Namdar Group, Helm Equities Seek Bonuses for Miami Towers

Three developers with plans to add 1,600 multifamily units to Miami, including some workforce apartments through the Live Local Act, are headed to a city projects review board.

Namdar Group and Helm Equities each propose a Live Local Act project, and Crescent Heights wants to continue its development in Edgewater. Miami’s Urban Development Review Board will vote on the projects on Wednesday.

The proposals show an unceasing bet on the Magic City’s rental market, despite a supply overhang that’s gripped South Florida over the past two years following record completions and a slowdown of the influx of out-of-staters. This has all led to slower lease-ups and increased concessions, casting doubt about how the hefty pipeline will fare once it’s completed.

Developers have countered that demand will catch up once they finish their towers, and that they are carefully picking their submarkets to ensure the areas aren’t over-supplied.

Here’s what the board will consider this week.

Namdar’s second Magic City bet

In the biggest project on the agenda, Great Neck, New York-based Namdar Group proposes a 42-story Live Local Act tower with 1,011 units in Brickell. It would mark Namdar’s second multifamily project in Miami.

Designed by Behar Font & Partners, the tower will include 405 apartments reserved for households earning no more than 120 percent of the area median income. That’s in line with the Live Local Act’s requirement that 40 percent of units are at workforce or affordable rents.

It would rise on the vacant 1.03-acre site at 250 and 296 Southwest Seventh Street.

Namdar, led by Ephraim and Joel Namdar, is asking the city to allow 599 micro-units, which under the city code are to range from 275 square feet to up to 400 square feet.

The Live Local Act, a state law approved in 2023 and tweaked in the subsequent two years, allows developers to build up to the biggest density allowed in a jurisdiction and up to the tallest height permitted within a mile as long as they designate 40 percent of units for households earning 120 percent of the AMI or less.

Namdar isn’t maximizing its development potential, as its project is smaller than the 48 stories and 1,030 units the act allows on its site, according to the firm’s application.

Baywood Hotels owns the site, records show.

Elsewhere in Brickell, Namdar is developing a pair of multifamily towers with 1,400 units combined. The firm is expected to complete Phase I with a 43-story, 680-unit tower at 55 Northeast Second Street early next year. In September, Namdar started construction of Phase II with a 43-story, 714-unit tower at 50 Northeast Third Street, which is expected to be completed in 2028.

Helm plans workforce rentals in lux district

Helm Equities, an affiliate of New York-based JEMB Realty, tweaked its proposal for a Live Local Act project in the Miami Design District.

The district, largely developed by Miami Design District Associates, has a reputation as Miami’s top destination for luxury retailers.

The firm proposes a 36-story, 278-unit multifamily tower and an adjacent eight-story building with about 101,400 square feet of office space, according to its application.

Designed by Cube 3, the project also will have more than 56,400 square feet of retail; a 613-space underground garage; 6,200 square feet of open space; and 13,700 square feet of civic space.

The proposal is for the 1.9-acre property at 220 Northeast 43rd Street, a site Helm has owned since 2014. It’s tweaked its proposal several times, most recently planning a six-story, 80,000-square-foot office building. Its recent plan also was for a Live Local Act project.

The Gindhi family is a limited partner in the project.

Crescent’s big bet on Edgewater

Crescent Heights is making good on its promise to develop its 9-acre holdings in Miami’s Edgewater.

The Miami-based firm –– led by Sonny Kahn, Russell Galbut and Bruce Menin –– proposes a 42-story, 360-unit multifamily building and an adjacent six-story commercial building with retail and office uses. The development site at 200 Northeast 30th Street is next to Crescent’s 40-story, 588-unit Forma apartment tower, which the firm completed last year.

Forma, which offers one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, commands monthly rents ranging from $3,565 to $7,515, its website shows. It was 97 percent leased as of October, Galbut said at the time.

Designed by Arquitectonica, the project is essentially the second phase of Forma and will include two pedestrian bridges connecting the 42-story tower to Forma and to the six-story commercial building, the plans show.