MMG Equity proposes 247-unit multifamily in west Miami-Dade

Navarro family’s retail investment firm pushes into resi, mixed-use development

Navarro Family’s MMG Equity Plans Rentals in West Miami-Dade
From left: MMG Equity Partners’ Gabriel Navarro, Martin Pico, Marcos Puente and Marcel Navarro along with an aerial view of the property near Coral Way in west Miami-Dade County (Getty, Google Maps, MMG Equity Partners)

The Navarro family’s MMG Equity Partners proposed a 247-unit apartment complex near Coral Way in west Miami-Dade County. 

The Pinecrest-based firm wants to build at least four multifamily buildings and nearly 30,000 square feet of retail on 6.6 acres of land on the northwest corner of Coral Way and Southwest 144th Avenue, according to MMG’s Marcos Puente and an application the firm submitted to Miami-Dade last week. MMG has the site under contract for an undisclosed amount. 

The units will include 31 workforce housing apartments targeting households earning from 80 percent to 120 percent of the area median income of $74,700, Puente said. A grocery store, a restaurant and some general retail are slated to occupy the one-story commercial building that would front Coral Way. 

The garages on the north and west portions of the property, where the site borders single-family homes, would be set back farther from the property line and rise three stories to mitigate impacts on the residential neighbors. The apartment buildings would rise six stories. 

MMG is asking the county for a land-use and zoning change and is seeking a pre-application meeting with Miami-Dade officials. The pre-application meetings generally are done so developers can get feedback on their proposals from county administrators prior to submitting an official filing. 

A portion of the development site has wetlands, meaning MMG would have to mitigate the impact on the environmentally sensitive land, possibly by recreating wetlands elsewhere, Puente said. 

MMG was started by the Navarro family. Patriarch Jose Navarro is known for opening the Navarro Discount Pharmacy chain, bringing the brand from his native Cuba. In 2014, the Navarro family sold the drug store chain to CVS Caremark, which is still running the outposts under the original Navarro name. 

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

MMG Equity is led by managing partners Gabriel and Marcel Navarro and Martin Pico. The firm has been primarily focused on investing in and remodeling shopping plazas in South Florida, though it’s now making a push into developing its own multifamily projects with retail. 

Read more

In Plantation, MMG has proposed a six-story multifamily project with 269 units next door to the Plantation Square plaza, which MMG also owns, at 1723-1797 North University Drive. The apartments would replace an existing Bank of America-leased building, which MMG would rebuild on an adjacent lot. 

(Source: MMG Equity Partners)
(Source: MMG Equity Partners)
(Source: MMG Equity Partners)
(Source: MMG Equity Partners)

MMG also wants to build a second apartment-retail project in Plantation and one in Homestead, though plans are in the early stages, Puente said. 

“South Florida has become more infill and there’s less and less developable land for ground-up” projects, he said. “There is a lot of aging retail stock that has excess land that can be better utilized.”

In Coconut Creek, MMG is developing a retail plaza with a Sprouts Farmers Market, Cali Coffee and other tenants on a portion of a 7-acre lot at Lyons Road and Coconut Creek Parkway. A different developer plans a self-storage facility on the remainder of the site.