MIAMI—Related Urban and Miami-Dade County officials are bringing a new affordable housing project to market. Collins Park Public Housing Development aims at Miami's elderly population. The grand opening was Tuesday.
“This is an example of Miami-Dade County continuing to work hard and being creative in preparing solutions to improve our public housing communities,” says Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez. “This success should serve as a model to address aging public housing throughout the country.”
The State of Florida awarded $100 million to the public-private partnership to preserve and create over 800 units for low-income seniors at 3625 Northwest 20 Avenue. Related was originally awarded 9% Low Income Housing Tax Credit funding in the Florida Housing Finance Corporation 2011 Universal Application Cycle to build Collins Park Apartments as an elderly affordable housing development.
In partnership with Miami-Dade County and Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Related converted the apartment project to a 124-unit public housing development. The county effectively acquired a $28 million building without using any public housing capital funds.
The new building has a management office, multi-purpose room, fitness center, laundry facilities, computer room and library, among other amenities. Related handled all aspects of the resident relocation with TRG Management Company of Florida and Miami-Dade County Public Housing and Community Development.
“Through our partnership with Related Urban and HUD, we were able to take advantage of a one of a kind public approach to private partnerships that will greatly improve the quality of the living conditions for our public housing communities,” says Michael Liu, public housing and community development director. Related's Alberto Milo, Jr., says, “These developments help improve the quality of life for Miami-Dade County's neediest seniors.”
Mitchell Friedman, a partner at Pinnacle Housing Group, is active in the affordable housing space. He told us it has become increasingly difficult to compete for land with deep-pocketed competitors.
“Building mixed-income is a necessity in Miami's urban core,” he says. “There is very high demand for affordable housing, and the way to bring that to market is by building mixed-income.”
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