Developer Pivots Little Havana Apartment Project Midstream To $300K Condos
Amid elevated supply, flattening rents and emerging economic concerns, one Miami developer has chosen to ditch a plan to build rentals to target a hole in the housing market: affordable condos.
The Astor Cos. has launched condo sales at the 179-unit Havana Enclave in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood, a switch-up from its original plans for market-rate multifamily.
The Coral Gables-based company announced the transition more than halfway through construction, which is set to finish by the end of this year.
Astor CEO Henry Torres told Bisnow in an interview that Miami occupancy traditionally sits between 93% and 95%, but his team was finding buildings that were at 85% occupancy in their analysis.
“There's too much product that's being built and not enough people occupying those buildings,” Torres said. “I didn't see much sense in building more of the same [thing]. Blue-collar products to buy, there's a deficiency there and there's an overabundance of luxury products.”
South Florida is coming off a hot year for multifamily construction, with developers adding nearly 14,000 units in 2025, outpacing the national average, according to Yardi Matrix.
While construction is slowing, only increasing supply by 5%, it is still expected to outpace absorption through 2027, according to a 2026 CBRE South Florida outlook report.
More multifamily construction has taken place in Miami-Dade County than any of the 90 largest markets, according to a 2025 fourth-quarter Cushman & Wakefield report analyzed by Miami Realtors.
The volume of supply has kept rents from growing. The median rent in Miami of $3,000 per month is down 3% from last year, according to Zumper.
Condo construction has also picked up. Between the third quarter of 2024 and the final quarter of 2025, the number of condo buildings under construction has grown from 142 to 153, according to an ISG World report.
But the median price for a new condo in Miami is $1.8M, a nearly 4% increase year-over-year, according to a fourth-quarter Condo Blackbook report.
Astor is marketing its units, under construction at 315 NW 27th Ave., at a significant discount.
The company, which tapped the Oscar Arellano Team with Coldwell Banker Realty brokers Oscar Arellano, Eyvis Mendoza and Nelson Albareda to lead sales, is selling the studio, one- and two-bedroom condos for $300K to $700K.
“That's considerable savings based on what everybody's seeing out there,” Torres said. “I think the timing is right because a lot of people are on the sidelines that really want to buy, and there's nothing for them to buy.”
He said the building should be appealing to locals, which Miami-Dade County has struggled to keep in recent years, Torres said. Between 2024 and 2025, Miami-Dade County's population shrunk by 10,000 people, Axios reported, citing U.S. Census data.
"People have nothing keeping them here. You up and leave at the end of your lease," Torres said. "If you own something, you think twice about leaving."
Astor purchased the site in 2024 for $10M and nabbed a $36M construction loan for the project a year later. Torres expects the project to finish construction at the end of this year and begin moving in residents by January
He is surveying how the switch to condos plays out before applying it to upcoming projects.
The company is also planning a two-tower, 246-unit project dubbed Flagler Enclave, planned for 2800 W. Flagler. As of now, Torres plans to leverage the Live Local Act, which allows developers to override local zoning if at least 40% of the project is dedicated to workforce housing.
But Torres also expressed concerns about how the current geopolitical climate will affect his projects.
The U.S. war with Iran has spiked oil prices and increased pressure on the commercial real estate industry. It can also make potential condo buyers hold off on closing, Torres said.
"That slows our economy down," he said. "It makes interest rates go up and makes people think twice about taking a mortgage right now or even buying something."
