The Redevelopment of Little Havanna

After visiting the Little Havana neighborhood in Miami , I gained insight on how the area was developed and why it remains undeveloped today.  Little Havana culture has always been influent in the neighborhood, while its population is generally made up of Latin Americans and Latin immigrants who have continuously occupied the same buildings for many years.  Being one of the poorest if not the single most poor community in Miami/Dade, the area has not attracted investors or given the city any incentive to put money into the community.

Little Havana is structured in a way that is often difficult for developers to complete a project and profit from it.  The government has set up many programs (LIHTC, Section 8, etc..) in order to encourage people to come in an clean up the neighborhood.  "There are two types of public funds available, one for housing and families the other for parks and recreation."  One thing that really stood out to me was when Jorge mentioned that developers could rent out properties at a much more affordable rate and it still made sense at the end of the day because of the tax credits they had received from developing the property.  However much of the community still remains in bad condition because many developers are afraid to touch a project down there.  An example is the building located right on 1st ave.  The multi family residential building has a brilliant structure and always remains fully occupied by tenants, something which should make any investor open their eyes.  Due to current regulations mainly imposed by the Miami 21 zoning code.  He talked about how this building would need to undergo extreme changes including parking space additions, plumbing, and unit sq/footage updates.  These thing are not only very costly to a project, but also may take away from the value of the land in its entirety.  Adding parking limits buildable space, the fully occupied building is not as attractive if you loose tenants in the process of redeveloping it.

My plan is to do exactly what we learned here at this site today.  In Chicago I have always drove into the city from my comfortable neighborhood on the west side.  The blocks of residential housing located within footsteps of the beautiful United Center (Chicago Bulls arena) are in shambles, far worst than Little Havana.  Many developers resist going into the neighborhoods because it is poor and filled with gang activity which will not attract buyers, renters, and probably will diminish the property value rapidly.  After my side talks with Jose, I understand that people are attracted to what the community has to offer.  When you redevelop parks, buildings, give the community something to do and take pride in this is when you will see more people wanting to be involved and keeping the community clean.  Currently my home city does nothing like this on the westside.  I see people out in north neighborhoods constantly picking up trash, covering up graffiti, and doing whatever it takes to keep the area clean.  Its not things don't happen on the north side, but the fact that someone is willing to clean it up and keep the community appearance on point is why that area continues to attract buyers.  There is nothing that part of the city can offer in which the west side cant. It has all the same features sports arena, major tenants, parks, and people.