LivWrk wants to build a 1,363-unit Live Local Act project in Wynwood, as developers continue to supersize their proposed projects under the state’s affordable and workforce housing law.
The Brooklyn-based firm wants to develop three 45-story towers with 23,200 square feet of retail and 912 parking spaces on a five-lot assemblage on the northwest corner of North Miami Avenue and Northwest 24th Street in Miami, according to a city board meeting’s agenda. The development site is at 2400, 2412 and 2418 North Miami Avenue, 29 Northwest 24th Street and 48 Northwest 25th Street.
The project would span 1.8 million square feet.
The Miami Wynwood Design Review Committee will vote on the proposal on Tuesday. The committee is merely an adviser to the city’s planning and zoning administrative staff, who have final say. In some cases, a project can’t proceed to the next level if the committee opts to defer voting.
Of the 1,363 units, 547 will be designated for households earning up to 120 percent of the area median income. That’s in line with the Live Local Act, which awards developers with height and density bonuses and property tax breaks, if they designated 40 percent of a project’s units at below-market rate for at least 30 years.
LivWrk paid $18.5 million for the lots at 2400, 2412 and 2418 North Miami Avenue, and 29 Northwest 24th Street in 2021, according to records. The firm paid $13.9 million for the lot at 48 Northwest 25th Street in 2021.
The firm, led by Asher Abehsera, has a portfolio of 6 million square feet and 2,500 residential units, its website shows.
Across South Florida, developers have seized on the Live Local Act with plans for massive projects.
Wynwood, a former warehouse district redeveloped into an arts hub more than a decade ago, traditionally has been a low-rise and mid-rise neighborhood. In 2015, architects and urban planners overhauled Wynwood’s development regulations, capping heights to eight stories in most of the area, and allowing for 10 stories from Northwest Fifth Avenue west to I-95, and 12 stories on commercial corridors such as North Miami Avenue and Northwest/Northeast 29th Street.
Under the Live Local Act, which allows projects to bypass zoning restrictions, developers have proposed several towers across Wynwood. Bazbas Development wants to build a 48-story tower with 544 apartments at 2110, 2118 and 2134 North Miami Avenue, as well as 2101, 2129 and 2135 Northwest Miami Court.
Also, Hidrock Properties and Robert Finvarb propose a 39-story tower with 336 apartments at 2534 North Miami Avenue.
In the biggest known Live Local proposal, Pablo Castro and Laura Tauber want to build six towers reaching up to 37 stories with 3,233 units at 8400 Northwest 25th Avenue in the West Little River neighborhood in unincorporated Miami-Dade County.
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