Midtown Development is asking Miami-Dade County to sign off on a new special taxing district that would help bankroll a major remake of The Shops at Sunset Place. The proposed Downtown SoMi Community Development District is expected to raise about $149 million for infrastructure tied to the long-discussed overhaul. If commissioners approve it, the district would fund new streets, utilities and a public parking garage for the mixed-use project, shifting much of the cost onto assessments tied to the development site instead of relying on general County tax revenue. County commissioners are slated to take up the petition at their July 21 meeting, a key step before any bonds could be issued and shovels hit the ground.
According to The Real Deal, Midtown Development, led by Alex Vadia, filed the petition to create the Downtown SoMi district for the property now occupied by the Shops at Sunset Place. The outlet reports that the district would be authorized to issue tax-exempt bonds to finance roughly $149 million in infrastructure work, with debt service to be repaid through assessments on properties inside the district rather than through Countywide tax dollars.
Per Miami-Dade County, the petition was filed on December 29, 2025 and covers about 10.16 acres bounded by U.S. 1, Red Road, Sunset Drive and SW 58 Avenue. County agenda materials break the $149 million request into roadway, stormwater, wastewater and water-system upgrades, and note that the financing would be backed by liens on properties within the district instead of drawing on County funds.
Project scale and timeline
Midtown’s seven-building master plan would bring more than 1,500 homes, a 287-room hotel, over 200,000 square feet of retail and a 1,300-seat theater to the site, and the ordinance would seat a five-member board - Alex Vadia, Richard Perez, Antonio Ferrer, Azam Malik and Dean Warhaft - to oversee the district, according to The Real Deal. County documents and developer materials say infrastructure construction is targeted to start in 2027 and wrap up by the first quarter of 2029, with the first phase focused on new streets and the condo-hotel component.
What a CDD means for residents
Community Development Districts are a state-authorized special-purpose form of local government that can finance, build and maintain public improvements by issuing tax-exempt bonds and levying non-ad valorem assessments, per the Florida Statutes. In practice, that means property owners inside the Downtown SoMi district - including future buyers - would typically see separate line-item assessments on their tax bills to cover bond repayment and ongoing operations and maintenance, instead of those costs being spread across all County taxpayers.
Next steps
The Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners was scheduled to hear the Downtown SoMi ordinance on July 21, 2026 following an earlier deferral, according to the County’s published agenda. The broader redevelopment plan has already cleared South Miami’s approval process: city commission minutes show the development agreement won approval in 2024 after public hearings and multiple readings. That agreement links project approvals to performance benchmarks aimed at increasing the site’s taxable value through 2034. Hoodline previously reported on the earlier Sunset Place transformation, when the city first signed on to the pedestrian-focused vision for the aging mall.
