Overtown Gateway Gets Taxpayer Funding, Groundbreaking Set For March
County commissioners voted yesterday to approve a $6 million subsidy to Don Peebles and Barron Channer for the Overtown Gateway project.
The project is being built on land once owned by the county known as Block 45 and Block 55, which was later deeded over to the Overtown Park West CRA.
Funding will come from bonds that have already been approved by county voters but had not been allocated yet. Property owners in Dade County will pay back the bonds through an increase in property tax.
At the 2.1-acre Block 45 (152 NW 8th Street), the developers plan a 40-story project with 350 workforce apartments, 60 affordable apartments, a 150-room chain-operated budget hotel, 32,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and 50,000 square feet of commercial space. The total investment at Block 45 is estimated to be $150 million.
At the 3.5-acre Block 55 (249 NW 6th Street), two towers are planned, each rising 22 stories. There will be 250-300 workforce rental apartments, with a total investment of approximately $150 million.
The workforce housing will be priced to be affordable to those earning close to average median income for the county.
About half of the $6 million in funding will go towards the creation of 150 public parking spaces, with the rest allocated to infrastructure such as street, sidewalk and utility improvements. The developers estimate that 423 permanent jobs will be created.
The developers are working on obtaining $80 million in financing, which hasn’t been finalized yet.
Construction on Block 45 is estimated to begin in March 2015, while work on Block 55 will begin in 2016. The first phase will begin operations in September 2017, with the second phase set to open in September 2018.
Commissioners also voted yesterday to provide $9 million in infrastructure funding for SkyRise.
