Last Sears in Miami to be Mixed-Use Complex

It’s getting hard to keep track of the onslaught of projects that have been put forward under Florida’s Live Local Act.

The latest involves a plan to redevelop the last Sears outlet in South Florida into a mixed-use development.

RK Centers, a firm founded and led by Miami Heat minority owner Raanan Katz, is aiming to build three eight-story buildings encompassing 995 apartments and 55 rental townhouses on a site at 3655 Southwest 22nd Street in the city’s Coral Gate neighborhood.

According to an application filed with the city earlier this month and approved by Miami’s Urban Development Review Committee, the project will include 44K SF of office and retail space with two parking garages with a total of 1,924 parking spots.

RK’s project will include 420 units with affordable rents to comply with the Live Local Act, which allows for administrative approval of housing projects that exceed zoning restrictions if the developer reserves 40% of the units for workforce housing, with rents capped at 120% of the area’s median income.

Streamlined approvals in exchange for workforce housing is proving to be a wildly successful incentive in South Florida, where Live Local Act projects—and at least one mega-project—have been popping up this month like popcorn.

Earlier this month, a developer based in North Miami filed plans to build six apartment towers ranging from 26 to 37 stories tall, encompassing a total of 3,233 units, at a West Little River site currently occupied by one-story buildings with residential, office and church uses.

The developer, 27th Ave Hollandpark Ecoresidences LCC, has submitted plans to Miami-Dade County for review under the Live Local Act.

The project, called Holland Park in the filing and The HueHub in the site plan, sits at 8400 NW 25th Avenue on a 12-acre site in proximity to one of the proposed stations for Miami-Dade’s North Corridor Metrorail extension.

27th Ave Hollandpark Ecoresidences, which paid $29.3M for the parcel in October, is leveraging the Live Local Act to propose a building taller than the current zoning for the site allows.

In addition to the six high-rise apartment towers, Holland Park will include two nine-level parking garages with space for 4,249 vehicles, as well as 57K SF of ground floor retail and a one-story amenities building.

The apartment buildings will surround an open central park with tennis courts and two pools. According to the plans, retail storefronts will surround the street-facing exterior of the project, which spans four city blocks.

Last month, Miami-based Bazbaz Development invoked the Live Local Act to propose a 48-story tower in Wynwood, where most buildings are less than a dozen stories.