Trending
Resia scores $60M construction loan for workforce housing complex near Cutler Bay
Project includes 390 units for households earning less than 140% of area median income
Resia, a multifamily developer formerly called AHS Residential, scored a $60 million construction loan for a workforce housing complex in south Miami-Dade County.
PNC Bank provided the loan for the Resia Old Cutler rental community that will be built on 17.3 acres west of Florida’s Turnpike and south of Southwest 216th Street, according to the developer’s release and a spokesperson. The site spans both north and south of Old Cutler Road and is in unincorporated Miami-Dade, near Cutler Bay.
The garden-style complex will have eight three-story buildings with 390 units, ranging from one- to three-bedroom apartments, designated for households earning no more than 140 percent of the area median income.
Based on Miami-Dade’s annual median income of $68,300, a one-person household cannot earn more than roughly $95,620 to qualify, according to the Florida Housing Finance Corporation. For a two-person household, the maximum income to qualify is $109,200; $122,920 for a three-person household; and $136,500 for a four-person household.
Resia Old Cutler also will have five duplex townhouses with 10 units, which the developer will donate to the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust, the release says.
Construction is expected to be completed in the third quarter of next year.
This will be the 15th project by Miami-based Resia in South Florida. Ernesto Lopes is CEO and president.
In March, the company paid $57 million for a 17.8-acre development site in North Miami Beach on the southeast corner of Northeast 159th Street and West Dixie Highway. The mostly vacant property has approvals for a “micro-city” project totaling 2.5 million square feet of residential units, offices, retail, a hotel and a school.
Resia’s Old Cutler project comes as South Florida struggles with skyrocketing rents.
In May, the region led the nation with a 45.8 percent annual rent hike, according to Realtor.com.
In a June visit to Miami, U.S. Secretary for Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge called the city “the epicenter of the housing crisis” in the U.S.
Miami-Dade County, which has officially declared a housing crisis, has embarked on multiple initiatives to alleviate high rents. Under a new requirement, landlords have to give tenants a 60-day notice if they plan to raise rents by more than 5 percent.
The county is also in the midst of a study aimed to show the need for rent control, although any caps on rates would need voter approval in a November referendum, and also can only stay in place for a year. Last week, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said she will ask commissioners to budget for legal representation for low-income tenants in the eviction process or in other housing disputes.
The county’s new Housing Affordability Tracker shows that 10,955 affordable units and 7,340 workforce units are in various stages of planning and development. Almost 8.4 percent of those are completed.