Developer wants to convert ex-USCIS site to mixed-use building

The owners of the former U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services building in Miami plan to convert it into a mixed-use building, combining residential and first-floor retail space, exMiami reported.

Fifteen Group wants to build 295 residential units and 32,800 square feet of commercial space. An adaptive reuse of the 11-story tower and six-story parking garage would involve the creation an eight-story structure. Architecture firm ADD Inc., which is also heading up adaptive reuse work on the South Shore Hospital and Miami Heart Institute, prepared the design plans, the website said.

The government agency left the office building at 7880 Biscayne Boulevard in 2008, four years before it was purchased by the Miami-based developers, exMiami said.

Fifteen Group manages a company, Fifteen Gap Sawgrass LLC, that last summer bought the Sawgrass Technology Park in Sunrise for $52 million, as previously reported. [exMiami] –Mark Maurer