29 Billion In Housing Starts Planned For Miami

By Deserae del Campo
About $29 billion in housing construction is planned in Miami with 93,638 units projected to be added in addition to tens of thousands rising elsewhere in Miami-Dade County.

"Not all the units will get built," said Otto Boudet, the city’s chief of planning and economic development. "But a substantial number of units will be built because the market remains good at the moment. We have foreign buyers that use these units on a part-time basis and still pay property taxes for only a fraction of the city services that they pay for."

"The Planning Department does not foresee that all units that are currently in the preliminary and planning stage will be built," said Luciana Lamardo-Gonzalez, special projects coordinator for the city’s planning department. "Other market forces, such as financing and economics, may affect these projects."

A total of 376 residential projects are planned or in the works or recently have been finished for occupancy in Miami, according to city records.

More than half of the units, 47,179, are downtown, where 27 of 107 housing projects are finished. The cost of housing construction downtown is estimated at $20.5 billion.

"The amount of units and the amount of people coming into downtown will make the area a very different place," said Eddie Padilla-Morales, administrator of the city’s neighborhood enhancement team for downtown. "It’s a shift that needs to be made because downtown is so dense, and the impact will be phenomenal."

Demand for the additional housing supply remains strong, said Ms. Lamardo-Gonzalez, as many international investors seeking second homes join empty-nesters and young professionals in the marketplace.

Housing planned in the city includes:

nAllapattah: 4,834 units in 23 projects, three of them completed; $762 million in construction costs.

nCoral Way: 3,549 units in 34 projects, eight of them completed; $726 million.

nDowntown: 47,179 units in 107 projects, 27 of them completed; $20.9 billion.

nFlagami: 8,484 units in 17 projects, one of them completed; $789 million.

nLittle Haiti: 1,323 units in 12 projects; $231 million.

nLittle Havana: 5,398 units in 46 planned projects; $834 million.

nModel City: 235 units in two projects; $18 million.

nNortheast Coconut Grove: 1,567 units in 19 projects, seven of them completed; $747 million.

nOvertown: 3,482 units in 15 projects, two of them completed; $412 million.

nSouthwest Coconut Grove: 105 units in five projects; $46 million.

nUpper East Side: 5,188 units in 22 projects; $1.2 billion.

nWest Flagler: 965 units in seven projects, two of them completed; $81 million.

nWynwood/Edgewater: 11,329 units in 67 projects, three of them completed; $3 billion.