13th Floor Investments will redevelop South Miami’s city hall with a mixed-use project that will include 670 apartments and a new municipal building.
On Tuesday, city commissioners voted to select the Coconut Grove-based firm as the developer. The $309 million project, called Link at SoMi, will be on the 4.5-acre site 6130 Sunset Drive.
Link at SoMi will include a pair of 15-story buildings with apartments and 28,000 square feet of retail, 880 parking spaces and a five-story municipal building, according to a 13th Floor news release. Of the 670 units, 67 will be workforce rentals designated for households earning no more than 120 percent of the area median income, a spokesperson for the developer said.
Miami-Dade County’s annual AMI is $79,400, according to the Florida Housing Finance Corporation.
The municipal building also will house the police department and public library, which are now on the site. The historic Sylva Martin building, which was completed in 1936, will be preserved and repurposed.
The first of two construction phases will consist of 335 apartments, 8,200 square feet of retail, a seven-story garage and the municipal building, the release says.
In May, South Miami officials voted to issue a request for proposals. Five firms prequalified to bid, with only 13th Floor and Pacific Palisades, California-based Sonnenblick Development turning in proposals. The city disqualified Sonnenblick because its submittal lacked a $25,000 “cost recovery fee,” real estate website Florida YIMBY reported.
The other three companies that prequalified and didn’t submit proposals were Adler Development, Integra Investments and Related Urban Development Group, according to 13th Floor’s spokesperson.
Next, South Miami and 13th Floor will finalize a development agreement. The city owns the development site, meaning Link at SoMi will be a public-private partnership project.
Led by managing partner Arnaud Karsenti, 13th Floor worked with a partner and Miami-Dade County in a public-private partnership on the Link at Douglas project at the Douglas Road Metrorail station. After 13th Floor and Adler Group ranked as the top bidders to lease and build out the site in 2015, they completed the 22-story, 312-unit Core apartment building in 2021, and the 37-story, 421-unit Cascade apartment tower last year. The next phases consist of the 36-story Tower 3 and the 37-story Tower 4 with 815 apartments, combined, and 25,000 square feet of offices, according to 13th Floor’s application submitted to the county last year.
Link at SoMi marks the second major planned project in South Miami. The Shops at Sunset Place, a long-struggling 10-plus-acre retail center built in 1999, is poised to be redeveloped. Alex Vadia’s Midtown Development plans up to 1,513 residential units; 350,000 square feet of retail; a 287-key hotel; nearly 51,000 square feet of offices; and a 1,300-seat movie and performing arts theater. The project would have nine buildings, with the tallest heights reaching 33 stories along U.S. 1.
Last week, the South Miami Planning Board granted initial site plan approval for the project at 5701 Sunset Drive.