Our first site visit was to Little Havana,
a small city in Miami-Dade County that is located right next to Downtown Miami
and Brickell area. Mauricio Villauso provided a brief introduction
to his market analysis highlights which showed: proximity to public transportation,
proximity to central business district, highly dense population and low vacancy. He interpreted these results as a excellent
market to re-develop and develop multifamily product. He went on to explain how Little Havana’s
market contrasts with Brickell’s market, Brickell’s current high rise development
projects provide high supply and little demand
Mauricio explained the concept of Miami 21. It is an urban approach to modern urban
planning and affordable housing, it is made up of an urban zoning code of
Miami-Dade County that uses specific plans and regulations for the “Miami of
the 21st century.” Its
objective is to set guidelines for well-balanced neighborhoods and rich quality
of life for future generations. It
empowers developers and owner and promotes smart growth, urbanism, and
different quality of architecture, better transportation and sustainability.
Unfortunately Little Havana has been neglected because very little development
had been done until Mauricio and his friend began to redevelop buildings that
needed repair with the use of a Public Fund Trust and under the regulation of
Miami 21. He also mentioned how the zoning
code is divided in several transects, some are T3, T4 which is a max of six
units multifamily product per building, T5 which is a high story high cap for
mix use among others.
He also explained how financing is
obtained. He spoke about a Public Fund Trust that requires affordable housing
and public parks and spaces. He spoke
about transfer development rights where there is a set capital for the preservation
of historic buildings, rehabilitation and renovation and motivates developer by
also providing ten years of tax rebates.
He said the latest market trends in Miami are high growth of non-family
households, a decrease in school children which brings a demand for smaller apartments
to be built.
Mauricio was accompanied by Jose Fernandez
who gave us an insight about how Little Havana has been categorized for years,
as a very poor neighborhood or a “slum.”
Mauricio was more optimistic than Jose was about the future of the city,
Jose is worried about their poor political representation.
I enjoyed this site visit because I learned
about a city that I have passed by on my way to downtown, but never thought of
its growth or possible redevelopment.
The idea that any community in Miami has the opportunity to change and
improve is what I most like about real estate development.
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