Stalled Wynwood Apartment Project Lines Up $44M In Public Financing
Seven years after it was first proposed, an affordable housing project in one of Miami's trendiest neighborhoods is on the verge of landing critical public financing to start construction.
The Housing Finance Authority of Miami-Dade County authorized the issuance of $44M in multifamily mortgage revenue bonds to finance the construction of the 12-story, 116-apartment View 29 project in Wynwood, led by New Urban Development.
The Miami-Dade County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to vote on the bonds at its March 3 meeting, according to an agenda posted online Tuesday. If approved, the debt is expected to be issued within weeks to kick-start construction on the project.
Representatives for New Urban Development and the HFA didn't respond to requests for comment.
The site at 2901 NW Second Ave. was deeded by the county to New Urban Development, a subsidiary of nonprofit organization The Urban League of Greater Miami, in April 2020, according to Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser records. There was only a fenced-off, vacant lot at the address as of October, according to Google Street View.
Two months later, the HFA voted to issue $23.2M in revenue bonds to the developer and enter into a borrower loan or financing agreement for the acquisition and construction of the project.
However, for reasons that are still unclear, the site's developers went back to HFA in 2022, seeking to extend the bond issuance by 18 months, shrink the number of units to 60 and reduce the debt obligations from $23.2M to $17.5M. The HFA approved that request in a 6-0 vote.
But in 2024, New Urban requested to increase the unit count back to its original 116 units, raise the debt obligations to $44M and extend the intent period for 18 months — which the HFA approved again. A public hearing on the latest bond issuance proposal was held Jan. 30.
The project is planned to include 105 parking spaces and more than 8K SF of ground-floor retail. Units were planned to be split between 48 one-bedroom, 58 two-bedroom and 10 three-bedroom apartments, according to New Urban's website.
About 24 apartments would be dedicated to people making no more than 30% of the area median income, 36 would be allocated for people making up to 80% of AMI, and 56 units would be for people making up to 120% of AMI, the South Florida Business Journal reported in 2021.
Planned amenities include a pool, community room, children’s room, gym, yoga room, business center, and rooftop terrace with a solar panel canopy.
It went before the Wynwood Design Review Committee in 2021, but after two board members expressed concerns over the impact on the surrounding properties, the project was withdrawn from review by the committee, according to the 2021 agenda meeting minutes.
Greenberg Traurig attorney Iris Escarra, who represented New Urban Development in the application, told the SFBJ in 2021 that New Urban was seeking a deferral of impact fees because of the affordable and workforce housing in the project.
Escarra declined to comment on the bond issuance when reached by Bisnow on Wednesday.
Miami ranked as the least affordable rental market among 182 U.S. cities in a WalletHub study last year. But the city has been aggressively adding affordable housing, with 8,690 income-restricted units added between 2020 and 2024, 19% of all new inventory and a 97% increase from the previous five years, according to a RentCafe study.
