Brightline complex cleared for 2,000 residential units in towers by Government Center

Brightline’s parent company plans 2,000 residential units in a pair of towers next to its downtown Miami train station, with the new residential complex rising next to another transit hub in Miami-Dade County’s Government Center.

The vacant property at the corner of Northwest First Avenue and Northwest Third Street forms the southern end of a five-block corridor that Brightline parent Florida East Coast Industries assembled for its for-profit train depot that opened in 2018, and for the cluster of residential and commercial buildings going up around the station.

Miami-Dade County commissioners on Thursday approved development of the two mixed-use towers, exercising their authority to control zoning within city limits if the land sits near the county-owned Metrorail line. The developer hasn’t said whether the units will be sold as condominiums, rented as apartments or a combination of the two.

FECI secured zoning approvals for the project, currently called the Miami Supertowers, but it already has a contract to sell the undeveloped land to another developer, according to county records. A development entity out of Great Neck, N.Y., has an agreement to purchase the property. The entity, J3T Ventures, is owned by Nader Damaghi and relatives. Damaghi is president of the development firm First Quality Enterprises.

The nine-acre property faces the Government Center Metrorail and Metromover stations to the west — they’re housed in the county’s Stephen P. Clark Center complex — and the future entrance to Brightline’s existing train station to the north, Miami Central.

While Brightline passengers currently enter the station at Sixth Street, another entrance off Third Street is ready to open once train service expands. That’s where the future Tri-Rail depot will be — once Brightline and the public-sector commuter rail figure out how to fix construction errors related to the platform. And that’s where Brightline trains will stop once longer locomotives come into service for the company’s planned expansion to the Orlando area.

Once the full station opens, the county also will activate a walkway between the Government Center Metromover platform and the Brightline station.

“You’re going to see a lot more connectivity,” said Jose Gonzalez, executive vice president for FECI.

This story was originally published January 22, 2022 at 6:00 AM.