Miami city officials approved a sweeping mixed-use project for one of the area’s poorest neighborhoods, a venture valued up to $1 billion that developers hope will serve as a global example for gentrification but residents say may price them out of their homes.
The Magic City Innovation District in Miami's Little Haiti area would consist of nearly 8 million square feet, including 2,630 residential units, 432 hotel rooms, 2 million square feet of offices, 350,000 square feet of retail and four acres of open space. The development would create a “city of the future” featuring a pedestrian-friendly campus of technology and innovation businesses that would be built over a decade or more, depending on market conditions.
Urban renewal across the country often leads to the displacement of longtime residents who can no longer afford the area. The development group of the Little Haiti project, MCD Miami, is mulling including micro-units or coliving apartments to combat the issue.
"We want this to be a model for building globally, and certainly nationally," said Tony Cho, who is part of the development group behind the project, in an interview. "Development is not always popular, but it’s necessary.”
Little Haiti is an area north of downtown Miami that has been home to thousands of Caribbean immigrants since the 1980s. Cho said the neighborhood, while neglected, remains a historically and culturally rich community, replete with building murals, art galleries and family-owned eateries.
The first commercial tenants have signed leases , and the focus going forward will be building and leasing innovative office space and bringing in food and beverage tenants, said Cho. An existing park that eventually will be developed will serve as a hub for pop-up retail and entertainment, he added.
“That will define the character of the neighborhood,” said Cho. “In the next 12 months, you’ll see a significant change in activity around the project.”
MCD Miami includes Cho, founder of the Metro 1 brokerage, and Plaza Equity Partners, Dragon Global and Lune Rouge. Guy Laliberte, founder and chief executive of Lune Rouge, co-founded the Cirque du Soleil Canadian entertainment company in 1984.
The innovation district, in a federal opportunity zone that provides tax breaks to investors, covers nearly 18 acres between 64th Street on the north, 60th Street on the south, Florida East Coast Industries rail on the east and Northeast 2nd Avenue on the west.
Surrounding neighborhoods, including Edgewater , Allapattah and the Wynwood arts district , already are being revitalized, and real estate analysts point to Little Haiti as the next growth market in Miami. The region’s unique geography between the Atlantic Ocean and the Everglades has created a severe land shortage that is limiting development opportunities.
Little Haiti has one of the highest elevations along the coast in South Florida, making the neighborhood all the more attractive as sea-level rise becomes an important consideration for developers, said Jack McCabe, a real estate consultant in Deerfield Beach, Florida.
Critics have complained that the innovation district and its buildings up to 25 stories would overwhelm the neighborhood, eventually squeezing out longtime residents and businesses.
Alana Greer, an attorney who represents some residents, told city commissioners that urban renewal has been “steeped in displacement and horrific outcomes for communities, particularly communities of color,” across Miami and the nation.
“If that’s the vision of this project going forward, we should all be deeply concerned,” she said.
Cho said the developers are trying to find solutions that would provide affordable housing for residents. What’s more, the agreement hammered out with the city includes the developers funding a trust with up to $31 million that would be administered by the city to help revitalize Little Haiti, with such priorities as affordable housing, small business development and beautification projects.
But housing affordability for the lower and middle classes is little more than an afterthought in many developments as land prices soar, analysts say.
“Developers have found it nearly impossible to pencil out profits on affordable housing,” McCabe said. “Unless the city requires [Magic City] developers to set aside a significant amount of affordable housing, it’s potentially possible that thousands of people will be displaced because they don’t have the incomes to afford the newer products.”
Even without the innovation district, Little Haiti residents are facing displacement due to rising land values in recent years, Cho noted.
“We understand and appreciate people’s concerns,” he said. “We want to make the area clean and safe and bring economic opportunity for those who want to take advantage of it."
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