Four separate development teams want to bring more than 200 apartments to a stretch of Kendall barely two blocks wide, just east of Baptist Health South Florida's main campus, and the longtime homeowners of Continental Park are not going quietly. The proposals would replace single-family lots with multifamily buildings ranging from three to five stories, leaning on a mix of county transit-zoning incentives and workforce-housing bonuses that residents say were never meant to reshape their block this dramatically.
According to The Real Deal, all four developers are seeking multifamily rezoning on parcels within a short walk of Kendall Drive, taking advantage of a Miami-Dade County zoning provision that allows larger buildings near the corridor. Baptist Health South Florida, the region's largest health system, anchors the area just to the west, and the four projects sit less than two blocks from its main campus, per the same report.
The largest of the applications comes from Capital Partners Management, tied to Walter Lista and Bob Liu, which is seeking approval for two apartment projects totaling 117 units. One of those, Continental Flats, would rise five stories on a 0.9-acre site at 8445 Southwest 94th Street that Capital Partners bought for $1.1 million in 2024. The building is planned with 23 one-bedroom units, 16 two-bedroom units, and three three-bedroom units, and the company has proposed eight workforce-housing units as part of the deal, the outlet reported.
A Second Capital Partners Project, Plus Two More Family-Owned Sites
Capital Partners filed a separate 79-unit rezoning application in June 2026 for 8455, 8441, and 8501 Southwest 92nd Street, seeking to rezone 2.7 acres from single-family residential to a residential modified district. That proposal calls for buildings capped at a maximum height of three stories.
Two more applications come from family trusts represented by the same attorney. Cape Summit 69 Holdings, registered to Luis Alonso of Miami, owns vacant land and wants to develop 79 apartments as a three-story project covering a 1.5-acre assemblage at 9202 and 9232 Southwest 84th Avenue and a third lot. Separately, the Serralta Family Trust, managed by Ignacio and Vivian Serralta as co-trustees, has proposed a three-story, 67-unit multifamily building at 8401 Southwest 94th Street — a lot that currently holds a three-bedroom, 3,300-square-foot home, according to The Real Deal. Attorney Javier Vazquez represents both the Serralta Family Trust and Cape Summit 69 Holdings; he declined to comment when reached by the outlet.
Workforce Housing Bonuses Stack On Top Of Transit Zoning
Miami-Dade County confirmed to the outlet that the project sites qualify for zoning flexibility because parcels within a quarter mile of Kendall Drive may have up to 60 units per acre and a 2.0 floor area ratio, while those within a half mile may have up to 36 units per acre and a 1.5 floor area ratio. That framework traces back to Ordinance 19-07, which the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners enacted in January 2019 to establish transit-supportive density limits along six SMART Plan corridors.
On top of that base zoning, developers can layer the county's voluntary Workforce Housing Development Program, which allows density bonuses and parking reductions of up to 25 percent for projects that set aside units for people earning 80 percent to 120 percent of area median income — currently $89,800 a year in Miami-Dade, per The Real Deal's reporting. Cape Summit 69 Holdings would use that bonus to gain a 25 percent density boost and a 25 percent parking reduction, while both the Serralta Family Trust and Capital Partners plan to provide workforce-rent units or contribute to the county's affordable housing fund instead — seven apartments in Serralta's case and eight in Capital Partners' case. The bonus program, updated through Ordinance 16-138 and Ordinance 19-52, can allow buildings up to eight stories under the right conditions.
Residents Push Back On Traffic, Flooding And Zoning Process
Neighbors argue the wave of applications will worsen an already strained road network. Martha and Felipe Barrios said the projects could create an accident risk from increased traffic, while other Continental Park residents fear that replacing vacant land with concrete could increase flooding in the neighborhood. Resident Elva Marin wrote that the zoning process handed developers the ability to up-zone property, and Kendall residents have more broadly challenged developers' use of the Kendall Drive zoning override, arguing it conflicts with an earlier corridor planning study that directed residential neighborhoods to be preserved and protected.
Developers' attorneys have countered that the proposals align with existing and future development patterns, pointing to nearby construction such as a 128-unit complex already built in the area, according to The Real Deal. Miami-Dade County staff have pushed back on at least one plan, asking the Serralta Family Trust to commit to a three-story building rather than build taller. Miami-Dade County continues to face a shortage of developable land, a pressure point that has fueled a wave of similar proposals across the county.
A Countywide Pattern Along Kendall's Transit Corridor
The tension in Continental Park mirrors a fight that erupted in the same area just months earlier. In an earlier Kendall rezoning revolt, residents mobilized against a Greater Miami Jewish Federation petition to reclassify the 22-acre Alper JCC campus for buildings up to six stories and more than 480 units, also citing traffic backups and density stacking. Statewide, developers had proposed 55,000 workforce housing units across 182 projects as of March 2026 under state preemption laws, with Miami-Dade County ranking as the top county in Florida for proposed developments, according to Florida Housing Coalition tracking data cited by Bilzin Sumberg.
Much of that pressure flows from Florida's Live Local Act, most recently updated through House Bill 1389, which Florida enacted in June 2026 as the fourth consecutive year of revisions restricting local governments from using setbacks or step-backs to limit building heights on qualifying workforce housing projects. Kendall Drive itself is designated for mass public transit expansion under the SMART Plan, yet the Florida Department of Transportation placed its Kendall Corridor Rapid Transit study on hold in 2020 to monitor a bus rapid transit demonstration on Flagler Street — meaning the density bonuses tied to future transit are stacking up years before any train or busway actually arrives.
Baptist Hospital of Miami, the 838-bed flagship of Baptist Health South Florida, has also absorbed more patient traffic since Jackson South Medical Center's maternity unit closed abruptly in a sudden staffing-driven shutdown last year, adding to the medical campus's footprint next door to the disputed housing sites. None of the four Continental Park applications had been finally decided as of the latest reporting, leaving residents and developers waiting to see how county officials weigh the competing pressures of housing scarcity against neighborhood preservation.
