It’s the corner stretch for Prestige Companies’ plan to redevelop an unused portion of Hialeah Park race track into a 343-unit apartment complex and a charter school.
An affiliate of Miami Lakes-based Prestige paid $13.7 million for a 13.1-acre vacant lot on the 200-acre property that’s home to the historic Hialeah Park Racing & Casino, records show. The seller is an entity managed by Hialeah Park President John Brunetti Jr., a developer whose family has owned the famed ex-parimutuel site since 1977, according to records.
Last year, the Hialeah City Council approved a major mixed-use redevelopment of Hialeah Park that keeps the Mediterranean-style race track building intact. Completed in 1925, the structure is on the National Register of Historic Places. Live racing was discontinued in the early 2000s, but Hialeah Park does have state approval for slot machines, card games and pari-mutuel wagering on televised horse races.
Prestige and the Brunettis plan to develop a Mater Academy K-12 charter school and 343 apartments in three-story, low-rise buildings and some townhomes, according to city records. The development is the first-phase of a new special zoning district for Hialeah Park that allows hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, a supermarket, a bowling alley and an equestrian hospital.
Led by CEO Martin Caparros, Prestige is one of the most active builders in Hialeah. In May, the company formed a joint venture with Florida Value Partners to acquire a shuttered Salvation Army store at 7450 West Fourth Avenue. The partnership paid $15 million to a Prestige affiliate that bought the 4.9-acre property last year for $8.3 million, records show.
Prestige and Florida Value plan to build a three-story retail and apartment building, along with 100 two-story townhouses.
Prestige is also developing a trio of workforce housing rental communities in Hialeah. Last year, the firm obtained a $21 million construction loan to build three garden-style projects consisting of three-story buildings with a total of 186 apartments throughout the City of Progress.