MIAMI-Locally based B Developments is planning to develop the mixed-use Altos Plaza, a 24-story, two-tower project at 22nd Avenue and First Street in the Little Havana section of the city.

The project will include 335 work force housing condominiums, 40,000 sf of office space and 40,000 sf for the first Publix Sabor, an Hispanic-oriented supermarket by the Publix supermarket chain. Existing commercial structures on the site have been cleared and final approvals are in the process of being obtained.

B Developments manager Gonzalo Negrete tells GlobeSt.com that construction costs for the project will be $100 to $150 million. "We are hoping to break ground on the project in June," he says. The project is expected to take about two years to complete with delivery of the units by the end of 2009, Negrete says.

With 13 parcels assembled for the project, Altos Plaza is the type of infill urban project many developers are pursuing, South Florida-based attorney Oscar Rivera, who is assisting developers with the project, tells GlobeSt.com. "The potential to develop in the western portions of Miami are quickly diminishing due the lack of available land," he says. "Little Havana is ripe for urban infill."

Altos Plaza is the latest project B Developments is pursuing along the 22nd Avenue corridor. The company is completing another work force housing project across the street from the Altos Plaza site. "We are hoping to revitalize the entire avenue with mixed-use project," Negrete says.

B Developments will not pre-sell units to avoid investors or speculators buying units and selling or renting them at a higher price. "We're trying to bring a lower price to the end user," he says. "It's very important in the middle-income market. A $50,000 difference in price could mean the difference between being able to afford a unit or not."