Miami Beach bought an affordable housing building years ago. Now future is uncertain
When the city of Miami Beach purchased the Barclay Plaza Apartments in 2015, City Hall promised to keep it affordable housing through 2030 and not to sell it.
But the long-vacant 66-unit housing complex at 1940 Park Ave. — which was condemned as an unsafe structure in 2014 — is going back on the market. Following a vote from the City Commission earlier this month, the city will consider a sale or public-private partnership to redevelop the 26,250-square-foot lot across from the Miami Beach Convention Center.
Commissioner Ricky Arriola, who proposed marketing the property for sale or redevelopment, said he wants the commission to consider any proposals, whether it be for new housing, office space or mixed-use development. He said he wouldn’t be surprised if a “tech bro” puts in an offer to build a multimillion-dollar private home.
“The market is hot,” he said at the April 6 commission meeting. “Let’s just go out to the market with a very broad canvas and let’s see what’s out there.”
The City Commission voted unanimously at the meeting to issue a request for proposals for the development or purchase of the Barclay if proceeds from a sale are applied toward low-income or workforce housing initiatives.
Low-income housing is generally reserved for those making 80% or less of the average median income, or at most about $78,000 for a family of four, according to Miami-Dade County.
Workforce housing is generally seen as housing for a community’s “critical” employees, such as firefighters or teachers. The city of Miami Beach defines workforce housing as rentals for those earning up to 140% of the average median income. That was about $126,560 for a family of four in 2021, according to the Florida Housing Finance Corporation.
The city administration plans to issue the request for proposals for the Barclay in June, according to city spokeswoman Melissa Berthier.
The building, which was built in 1935 and is designated as historic, has been vacant since 2014 for failing to complete its 40-year recertification and was later damaged by arson in 2015, according to the city. In the years after, the city issued requests for proposals to develop workforce housing on the site but did not receive any responses, Berthier said.
It was appraised at about $8.3 million in 2021 and the city estimates it would cost about $16 million for repairs. Arriola said it’s probably not feasible for the city to pay the money to repair the building.
“I think what we’re gonna do is pursue all the options and then come up with what we think is in the best interest of the city,” he told the Miami Herald.
The prospect of selling the Barclay has led to criticism from Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, who said the property was supposed to remain affordable housing. The city’s Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, which Rosen Gonzalez chairs, voted April 19 to keep the Barclay publicly owned and make it affordable or workforce housing.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava declared a housing affordability crisis this month. The city of Miami Beach owns and manages 89 affordable housing units, Berthier said.
“Let’s add 66 affordable housing units here and not sell it,” Rosen Gonzalez said at the April 6 meeting.
The nonprofit Miami Beach Community Development Corporation first purchased the Barclay in 2007 using nearly $6 million in public funds from the Miami Beach Redevelopment Agency. Both parties signed a restrictive covenant requiring the property to remain affordable housing for 30 years.
After the Barclay was declared unsafe, the city purchased it along with other affordable housing properties in 2015. The city in 2016 entered into an additional restrictive covenant that required it to be used as affordable housing through 2030. The covenant also says the property can’t be sold.
Berthier said the city can break the covenant with a majority vote from the City Commission and the Redevelopment Agency, which is made up of the city commissioners and County Commissioner Eileen Higgins.
Rosen Gonzalez has said she is not opposed to a public-private partnership to keep housing on the property and has also proposed ceding the land to Miami-Dade County. But she expressed concerns about the city making a profit from an affordable housing building.
“There’s something a little bit twisted in us taking something that belongs to our community, affordable housing, and profiting from it, there’s something that’s not OK with that,” she said at the recent meeting.
Arriola said the city should honor the spirit of the covenant, which was to promote affordable housing in the city.
“An outright sale could be an option if somebody made a compelling offer,” he told the Herald. “And then we can use that money in workforce housing somewhere else.”
This story was originally published April 25, 2022 at 4:52 PM.
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