Black Salmon, Allen Morris plan $1B Miami Health District project

Developer Camilo Lopez’s Black Salmon is partnering with Allen Morris Company on a $1 billion mixed-use development in the Miami Health District, The Real Deal has learned. 

Lopez’s Black Salmon and Allen Morris are planning Highland Park Miami, a 7-acre project that’s expected to include 500,000 square feet of medical office, 1,000 apartments, a 150-key hotel, retail and green space, Lopez said. The half dozen buildings could be up to 22 stories tall, and the development will be built in phases over the next decade.

Lopez said he went “block by block and house by house” over the last 10 years to acquire roughly the 50 properties that make up the four city blocks. The firm spent about $60 million assembling land near the Metrorail, according to Lopez. The developers are using transit-oriented development zoning to increase density. 

“We pretty much follow where mass transit is going,” Lopez said. “It was imminent in this area that something happens.”

The joint venture tapped Arquitectonica to design the project, which they say could increase the health district’s footprint by 10 percent. The area is home to the city’s largest hospital systems, including Jackson Memorial Hospital, University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine and Miami VA Medical Center. 

The site, at 800 Northwest 14th Street, is south of the hospitals and State Road 836. It includes single-family homes and vacant lots. 

The developers are going through the entitlement process with the city of Miami and plan to begin clearing the site this year, said Lopez and Spencer Morris, president of Allen Morris Co. They could break ground on the first phase next year. 

Lopez said the developers plan to select a private equity partner in the coming months. Each phase could be financed separately. 

The first phase calls for about 250 to 300 apartments and about 250,000 square feet of medical office. Oppenheim Architecture is designing the multifamily rental component. 

The developers are working with brokers on pre-leasing the medical office space.

Nearby, Boston-based Congress Group plans a 27-story apartment tower next to the Shops at Civica in the health district, a recent change in plans from a medical office due to the challenges the office market faces.

Yet Lopez of Black Salmon cited “an incredible balance” between supply and demand in the health district. 

The Highland Park development will include an activated green roof with running and walking tracks and other fitness areas, said Bernardo Fort-Brescia of Arquitectonica. The architecture firm is also designing enhancements to a public square at the ground level. 

“Today people who take offices want amenities. The biggest amenity is having a neighborhood downstairs,” Fort-Brescia said. “You can actually take a break from the office … you can work there but you can also live there.” 

Fort-Brescia, who has been involved in the project for nearly three years, said that additional land acquisitions allowed for more efficient floor plates, including in the garage. 

Morris said the project will also add “architecturally interesting buildings” to the area. 

“Having Bernardo [Fort-Brescia] and Chad Oppenheim is going to add a potentially interesting architectural component that’s been devoid,” he said. 

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