Helm Equities’ Live Local Act development in the Miami Design District has received the green light from the city’s review board, although some members voiced concerns about the project’s design.
On Wednesday, the Miami Urban Development Review Board approved Helm’s proposal, but suggested a number of design modifications.
The board also gave its approval to Namdar Group’s 1,011-unit multifamily tower in Brickell, after a discussion that touched on the neighborhood’s escalating traffic issues.
Additionally, Crescent Heights secured approval for the second phase of its Forma apartment tower in Edgewater, a project that received mostly favorable feedback from the committee.
New York-based Helm, an affiliate of JEMB Realty, was the focal point of the meeting’s most in-depth discussion. The Cube 3-designed proposal calls for a 36-story tower containing 278 residential units, alongside an eight-story building with more than 101,000 square feet of office space and ground-floor retail, all on a nearly two-acre property at 220 Northeast 43rd Street.
Of the 278 units planned, approximately 116 will be offered as workforce rental apartments, while the remainder will be market-rate condominiums for sale. This composition aligns with Florida’s Live Local Act, which mandates that at least 40 percent of the units be set aside for households earning no more than 120 percent of the area median income. The remaining units may be either market-rate apartments or condos.
In return, developers of Live Local Act projects are permitted to build larger developments than the site’s current zoning would typically allow, or receive significant tax incentives.
Board member Gia Zapattini described the project’s design as complicated.
“There’s a lot happening here. The building features curves and arches. I see the effort to create something unique and visually striking for the Design District,” she told the architect during the meeting. “But it’s a very complex project.”
Zapattini added that combining workforce rentals and luxury condos in a single building further increases the development’s complexity. She urged Helm and Cube 3 to simplify the design, noting that the level of ornamentation shown in renderings would make the project costly and challenging to construct.
“This will be a very difficult building to deliver,” she said.
Other board members, however, were enthusiastic about the design. Ignacio Permuy commented that the tower “has a lot of elements that are very, very good,” while Francisco Perez-Azua called the project “a bit eclectic” and remarked on its many features.
“But I see the value and the interest in that. I believe it’s an attractive project,” Perez-Azua added.
The board ultimately voted to approve Helm’s project, with recommendations to introduce more variation to the façade and to make the renderings more accurately reflect the floor plans.
Namdar Realty, based in Great Neck, New York, plans to develop a 42-story tower under the Live Local Act at 250 and 296 Southwest Seventh Street. Designed by Behar Font & Partners, the tower will feature 405 apartments set aside for workforce housing, targeting households earning up to 120 percent of the area median income.
This project prompted some discussion about Brickell’s growing traffic congestion and the design of the tower’s parking garage.
Crescent Heights’ Arquitectonica-designed proposal in Edgewater was approved with little debate. Miami-based Crescent—led by Sonny Kahn, Russell Galbut, and Bruce Menin—plans to build a 42-story building with 360 multifamily units, as well as an adjacent six-story commercial structure with office and retail space at 200 Northeast 30th Street. This site is located just west of Crescent’s recently completed 40-story, 588-unit Forma apartment tower.
The new tower was conceived as a “sister project” to Forma, according to the developer’s attorney.
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