Dania Beach commissioners approved a site plan and municipal financing for City Place Apartments, an eight-story multifamily project reserved almost entirely for low-income tenants.
Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve the site plan for the 110-unit development near Dania Beach City Hall, and to increase from $640,000 to $1 million a 17-year city loan to help finance the project. Commissioners also approved a deal for the developer to lease 10 parking spaces for tenants of City Place Apartments in the city’s adjacent parking garage.
“This gives our residents something that is gravely needed,” said Dania Beach Mayor Tamara James. “We often see projects here in the [commission] meetings that we probably couldn’t afford to live in ourselves.”
The developer, Miami-based City Place Apartments, Ltd., is managed by Francisco Rojo and Robert Saland, according to state records.
Of the 110 apartments, 100 will offer below-market monthly rents ranging from $430 to $920 for one-bedroom units, and $500 to $1,100 for two-bedroom units, said Dennis Mele, an attorney for the developer.
The remaining 10 apartments will have market-rate monthly rents of $1,450 for one-bedroom apartments, and $1,750 for two-bedroom apartments, he said.
The developer will reserve 83 of the apartments for tenants who have 60 percent to 80 percent of area median income, and 17 apartments for tenants with no more than 30 percent of area median income. For a three-person household, 60 percent of area median income is $47,000 a year and 30 percent Is $23,760 a year, Mele said.
One-bedroom apartments will span 752 square feet, and 904 square feet for two-bedroom units, he said. The eight-story building also will have 2,500 square feet of commercial space.
Palmier Investments LLC currently owns the five parcels that compose the 1.24-acre development site, now occupied by houses and a commercial building. Palmier paid a total of $2.1 million to assemble the site in a series of transactions in May and June of 2016 and December 2017, according to property records.
The development site at the northeast corner of Southwest First Street and Southwest Third Avenue in Dania Beach is zoned City Center, (CC) and its land-use designation is Regional Activity Center (RAC).
Among other variances, the commissioners approved a design with a building length of 361 feet and 8 inches, well beyond the 150-foot limit, which allows the developer to construct one building instead of two with the same number of units. Commissioners also gave the green light to variations from design standards for upper-story setbacks, landscaping, and frontage.
Similarly, 154 parking spaces were required by zoning, but city commissioners approved 144 for City Place Apartments, because the developer will lease 10 spaces in the city’s nearby parking garage for $5,400 a year.
The developer has secured financing for City Place Apartments from the Florida Housing Finance Corporation and has applied for financing from a Broward County program that encourages affordable residential developments, said City Manager Ana M. Garcia. “By turning our loan from $640,000 to $1 million, it better positions them for the Broward County loan,” she said.
The terms of such financing from the state or the county requires that 100 of the 110 units at City Place Apartments remain affordable to low-income tenants for 50 years, Mele said.