Building starts on large housing development in historic Overtown near multiple transit lines
Construction started Monday on a critical housing development to help rejuvenate Overtown that will cater largely to local workers. Also, the project by design sits close to public transit to encourage future tenants to rely on Metrorail, Metromover and Brightline trains rather than cars to get around the city.
Miami-Dade County and Atlantic Pacific Companies are teaming on Atlantic Station, the largest project so far in the county in a designated transit zone. Expected to open for tenants in mid-2025, Atlantic Station will have 616 apartments, 360 of them at discounted rents for local workers. In addition, there will be a dog park, two pools, a fitness center and 25,000 square feet of retail stores and restaurants at street level.
Originally established for Black immigrants who worked on Henry Flagler’s new railroad in South Florida, Overtown is one of Miami’s key historic neighborhoods. Advocates, developers and city and county leaders are in the midst of reviving the community that once was an epicenter for commerce and entertainment. However, the gentrification and past government planning mistakes have displaced many area residents through the decades.
County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, Miami-Dade Commissioner Keon Hardemon and Christine King, Miami commission chairwoman who also leads the Overtown Community Redevelopment Agency, participated in Monday’s ceremonial groundbreaking, underscoring the significance of the project. King, who grew up nearby in the Allapattah neighborhood, has prior experience working with Atlantic Pacific’s president of development Ken Naylor on a 120-unit affordable apartment community on Martin Luther King Boulevard in the city.
Naylor has “personally committed to me that with the retail space he will bring businesses from Overtown into this space,” King said. “That’s important to me, because we have to maintain our community of Overtown and it has to be a part of these developments that are coming.”
When Atlantic Pacific began planning Atlantic Station, Naylor said the county’s affordable housing crunch contributed to the development firm ultimately deciding to make 60% of the building apartments where area workers could afford to live.
“One of the things in our proposal was building it all in one phase and having one lobby, one shared amenity deck for the workforce housing and market rate housing,” he said.
Naylor hopes Atlantic Station is the first of many Overtown real estate developments for his firm. Already, Atlantic Pacific is redeveloping the Culmer Place public housing across from Atlantic Station.
Eulois Cleckley, county public works director and CEO of Miami-Dade’s Department of Transportation, reiterated that the Atlantic Station project is one step in helping right past wrongs in Overtown. Cleckley cited as an example many Overtown residents were displaced when Interstate 95 was expanded and cut through the Black neighborhood in the 1950s and 1960s.
“This is an important neighborhood and more specifically an important neighborhood to the history of Miami,” he said. “As we make improvements, we want to preserve the culture of the neighborhood.”
This story was originally published January 9, 2023 at 5:27 PM.
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