Masoud and Stephanie Shojaee’s Shoma Group just picked up the development site where it’s planning a luxury residential project in Coral Gables using the Live Local Act.
Shoma paid $13.3 million through an affiliate to buy 3808-3850 Southwest Eighth Street, the South Florida Business Journal reported. Benworth Capital Partners provided a $14 million mortgage for the purchase.
The deal for the 0.8-acre development site was in two transactions and amounts to almost $16 million per acre.
An entity led by Jorge Gonzalez sold the property. Gonzalez paid $1.5 million in 2001 for the parcel spanning 24,000 square feet at 3808 Southwest Eight Street in 2001, and he paid $1.7 million in 2013 for 3850 Southwest Eighth, spanning 12,000 square feet. The combined sales marks a 314 percent appreciation.
Shoma proposed a 201-unit Live Local Act apartment project for the site last summer, when it was the first known development in the city under the state’s affordable and workforce housing law.
The project, called Ponce 8, would rise 16 stories and have 18,000 square feet of commercial space. PPKS Architects designed the plans.
Eighty-one units at the complex will be designated for households earning no more than 120 percent of the area median income, in line with the Live Local Act’s requirement.
The average apartment rent in Coral Gables is approaching $4 per square foot, according to Apartments.com. The average one-bedroom spans 690 square feet and rents for more than $2,700 per month, and it’s estimated that a salary of $108,432 per year is required to live comfortably in Coral Gables.
The city has low apartment inventory and a slow development pipeline, despite high demand, according to Cushman & Wakefield. The occupancy rate was over 94 percent in the fourth quarter of last year with fewer than 1,000 units in development.
Stephanie Shojaee, president of Shoma, is a cast member of “Real Housewives of Miami,” joining the show in 2024.