Just two weeks after completing an assemblage in Miami’s Spring Garden neighborhood, Estate Investments Group won a key approval to build a 251-unit apartment building on the land.
On Wednesday, the Miami Urban Development Review Board granted the developer’s request to increase the proposed project’s lot area from 40,000 square feet to 63,250 square feet, as well as a 30 percent parking reduction and building one commercial loading berth instead of two.
Soleste Uptown, a tower that would be between eight to 11 stories tall, would rise on a 1.5-acre site at 1005 Spring Garden Road, near Miami’s Health District and less than two miles south of Soleste Grand Central, an 18-story tower with 360 rental apartments Estate Investments Group (EIG) is also developing.
Soleste Uptown would provide rental housing for people working in the area, as well as create a more pedestrian-friendly environment with benches, lighting, landscaping and a dog park, the developer’s attorney, Iris Escarra, wrote in the application.
Earlier this month, EIG principal Robert Suris said his company plans to break ground this summer and complete Soleste Uptown by 2020. His firm paid $3 million for the 24,708-square-foot lot and has owned adjacent lots totalling 38,115 square feet since 2017.
The developer also recently closed on the $9.7 million purchase of the land where Soleste Grand Central is being planned, in an Opportunity Zone. EIG and PTM Partners are building the project, which will include some units set aside for affordable housing. PTM, led by former LeFrak executive Michael Tillman, is looking to raise $125 million for its Opportunity Zone fund.
Estates Investments Group has several other rental projects in the pipeline. In October, the developer secured a $34 million construction loan for Soleste Bay Village, a 200-unit building in Palmetto Bay. The company is also building the 306-unit Soleste Alameda in West Miami and the 330-unit Soleste Blue Lagoon.