A developer proposes a 198-unit Live Local Act project near the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, amid a surge of applications under the state’s affordable housing law.
An entity led by Eloy Garcia and Nick Mendizabal, founders of Car Factory Outlet, wants to build a 14-story building with 6,000 square feet of commercial space and 277 parking spaces at 5200 South State Road 7, according to an application filed to the city last month.
On Tuesday, the Hollywood Technical Advisory Committee gave a preliminary review of the proposal. The project is expected to come back to the committee for a final review at an as yet unscheduled meeting and then proceed to other city boards.
Garcia and Mendizabal own the nearly 1-acre site that’s now home to a Car Factory Outlet used car sales center. It’s unclear whether Garcia and Mendizabal would be the developers or partner with another developer or sell the site.
The pair paid $2.4 million for the property in April, according to records.
The Live Local Act, approved by the Florida Legislature last year and tweaked this year, gives developers tax breaks and wiggle room on zoning restrictions to incentivize them to include affordable and workforce-priced apartments in their projects. Developers have to designate at least 40 percent of the units in a residential project for households earning no more than 120 percent of the area median income. The apartments have to remain affordable for at least 30 years.
Broward County’s annual AMI is $89,100.
This year, the state also loosened floor area ratio restrictions for Live Local Act projects.
At least 79 of the apartments at Eloy and Mendizabal’s project would have to be at below-market rents.
Across South Florida, developers have seized on the Live Local Act. The tri-county region’s yearslong housing affordability crisis ensures demand for the projects, while the incentives allow much bigger developments.
The biggest known proposal so far is by Spanish developer Pablo Castro and Laura Tauber of Bay Harbor Islands-based real estate firm Taubco. They want to build a 3,233-unit complex with six towers, ranging from 26 stories to 37 stories, at 8400 Northwest 25th Avenue in Miami-Dade County’s West Little River neighborhood.
In Miami’s Wynwood, five Live Local Act proposals have been filed, promising to alter the look of the traditionally mid-rise neighborhood with new towers. Among the applications is New York-based Bazbaz Development’s proposal for a 48-story, 544-unit tower at 2110, 2118 and 2134 North Miami Avenue and 2101, 2129 and 2135 Northwest Miami Court.
Few developers have moved past the application stage. Last month, Daniel Abreu scored a $16.5 million construction loan for a six-story, 80-unit apartment building at 13650 Northeast Second Court near North Miami. It marked one of the first Live Local Act project financings.