ACRE Communities Plans 391-Unit Mixed-Income Tower in Downtown Miami
As Miami continues to grapple with housing affordability, a proposed mixed-income tower in Downtown would bring hundreds of new apartments to the urban core, including income-restricted and workforce housing steps away from Miami Worldcenter. Led by ACRE Communities, the development would also bring a new fire station to a long-underutilized, city-owned site. Planned for 604 NW 1st Avenue and 25 NW 6th Street, the development would occupy a nearly 0.8-acre site that has sat abandoned and underutilized for years. Redevelopment plans began to take shape in 2025, when the Southeast Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency (SEOPW CRA) opened the two-parcel property to redevelopment proposals. After receiving three submissions, a selection committee chose ACRE Communities, which has experience delivering mixed-income housing and other types of developments, as its preferred developer. The project is now moving through the next stage of the process, with the SEOPW CRA working to establish a development agreement with ACRE Communities. If the process proceeds as planned, the agreement would bring the project closer to securing development rights and advancing toward construction. According to plans submitted to the city, the proposed tower would contain 391 residential units, with an average unit size of 782 square feet. One-bedroom apartments would make up the largest share of the development, followed by two-bedroom units, studios, and three-bedroom apartments. The project would include a substantial affordable housing component, with 156 units, or 40% of the total, reserved for households earning up to 60% of the area median income (AMI). Another 47 units, representing 12% of the development, would be designated as workforce housing for households earning up to 120% of AMI. The remaining apartments would be offered at market rates. Beyond its residential component, the development would also bring a new public safety facility to the neighborhood. Although the plans do not call for any retail space, the project would encompass approximately 630,000 gross square feet, including 13,000 square feet on the ground floor dedicated to a new fire station. The facility would serve Downtown Miami and surrounding communities as the area’s population continues to grow. ACRE Communities has also said it intends to improve the pedestrian environment around the property through wider sidewalks, additional greenery, and other streetscape improvements. Above the ground floor, the building would include 432 parking spaces, with one level dedicated to public parking. The proposed design, however, is not yet final. Although renderings have already been produced, ACRE Communities is looking to incorporate input from local artists, including potential murals on the parking garage and other architectural elements that draw from Overtown’s historic architectural character. Those ideas are expected to inform subsequent design revisions, with updated elevations yet to be released. Financing would rely on a layered capital structure typical of large-scale mixed-income developments in Miami, according to ACRE Communities. The proposed package would combine tax-exempt debt, tax credit equity, public soft loans, and sponsor equity. The developer said the structure is intended to minimize risk, support long-term affordability, and remain consistent with the project’s proposed budget. If the project advances on its current schedule, construction could begin in January 2028, with completion targeted for the summer of 2030.
Distressed Mercedes-Benz Places Nears Construction Restart as $1.1B Financing Advances
The construction site of the distressed Mercedes-Benz Places condo project has been stalled for more than a year now. Crews were entering vertical construction after multiple basement floors had been completed, before work abruptly stopped early last year and left the supersized development frozen in place. The stoppage has opened JDS to a suite of new problems, including foreclosure proceedings, but the developer has spent the past several months working on a way out. New financing and a joint development partner could give the project the capital and backing needed to restart, potentially putting an end to a difficult chapter for one of Miami’s most ambitious developments. Just recently, that deal appears to be finally coming together, bringing the project closer to a construction restart than it has been in more than a year. The first inklings of such a deal emerged this summer, when The Real Deal reported that JDS was looking to bring Fontainebleau Development into the project as a partner while securing more than $1 billion in financing for the distressed site. The new capital would replenish the project’s depleted financing while also resolving litigation with the existing lender, clearing two of the biggest obstacles standing in the way of a restart. J.P. Morgan would lead the $1.11 billion financing package, providing an $860 million construction loan, while Nuveen Green Capital would finance the remaining $250 million through C-PACE financing. According to new reporting by Commercial Observer, term sheets have now been signed, with the deal expected to close by the end of the year. If it closes as planned, the financing could allow construction to resume before 2027. J.P. Morgan would reportedly be collateralized by the entire Mercedes-Benz Places project, which is valued at approximately $2 billion upon completion. Nuveen, meanwhile, would be collateralized by the commercial component alone, giving the lenders separate positions across the project’s residential and commercial uses. Once completed, now expected in 2029, Mercedes-Benz Places would include 850 residential units, 791 of which would be branded Mercedes-Benz condominiums. The development would also feature 200 luxury hotel rooms, 881 parking spaces, 139,032 square feet of wellness and restaurant space, and 153,211 square feet of office space. The project received full approval from Miami-Dade County in mid-2025, meaning the development is not waiting on a major new entitlement to move forward. The project’s scale also extends beyond its private components. As part of its approved program, the development is required to construct a new fire station on the ground floor, as well as restore and redesign Southside Park. Additional public benefits include payments toward a dedicated fund, adding a substantial civic component to the project’s already extensive program. Designed by SHoP Architects, the tower would rise 64 floors and reach 764 feet. Its stacked and offset volumes give the building a distinctive silhouette, drawing some visual comparisons to the nearby Waldorf Astoria, which uses a similar stacked-box approach on a much larger scale. For more than a year, all of that has existed largely on paper and behind construction fencing. Now, with term sheets signed, more than $1 billion in financing lined up, and Fontainebleau poised to join JDS, Mercedes-Benz Places may finally be approaching the moment when the long-stalled development begins rising again.