Ellen Buckley Plans Affordable, Workforce Miami-Dade Homes

Developer Ellen Buckley plans 93 homes at below-market sale prices in two Miami-Dade County projects, amid South Florida’s affordable housing crunch.

Prospera Real Estate Collective –– led by Buckley, a former VP and director of development at Terra –– wants to develop a five-story, 56-unit condo building in Miami’s Coconut Grove and 37 for-sale townhomes in 14 buildings, according to a news release and Buckley.

Miami-based Prospera has a pipeline of more than 1,800 residential units, spanning affordable, workforce and luxury homes, across Florida, Arkansas, Georgia and North Carolina. The pipeline will consist of for-sale and for-rent units.

Buckley founded Miami-based Prospera in late 2022, after roughly nine years at Terra. Prospera’s planned projects also include 210 hotel keys and 70,000 square feet of retail and mixed-use projects.

The Behar Font-designed Coconut Grove project on the lots at 3655 and 3659 Grand Avenue also will include nearly 3,000 square feet of retail, a 4,000-square-foot religious and community space and nine parking spaces. Nonprofit Collective Empowerment Group and church Believers of Authority Ministries are partnering on the project, with Prospera being the managing partner.

The building is called Grand Bahamas Place, an homage to the area’s earliest settlers from the archipelagic country. This part of Coconut Grove, traditionally known as the West Grove, has been rebranded recently as Little Bahamas, according to Buckley.

In planning for the project, she did a three-day community immersion, meeting with descendants of the settlers and earliest property owners and shopkeepers, as well as walking the neighborhood and to the nearby Metrorail stop to better ascertain its existing offerings and needs, so the retail in her project can complement existing shops.

Condos will range from studios to two bedrooms, Buckley said. All units will be restricted for households earning up to 80 percent of the area median income.

This qualified Grand Bahamas Place for $4.2 million in Miami Forever bond financing, Buckley said. The development also has obtained $700,000 in financing from Orlando-based Florida Community Loan Fund, a community development financial institution.

Condo prices will range from $305,000 to $450,000, the release says.

Prospera also is working to obtain a construction loan for Grand Bahamas, which is estimated to cost about $23 million total, including the site acquisition. Records show the partnership paid $2.2 million last year for the lot at 3659 Grand Avenue, while the Believers of Authority Ministries transferred the other lot to the partnership for a nominal $100 last year.

The project’s site plan application is under review by the city of Miami, with the development only needing administrative approval. Construction is expected to start next year and completion is expected in early 2029, Buckley said.

Near North Miami, Prospera plans Faith Place Village on the southeast corner of Northwest 105th Street and Northwest Eighth Avenue in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade in partnership with Faith Community Baptist Church, according to Buckley and the project’s website.

Records show an entity tied to Prospera paid $604,000 for the 2.1-acre L-shaped vacant lot adjacent to the existing church at 10401 Northwest Eighth Avenue.

The one- and two-story townhomes will be for households earning up to 120 percent of the AMI, with prices capped at $494,000.

Prospera is working to finalize a construction loan for the project, which will cost $15.3 million. Construction completion is expected by the end of next year, Buckley said.

Prospera joins a growing number of developers buying development sites from churches, with some also partnering on projects with the religious groups as Prospera is.

Some churches have struggled financially and are tapping portions or the entirety of their underused land to unlock value. Across South Florida, developers have seized on church land, with some finding new homes for the churches, rebuilding the sanctuaries on the same sites or building next to the existing churches.

“The city has grown over time. Churches are finding they have underutilized land that has increased in value,” Buckley said. And South Florida has “a need for affordable and workforce housing. A very acute need for affordable and workforce housing.”