Related Group Only Applicant For Spaces In City Parking Garage

By Deserae del Campo
The Related Group is the only developer to respond to a Miami Parking Authority request for applications that would allow developers building workforce housing near downtown transit stations access to parking spaces in a downtown garage.

The Related Group wants to lease 500 spaces for its Loft III project in downtown Miami.

The request for applications was released Sept. 8 for developers interested in leasing spaces in the College Station Garage at 190 NE Third St. The parking authority had 650 spaces available.

Last week, parking authority board members approved the license agreement between Related Group and the authority that would provide about 500 spaces for workforce residents living in Loft III, a workforce housing project to rise at 200 NE Third St.

Under the application guidelines, 60% of the project’s units must be priced at less than $300,000 and the housing must be within 600 feet of a downtown transit station. The developer also must have built at least 300 condo units in the past three years.

The parking authority is going to accept more applications until the rest of the 150 spaces are leased or until Dec. 8, the application deadline.

Related Group wants to move ahead promptly, said Oscar Rodriguez, Related’s affordable housing director. "Time is of the essence when it comes to affordable housing and we will aggressively market this project as a workforce housing project."

Developers still have time to apply, said Art Noriega, executive director of the Miami Parking Authority, during last week’s meeting.

"We are optimistic that additional requests for spaces will be submitted by the deadline," he said. Advertisement