well as Illinois, Michigan and Texas.

Farther north, Altman has proposed a multifamily complex with medical offices on 14.4 acres at 9501 Southwest 137th Avenue in Kendall.

In January, Altman paid $14 million for almost 110 acres of the Fountains Country Club golf course, which is on the southwest corner of Lake Worth and Jog roads near Wellington in Palm Beach County.

South Florida has become a magnet for newcomers over the past year and a half, fueling strong rental demand and prompting a flurry of development proposals.

Altman is not the first to turn to areas in and near Homestead, as builders increasingly are homing in on the southern stretches of Miami-Dade for the area’s untapped land supply.

In March, Dallas-based McDowell Properties proposed the seven-story, 201-unit Coronado Park apartment building at 29500 Old Dixie Highway near Homestead.