Evolve Companies is doubling down on Miami’s Wynwood Norte district.
The company wants to build an 11-story building with 105 apartments at 475 Northwest 36th Street, just a block north of its other rental project in the pipeline, John McDonald, Evolve’s development manager, told The Real Deal via email.
Evolve recently paid almost $9 million for the 0.7-acre development site. C.G.Y. Corp., led by Carlos Escobedo and Gladis Calmo of Port St. Lucie, is the seller, according to records. The sale is not yet recorded.
The property consists of a restaurant space and several small warehouses, all shuttered, said Martin Bravo, one of the brokers. The seller used one of the industrial spaces for its apartment-remodeling business.
Bravo and Jamie Rose Maniscalco of Apex Capital Realty represented the seller and buyer in the deal.
The property sold for slightly less than the $10.5 million asking price listed in an offering memorandum.
“I think it was priced at the expectation of the seller,” Bravo said. “But ultimately, I think this [the actual sale price] is a better definition of the market for this area.”
Evolve’s other project in the neighborhood is a planned eight-story, 141-unit apartment building on roughly an acre on the northeast corner of Northwest 35th Street and the I-95 northbound exit ramp. The firm bought the site at 535-585 Northwest 35th Street for $9.8 million in September.
Both Kobi Karp-designed buildings will offer market-rate rentals.
Demolition of the existing buildings on the Northwest 35th Street site will start in January, McDonald said. Work on the Northwest 36th Street project, which is essentially the second phase of the two-tower development, will start once phase I is in pre-leasing.
Evolve is a multifamily real estate and student housing development, management and construction firm, according to its website. It has over $1 billion in assets under management, with a portfolio spanning 25 million square feet and 20,000 units.
Led by Mike Winstead Jr. and Joe McKinney, Evolve has headquarters in Greensboro and Wilmington, N.C.
The Wynwood Norte district, north of Wynwood, was anointed last year when Miami commissioners approved a zoning overhaul meant to spur affordable housing development.
Officially dubbed the Wynwood Norte Neighborhood Revitalization District, its zoning code also is geared to preserve the area’s character and create economic opportunities for small businesses and residents.