IMC plans to start first phase of 1,000-unit apartment project with workforce housing in West Little River

IMC Equity plans a 244-unit apartment building with workforce housing, marking the first phase of the company’s 1,000-unit complex in West Little River that may use the Live Local Act.  

North Miami-based IMC wants to build a seven-story building with at least 31 workforce units and 213 market-rate units on 5 acres on the northeast corner of Northwest 79th Street and Northwest 30th Avenue, according to an application the company filed to Miami-Dade County late last month. The site is at 2963, 2995 and 3073 Northwest 79th Street in an unincorporated area of the county. 

The workforce housing will be designated for households earning no more than 120 percent of the area median income, according to the application and IMC Chief Investment Officer Carlos Segrera.

Miami-Dade’s AMI is $74,700 annually, though that’s expected to be updated this spring. To qualify for a workforce apartment at IMC’s building, a one-person household can’t earn more than $86,760, a two-person household can’t earn over $99,120 and a three-person household can’t earn over $111,480, data from the Florida Housing Finance Corporation shows. 

IMC scored phase one approval last summer and now is asking for the county’s OK to reduce the retail space to 9,100 square feet from 11,400 square feet, and to increase the restaurant space to 4,300 square feet from 4,000 square feet, the filing shows. 

Construction is expected to start by late this year, Segrera said. 

Subsequent phases would consist of 750 units and some retail across four buildings, which would most likely each be eight stories, on a 15-acre lot at 3017 Northwest 79th Street. The parcel is west of the phase one development site. IMC is evaluating architects for the site plan for the 750 units, according to Segrera. 

IMC, led by CEO Yoram Izhak, owns all the sites for the entire project. It paid $13.5 million for the lots in 2019, according to records. 

The project is part of IMC’s bigger bet on West Little River. The firm owns the Northside Shopping Center at 7900 Northwest 27th Avenue, which is immediately east of the phase one site. 

North of the shopping plaza, IMC is developing two six-story apartment buildings with 161 units, combined, as well as a self-storage facility and 23,000 square feet of retail at 2751 and 2795 Northwest 84th Street and 8400 Northwest 27th Avenue. Construction of that project, called Northside Village, is expected to be completed this summer, according to Segrera. 

IMC is considering using the Live Local Act for Northside Village and, if it works out well, the firm may use the legislation for its 1,000-unit apartment complex nearby, Segrera said. The state legislation, which was approved last year and tweaked this year, incentivizes developers to designate some or all of their units as affordable or workforce housing. Although the law allows developers to build bigger than allowed by local zoning, IMC is instead interested in the legislation’s tax break incentive. 

The law says that developers can get a property tax exemption that’s up to 75 percent of the assessed value of the affordable/workforce units if a portion of a project’s units are at below-market rate rents. Developers can get an up to 100 percent tax exemption if all units at a project are at below-market rents. 

If Live Local works out for IMC, the firm could increase the number of workforce housing units at its West Little River projects, allowing for bigger tax breaks.  

Founded in 2000, IMC is a development, leasing and investment firm with a portfolio of more than 10 million square feet of commercial and residential property, its website shows. IMC also is among the developers that bought pieces of the closed Johnson & Wales University campus in North Miami, where the firm is converting dormitories into apartments and plans a 338-unit apartment building at 12350 Biscayne Boulevard.