Developer Dan Ainuz Plans Miami-Dade Live Local Act Project

A developer proposes a 163-unit Live Local Act multifamily project near West Little River, as the industry continues to seize on the state affordable housing law.

Dan Ainuz, a residential real estate investor and developer, wants to build a 14-story building with 40 percent of the units, or 65 apartments, at below-market rents, according to an application Ainuz’s affiliate filed to the county on Wednesday. The half-acre site is at 838 Northwest 79th Street in unincorporated Miami-Dade County. The project would include a 192-space garage.

Mona Living, an entity managed by Ainuz, assembled the two-lot site in two deals in 2022 for a combined $1.3 million, according to records and Ainuz. The property is now a lot for abandoned cars.

The site is in the Gladeview neighborhood that’s near West Little River.

The project marks the first commercial development by Ainuz, who over the past five years focused on single-family home development in South Florida. He has completed five homes and said he has a roughly $150 million development pipeline of about 16 homes in Davie, Southwest Ranches, Boca Raton, Miami and elsewhere.

Last month, Ainuz, who also is a real estate broker, paid $1.2 million for the single-family home at 1545 Northeast Fourth Avenue in Boca Raton, according to records. Also last month, he paid $1.2 million for the home at 445 Northeast 15th Terrace in Boca Raton. Both homes were built in 1955.

Last year, he also bought the home at 1505 Northeast Fourth Avenue in Boca Raton for $1.2 million, subsequently filing notices to demolish the existing house and build a new one, records show.

Ainuz has made some of his residential investments and developments through his Invesco Home Solutions firm, as well as through Miami-based Prospective Group, in which he is a partner, he said. Ainuz is pursuing the Live Local project on his own.

The Live Local Act gives developers property tax breaks, parking exemptions and wiggle room to build taller buildings with more units than a site’s zoning permits if at least 40 percent of the apartments are for households earning no more than 120 percent of the area median income. The apartments have to stay at below-market rents for at least 30 years.

Florida legislators approved the law in 2023, tweaking its floor area ratio clause last year. At this year’s session, two bills propose changes to the tax incentive and offer additional powers for developers to override municipal and county governments’ say on these projects.

As a whole, the law aims to incentivize development of apartments at affordable and workforce rents. Developers have filed a flurry of applications, but few have scored construction financing or started building.

In Miami’s Little Havana, the Pérez family’s Related Group wants to supersize the existing 1,379-unit Haley Sofge public housing complex with an additional 1,038 units under the Live Local Act. The site is at 800 Northwest 13th Avenue, 780 Northwest 13th Court and 1389 Northwest Seventh Street.

Miami-based Keystone Holdings Group wants to build the 16-story, 284-unit Azul at Blue Lagoon building under Live Local at 1200 Northwest 57th Avenue in unincorporated Miami-Dade. The site is near Miami International Airport.

In August, developer 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 the first known Live Local Act project financing.
Some developers opted to convert completed complexes to affordable and workforce rentals in order to use Live Local’s property tax exemptions. They include Miami-based Cymbal DLT, which retroactively applied the law to its Laguna Gardens complex in Miami Gardens by designating all 341 units at below-market rents. The property is at 20775 Northwest 17th Avenue.