Vestcor proposes 590-unit affordable housing project in Leisure City

A Jacksonville-based development firm proposes a 590-unit affordable housing project in south Miami-Dade County’s Leisure City. 

Vestcor wants to build the multifamily project on 7.8 acres on the northwest corner of South Dixie Highway and Southwest 280th Street, according to an application the developer filed to Miami-Dade County last week. The development site is at 27742, 27860 and 27862 South Dixie Highway. 

Jacksonville-based Vestcor has the property under contract for an undisclosed amount, according to the filing.  Records show an entity led by Bruno and Maritza Ramos owns the site. 

The development, to be called Ambar Station, would be walking distance from a South Miami-Dade Busway station and would include nearly 6,000 square feet of commercial space and amenities. 

Vestcor, founded by John Rood in 1983, builds affordable, workforce, senior living and student housing, according to its website. Steve Moore is president of Vestcor Companies. 

Its other Miami-Dade affordable and workforce housing projects include Ambar Key at 380 Northeast Fourth Avenue in Florida City, Ambar Trail at 15000 Southwest 272nd Street in south Miami-Dade and The Ambar at 1250 Northwest 36th Street. 

South Miami-Dade, which includes the Princeton and Naranja neighborhoods, has caught affordable and workforce housing developers’ eyes. The area has a healthy supply of land that comes at a discount compared with Miami’s urban core. South Florida’s apartment affordability crisis also has created demand for below market-rate apartments. 
In Princeton, Legacy Residential Group, CD Group and Fenix Contractors propose a 630-unit multifamily complex on 20 acres at the southeast corner of Southwest 252nd Street and Southwest 145th Avenue. In Naranja, Atlantic Pacific Companies plans to redevelop the Heritage Village II public housing complex on the northeast corner of Southwest 270th Street and Southwest 142nd Avenue with 116 affordable apartments.