Chraibis’ Bluenest Plans 163 South Miami-Dade Townhomes

The Chraibi brothers’ Bluenest Development proposes a pair of complexes with 163 townhomes that would add to its enterprise in south Miami-Dade County.

Bluenest found a foothold in south Dade’s healthy supply of buildable land and unceasing demand for homes at below-market prices. The firm, led by Salim and Kamil Chraibi, has a spate of workforce housing projects at stages from proposal to development in south Miami-Dade.

Its latest pitches are in unincorporated Miami-Dade, according to separate pre-applications filed to the county last week.

One is a complex with 100 townhomes, with at least 20 of them for sale at workforce prices, on a 7.7-acre site on the northeast corner of Southwest 226th Street and Southwest 130th Avenue.

The other is a complex with 63 townhomes, with at least 20 percent for sale at workforce prices, on a 4.5-acre site at 24425 Southwest 127th Avenue in the Naranja expansion area.

Developers can request pre-application meetings to gauge county departments’ input on proposed projects and tweak plans before submitting official applications. PPK Architects designed both projects.

Miami-based Bluenest has completed about 1,000 homes and has a pipeline of another 3,000, mostly in the south county area. The firm started in 2018, initially developing individual homes across Miami-Dade before focusing on workforce housing in south Dade.

Its workforce-priced townhomes and single-family homes are capped at $451,000, though that can change when Miami-Dade’s annual area median income is updated in the spring.

Its biggest planned project, called Krome, would consist of 500 townhomes, 76 large single-family homes and 10 acres of commercial space, including a grocery store and potentially a school, on Krome Avenue in south Miami-Dade.

Last week, Bluenest scored approval for a 224-townhome complex on a 21-acre site in Miami Gardens that the firm is purchasing for about $14 million. This will be a market-rate project, with Bluenest planning to designate some of the units for Miami Gardens city employees at workforce prices.