Udonis Haslem, partners score dev site for Wynwood affordable rentals 

Mere days after the Miami Heat’s Udonis Haslem retired, he is getting serious about his real estate game. 

Haslem and his development partners scored the site for a Wynwood affordable rentals project and plan to start construction by next week. 

Coral Gables-based Magellan Housing and Haslem plan the 12-story Wynwood Works building with 120 units, Nick Inamdar, principal at Magellan, told The Real Deal. Raleigh, North Carolina-based Greystone Affordable Development and nonprofit Mount Zion Housing Development are the other project partners. 

Miami’s Omni Community Redevelopment Agency deeded the half-acre development site at 2035-2043 North Miami Avenue, valued at $6 million, for free to an entity tied to Magellan, according to records and real estate database Vizzda. 

Wynwood Works will include roughly 5,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and a garage from levels two to five, Inamdar said. The majority of apartments, or 60 percent, will be for households earning up to 60 percent of the area median income. For the remaining units, 10 percent will be for households earning up to 33 percent of the AMI; 10 percent for households earning up to 50 percent of the AMI; and 20 percent for those earning up to 80 percent of the AMI. 

Wynwood Works’ public financing package includes a $32 million bond from the Housing Finance Authority of Miami-Dade County, assigned to BNY Mellon; $9.9 million from the CRA; and $3.5 million from each of the city of Miami and the Wynwood Business Improvement District, according to Vizzda. 

The project has been in the works since at least 2019 when the Omni CRA ranked the Haslem-Magellan partnership as the top bidder to redevelop the site. In September 2020, Miami commissioners, sitting as the CRA board, approved Wynwood Works and the development site donation. 

Haslem, a three-time NBA champion and the Heat’s longest-tenured player, jumped into real estate before his recent retirement. In 2019, he formed Haslem Housing Venture to develop attainable and affordable housing in Miami-Dade County. In his other projects with Magellan, the partners are targeting developments in North Miami. 

Magellan, also led by principal Amay Inamdar, has a portfolio of 17 affordable housing projects with 2,000 units in Florida and Texas, according to its website. 

South Florida multifamily rents skyrocketed over the past two years largely because of an influx of out-of-state residents. The hikes calmed, but rents aren’t expected to drop, exacerbating an ongoing regional affordable housing crisis. 

Developers have jumped on building affordable housing. In Hollywood, Housing Trust Group plans a pair of eight-story buildings with 216 apartments at below market rents along North 21st Avenue, between Fillmore and Polk streets.

This year, the Florida Legislature approved the Live Local Act that will pump $700 million toward affordable and workforce housing projects.