The Haccoun family’s firm proposes a 90-unit workforce rental building in Goulds, as developers continue to seize on demand for below-market housing in South Florida.
Bay Harbor Islands-based Monceau Real Estate wants to build a four-story building on a nearly 2-acre development site on the northwest corner of Southwest 216th Street and Southwest 119th Avenue in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, according to an application the developer filed to the county in October. The site consists of six lots at 11905 and 11915 Southwest 216th Street, 21500 Southwest 119th Avenue and 21501 Southwest 120th Avenue.
The L-shaped building will offer 36 one-bedroom apartments, six one-bedroom units with a den and 48 two-bedroom apartments, the application shows.
Monceau bought the site for $4.2 million in 2023, according to records. The property is mostly vacant except for a single-family home and a one-story, two-unit apartment building.
All of the units will be for households earning up to 120 percent of the area median income, said Julien Haccoun of Monceau.
At Miami-Dade’s AMI of $79,400 annually, a two-person household can earn up to $108,960 annually to qualify for a unit, according to the Florida Financing Housing Corporation.
Monceau, also led by Adrien and Sarah Haccoun, has roughly 1,000 apartments planned and under construction with below-market rates in south Miami-Dade, according to Julien Haccoun. Also in Goulds, Monceau is building a 74-unit workforce complex on the southwest corner of Southwest 119th Avenue and Harriet Tubman Highway (formerly called Dixie Highway).
The firm plans to use the Live Local Act’s tax abatement for its 90-unit Goulds project and other projects, Julien Haccoun said. The state law permits bigger projects in exchange for the inclusion of workforce units, while the tax abatement, a less known clause in the law, allows for an up to 100 percent property tax exemption if the entire project is workforce priced.
“It’s a meaningful incentive for us to build more workforce housing communities,” Julien Haccoun said. “Even though it is not the main driver [for Monceau’s projects], it is a good incentive.”
Monceau’s filing shows it doesn’t plan to maximize development capacity. Its project is smaller than the 12 stories and 175 units allowed on the site.
Monceau joins a group of developers planning below-market rate rentals in south Miami-Dade. Much of South Florida’s workforce has been housing cost burdened for decades. The issue was exacerbated by the influx of out-of-staters in 2021 and 2022 and ensuing unprecedented apartment demand that prompted record rent hikes.
To meet demand for workforce-priced units, many developers are opting to build in south Miami-Dade, home to neighborhoods such as Goulds, Naranja, Perrine, Leisure City and Princeton, as well as the municipalities of Homestead and Florida City.
The area offers buildable sites at a discount compared to prime areas such as Miami’s Brickell. Developers also are seizing on south Miami-Dade due to its community urban centers, or areas within neighborhoods the county designated in the early 2000s that allow for bigger projects, said Leopoldo Bellon, principal of Miami-Dade-based Bellón Architecture, which designed Monceau’s Goulds project. Community urban centers also allow for reduced parking requirements.
“We have a lot of things going in Goulds, Naranja, Perrine, Leisure City,” Bellon said. “All those [community] urban centers have all of the sudden exploded with clients wanting to build apartment units.”
Read more
Development
South Florida
Jason Talbot and Monceau settle lawsuit over workforce housing dev site in Goulds
Development
South Florida
Monceau entangled in legal rift with partner over Goulds workforce housing dev site
Elsewhere in Goulds, Taurus Development proposes a 159-unit workforce apartment building at 11888 Southwest 220th Street.
In Naranja, Jacksonville-based Vestcor proposed a 576-unit apartment complex between South Dixie Highway and the South Miami-Dade Busway, north of Southwest 280th Street. Also, Shadi Shomar and his partners plan a 278-unit workforce rental complex at 23435 Southwest 127th Avenue.