Related Urban Development Group has officially broken ground on Gallery at SoMi Parc, a 15-story mixed-income apartment building rising on the county-owned former South Miami Gardens public-housing site in South Miami. The project covers roughly 6.6 acres and is set to replace aging public housing with a mix of replacement units, workforce apartments and market-rate homes. The site sits next to Marshall Williamson Park and a short walk from the South Miami Metrorail station, positioning the development as a transit-oriented infill project.
Related is pegging the project at roughly $167 million and is using Florida’s Live Local Act to secure greater height and density than local zoning would normally allow, according to reporting by the South Florida Business Journal, which covered Thursday’s ceremonial groundbreaking.
County filings and a public notice published last year flesh out the plans in more detail: a 15-story residential building with about 350 apartments, a six-story parking garage with roughly 480 spaces and about 8,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. Miami-Dade County's notice also confirms the project passed an environmental review, lists an estimated cost in the 150 to 155 million dollar range and allocates roughly 56.7 million dollars in Restore-Rebuild project-based vouchers to support replacement units.
How the Live Local Act Unlocked Density
The Live Local Act lets qualifying multifamily projects override local height and density caps if at least 40 percent of the units are reserved for households earning up to 120 percent of area median income for a minimum of 30 years. An overview from Florida Housing notes that the law also sweetens the deal with tax incentives and expedited permitting, especially for projects close to transit, which helps explain why a 15-story tower is landing on this particular corner of South Miami.
Where This Fits in the SoMi Parc Plan
Gallery at SoMi Parc is the next phase of Related’s broader SoMi Parc master plan. Phase 1, Residences at SoMi Parc, delivered 172 mixed-income units at 5961 SW 68th Street, according to Related Group. The company describes the master plan as a strategy to replace aging public housing while layering in workforce and market-rate homes alongside neighborhood-serving retail, effectively remaking the former South Miami Gardens site into a denser, mixed-use community.
What Comes Next
Miami-Dade County's public notice shows the project cleared a federal environmental review and public comment period late last year, removing a key procedural hurdle before crews could start digging. County records also indicate that several of the new apartments will be backed by long-term project-based vouchers and that the ground-floor commercial space is intended for neighborhood services rather than splashy destination retail. A firm completion date is not listed in the county filings.
