Developer Neighborlee Living, led by Kurt Jetta, has received approval from Palm Beach County to build a four-story apartment building with 38 affordable units, including micro-units as small as 240 square feet. The project, called Neighborlee Living Westgate, will be located at 2818 Westgate Avenue in unincorporated Palm Beach County near West Palm Beach. The site is part of an area managed by the Westgate Community Redevelopment Agency.
Jetta said the development is aimed at recent college graduates. Micro-units are becoming more common in new apartment projects across the country as cities seek solutions to housing affordability. For example, a Miami project proposed earlier this year will include micro-units, and in Seattle, more than half of planned apartments are micro-units.
Neighborlee Living Westgate will feature 26 micro-units at 240 square feet each, 10 studios at 360 square feet each, and two one-bedroom units at 538 square feet each. Most units are reserved for renters earning between 60 percent and 80 percent of the county’s area median income (AMI), which is $104,000 as of 2024.
According to Neighborlee’s website, rents will be $1,200 per month for micro-units, $1,600 for studios, and $2,000 for one-bedrooms. Studios and one-bedroom apartments will also offer a $250 monthly voucher for childcare costs.
While there are many residential developments underway in West Palm Beach, most target higher-income renters. For instance, Related Ross’ Laurel tower opened last year with one-bedroom rents starting at $3,500.
“I’ve always been wired to pay attention to the people making $50,000 and below,” Jetta said. “I just felt like they were underserved and misunderstood.”
Jetta noted that revenue per square foot is higher in micro-units compared to traditional apartments but acknowledged that developing affordable housing remains financially challenging. “We were taken aback by the costs [of construction],” he said.
This marks Jetta’s first development in Palm Beach County. He described learning about how regulatory processes can slow down housing production: “We never ran into some cumbersome regulation,” he said. “Everybody’s well-meaning, everybody’s doing their job, but still you don’t get the affordable housing output people want to see.”
