Coral Rock Nabs $54 Million Loan for Miami Live Local Project

Coral Rock Development Group scored a $54 million construction loan for a Live Local Act project in Miami’s Allapattah.

Developers across South Florida have seized on the state workforce and affordable housing law by filing a flurry of proposals, but few have advanced their projects to the financing and construction stage.

Coral Gables-based Coral Rock plans to start construction in the first quarter on the eight-story, 227-unit Dulce Vida apartment building on a 1.3-acre site at 1785 Northwest 35th Street, according to the developer’s news release. Citibank is the lender.

The capital stack for the $85 million project includes $15 million from the City of Miami’s Miami Forever Affordable Housing Bond, structured as a 30-year loan, and tax credit equity provided by Affordable Housing Partners. The Citibank debt represents 63.5 percent of the project cost.

The Live Local Act, approved in 2023 and tweaked in the subsequent two years, incentivizes developers to include below-market rate apartments in their projects by allowing them to build bigger than a site’s zoning permits and awarding them property tax abatements. At least 40 percent of units have to be reserved for households earning up to 120 percent of the area median income for at least 30 years.

At Dulce Vida, all apartments will be priced at affordable or workforce rents: 40 percent of units will be for households earning up to 60 percent of the AMI, 35 percent for those earning up to 100 percent of the AMI and 25 percent for earners of up to 120 percent of AMI, according to the release. The building will consist of 70 studios, 128 one-bedroom units and 29 two-bedroom units.

The site is now home to a parking lot and the Allapattah Branch Library. Dulce Vida will include an 8,500-square-foot library, replacing one that was completed in 1963. The City of Miami, which owned the property, conveyed title to Coral Rock, according to a company representative.

The firm –– led by David Brown, Michael Wohl, Stephen Blumenthal and Victor Brown –– first revealed plans for Dulce Vida in 2023.

Coral Rock is among the developers who tapped the Live Local Act for tax breaks on completed apartment buildings. Many started construction or completed projects before the law was passed, and then converted a portion of their units to workforce-priced rentals to obtain the property tax abatements. The savings have been well-received as landlords face higher costs for insurance, management and unit renovations.

Coral Rock lowered rents for some apartments at the 204-unit Metropolitan in Coral Springs to get Live Local tax abatements. It also qualified the 260-unit Pura Vida complex in Hialeah, though it didn’t have to lower rents because they already were at rates for earners of up to 120 percent of the AMI.

Among other advanced Live Local projects are Beacon Hill Property Group’s 112-unit complex in Princeton, and Daniel Abreu’s 80-unit building near North Miami that scored a $16.5 million construction loan last year. Nearly 3,200 below-market rental units in 23 Live Local projects have been completed across Florida since the law was approved, according to Florida TaxWatch, a nonpartisan and nonprofit research institute.