Lennar proposes 266 townhomes in south Miami-Dade

Lennar wants to build a 266-townhouse complex near the Princeton neighborhood, marking the homebuilder’s continued wager on south Miami-Dade County’s residential market. 

The Miami-based firm proposes the project on 20 acres at the northeast corner of Southwest 157th Avenue/Newton Road and Southwest 280th Street/Waldin Drive, according to an application submitted to Miami-Dade on Tuesday. Lennar has the property under contract for an undisclosed price. 

The property owners, Thang Dang and Mihn Tran Dang, bought the land for $505,000 in 2012, property records show. 

Lennar is asking the county to rezone the north half of the site from “estate use suburban” to “minimum apartment house district,” according to the application. This would allow for the development of 102 villa-style townhouses.

The homebuilder wants the county to rezone the southern half of the property from “agricultural district” to “limited apartment house district,” the application shows. This would allow for 164 townhouses.

Lennar already held a pre-application meeting with county staff members on May 26 to preliminarily discuss its project, the filing shows. 

The application comes on the heels of Lennar proposing 80 single-family homes in south Miami-Dade’s Naranja neighborhood. Last month, the firm requested a density bonus for the project on the northwest corner of Southwest 236th Street and Southwest 133rd Avenue. 

In another south Miami-Dade investment, Lennar paid $15 million in February for 8.7 acres at 9177 Southwest 112 Street near Pinecrest. The site has approval for a development with 15 single-family homes. 

Lennar, one of the biggest homebuilders in the U.S., is led by co-CEOs Rick Beckwitt and Jon Jaffe. Stuart Miller is executive chairman. 

South Miami-Dade’s large swaths of buildable land, which come at more attainable prices than development sites in the urban core, has made the area a magnet for developers. Homestead and Florida City are the two municipalities in south Miami-Dade. The rest of the area consists of unincorporated neighborhoods, including Goulds, Leisure City, Naranja, Perrine and Princeton. 

In Naranja, family owned firm L. Milton Construction proposes a 274-unit multifamily complex at 14550 Mable Street. It would mark the second phase of the Lanai Landings project, with L. Milton completing the first phase, consisting of a two-story, 54-unit buildingg in 2020. 

Pinnacle is developing a 215-unit garden-style affordable apartment complex at 25155 Southwest 136th Avenue in Princeton. In April, the firm scored a $88.6 million construction loan for the project, called Pinnacle at Tropical Pointe.