Miami's First Big Opportunity Zone Project Nearly Done

The 360-unit Soleste Grand Central was topped off and is on tap to be completed early next year.

An 18-story multifamily tower that’s Miami’s first big opportunity zone project has topped off and is in line to be completed early next year.

The 360-unit Soleste Grand Central is in the Overtown neighborhood east of Interstate 95. The building is 230,430 square feet on 1.2 acres at 218 NW Eighth St.

The tower is being developed by a partnership between PTM Partners LLC, a development company founded last year to focus entirely on opportunity zones and with offices in Miami and New York, and Estate Investments Group, a prolific South Miami-based developer of apartments.

Opportunity zones are state-designated areas that are deemed to be economically struggling and in need of redevelopment or new business. The OZ program was in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and gives investors an incentive to put money into the zones in return for tax breaks.

Investors who put capital gains from any venture in a qualifying OZ fund can get various levels of tax breaks based on how long they keep money in the opportunity zone project. An OZ project could be a new business or real estate that meets federal guidelines.

Investors who keep their funds in for 10 years won’t owe anything on the appreciation of the OZ project itself.

OZ investments can be structured in various ways. Two possibilities are developers building in an OZ and betting on investors coming in to finance the project or developers putting in their own capital gains.

PTM Partners puts in its own capital and plans to hold onto the project for 10 years, Scott Meyer, chief investment officer, previously said.

Soleste Grand Central will offer studios and one- to three-bedroom units. Apartment sizes will range from 442 to 1,082 square feet.

The units will have custom kitchen cabinets, quartz countertops, walk-in closets, balconies and in-unit washers and dryers.

The building has an acre of amenity space, including a ninth-floor deck, a fourth-floor, 20,000-square-foot space with  a fitness center and a pool deck with spa, sauna and massage rooms.