March 30, 2016
Often compared to Soho in New York, Miami’s exciting Midtown neighborhood continues to attract young urban professionals and international visitors seeking a sophisticated, upscale living destination offering more than just big box retail shopping. Situated at the northern edge of Greater Downtown Miami on a former Florida East Coast Railway storage yard and anchored by modern high-rise condos, rental towers and retail, Midtown’s central location offers easy access to artsy Wynwood to the southwest and the Miami Design District to the north. The entire area was conceived for those who like to walk, with the Design District as its shopping focal point just a few blocks to the north.
Coming soon are several new construction projects including Hyde/Midtown 3, Midtown 5 and Liner Retail, a project planned along Midtown Boulevard designed by Zyscovich Architects, the original planners of Midtown. A transition from condo construction to rental tower construction has been underway for some time. With its 400 apartment units, the 24-story Midtown 5 offers renters modern design components and amenities, within walking distance to shopping and the neighborhood’s popular dog parks. The latest construction projects in Midtown join already completed high-rise, low-rise retail Midtown 2, Midtown 4, Midblock and Northblock, a Live/Work building.
With so many rental units proposed, planned and under construction in Midtown, shadow rental inventory could help keep prices affordable as is forecast for the Downtown Miami Market, where 28 buildings with 13,645 units are planned. 4,145 are already under construction. Not all will be built in Midtown, where pricey land swaps abound and proposals sometimes stall. Midtown 3 morphed into Hyde/Midtown 3, and plans for Midtown 6 were scuttled. The site for Midtown 29, a proposed 300-unit mixed-use apartment tower was sold in a land swap with a Texas developer. Still, Midtown’s walkable lifestyle continues to support adjacent development, and vice versa. Institutional investment continues to flow in the Design District development that stretches from 38th Street to 42nd Street on the east side of North Miami Avenue, and at least three rental towers have been announced within a ten minute walk of the neighborhood.
District 36, a 19-story apartment building in Midtown just topped off in February. And last year, plans were submitted to the City of Miami for a massive residential, retail and restaurant complex just east of the old railroad yard. In many ways, development in Midtown is following on the heels of bustling activity in the Design District and Wynwood. Midtown is particularly attractive to New Yorkers who want to be near hip Wynwood and the Design District’s affluent aesthetic. The art and fashion industries are the main economic engines of Wynwood. The neighborhood’s ‘Second Saturday’ art walk has become a local happening and its pop-up parties, art galleries, museums, and trendy bars and restaurants are also a popular destination each year for thousands of Art Basel visitors.
Additionally, the City of Miami recently approved rezoning for Wynwood that would allow the construction of taller projects, including a planned 12-story mixed-use office, retail and residential tower. Taking advantage of this would be New York developer Moishe Mana with plan to build a massive complex in the Wynwood area.
Please contact Diego Valencia at (954) 296-9819 for more information about Midtown Miami’s changing landscape.