Miami-Dade officials could forgo competitive bidding to have developer Michael Swerdlow build a workforce housing project near a site he’s buying from the county for a planned Costco store.
The unusual arrangement is part of a proposed county resolution to amend a pending sales contract for Swerdlow to pay Miami-Dade $8.1 million for 17 acres of county-owned vacant land off Southwest 190th Street, close to where U.S.1 connects to Florida’s Turnpike. The Miami-Dade County Commission’s housing committee is set to vote on the resolution on Tuesday.
Typically, the county would seek bids from multiple developers to build affordable or workforce housing projects on land owned by Miami-Dade. In this case, Swerdlow is offering to charge the county a 3 percent developer’s fee to build a 400-unit apartment project that would be marketed to employees of Miami-Dade Water & Sewer Department. The project would be developed on a portion of a 22-acre parking lot and storage facility at 11800 Southwest 208th Street.
Swerdlow’s offer is an “additional benefit to the community” since Miami-Dade “is in great need of affordable housing for its employees in order to retain and attract talented, dedicated public servants,” according to the resolution.
Through a spokesperson, Swerdlow declined to comment. Miami-Dade County commissioner Kionne McGhee, who is the resolution’s sponsor, and his staff did not respond to requests for comment. The Costco and workforce housing project sites are in McGhee’s district. A spokesperson for Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who is negotiating the sales contract with Coconut Grove-based Swerdlow Group, also did not respond for comment.
Swerdlow is among the most politically astute developers in South Florida. Last year, he hired Michael Liu, who served as head of Miami-Dade County’s public housing department for nine years until 2023. Liu is a Swerdlow Group’s executive vice president and strategy officer, according to his LinkedIn profile. Swerdlow has also utilized Christian Ulvert, political campaign manager for Levine Cava and other Miami-Dade elected officials, to sometimes handle public relations and consulting services. In a text message, Ulvert said he’s not involved in Swerdlow’s latest potential deal.
In 2023, affiliates of Swerdlow Group donated a combined $30,000 to a political action committee supporting McGhee’s reelection last year, campaign finance records show. McGhee reclaimed his seat without opposition. Swerdlow Group entities also gave $55,000 between 2023 and last year to a PAC supporting Levine Cava’s 2024 reelection bid.
McGhee’s resolution seeks county commission approval to extend the closing date from March of this year to April 2027 in order to give Costco enough time to conduct due diligence of the site. Swerdlow and Costco have agreed to the terms of the lease, the resolution states. The county would receive a $500,000 deposit, instead of a previously negotiated $300,000, to extend the closing date.
Last year, the county commission approved selling the Costco site to Swerdlow for $8.1 million even though two independent real estate appraisals valued the land at $31 million. The no-bid deal calls for Swerdlow to invest a minimum of $39 million to build a 151,000-square-foot store and surrounding infrastructure, including a sanitary sewer system and roadways for the project.
At the time, McGhee touted the deal’s potential to create at least 210 jobs with average annual salaries of $35,075. In an interview last year, Swerdlow said the project would generate a 10 percent return on investment over the life of the Costco lease.
Swerdlow is also seeking an agreement with Miami-Dade County to develop a $2.6 billion mixed-use project that would entail nearly 8,000 workforce and affordable housing units and 600,000 square feet of retail. The project would span 65 non-contiguous acres that include four existing public housing projects and land owned by Swerdlow Group and Nashville, Tennessee-based AJ Capital Partners.
The properties stretch across five city blocks between Northeast 71st and 75th streets, and from just west of I-95 to Northeast Second Avenue.