Resia has transferred development rights for the Palmetto Station apartment complex in Medley to a new group of real estate developers. The project, located at 7701 Northwest 79th Avenue and leased from Miami-Dade County under a 90-year term, will now be led by Jose Gonzalez of GLC Real Estate, Ivan Herrera of Unicapital Asset Management Group, and Alex Lastra of Desarrollo.
The transition took place in the second quarter, according to Gonzalez. In a statement, Resia confirmed it is “no longer involved with this project” and it “transferred the development rights to another developer.” Resia is based in Miami and is a subsidiary of MRV, a publicly traded homebuilder from Brazil.
The new team plans to expand the original scope of the project. Instead of four 12-story buildings with 948 units as initially envisioned by Resia and its partner MagicWaste Youth Foundation, the revised plan includes one eight-story building and two 12-story buildings totaling 1,152 units. The proposal also features 7,000 square feet of office and retail space along with 1,742 parking spaces in garage and surface lots. Renovations are also planned for the adjacent Palmetto Metrorail stop.
Gonzalez said that construction is expected to begin next summer. He explained that changes were made partly because Resia’s design relied on prefabricated kitchens and bathrooms; Resia has completed its first such modular project—the 42-unit Resia Golden Glades—in unincorporated Miami-Dade.
“We redesigned it into U-shaped buildings with a garage in the middle,” Gonzalez said. He noted that Resia’s original concept featured linear buildings.
Although Resia intended for Palmetto Station to qualify as a Live Local Act project—a designation supported by previous filings—the new developers will not use Live Local incentives but will still designate all units as workforce rentals for households earning up to 120 percent of area median income (AMI). According to Florida Housing Finance Corporation data, Miami-Dade’s annual AMI is $87,200.
Projects at major transit hubs like Palmetto Metrorail station are already allowed higher density under county rules.
GLC Real Estate, Unicapital, and Desarrollo also plan future development nearby. They expect to build an affordable housing project on land currently occupied by Miami-Dade’s overflow animal shelter at 7401 Northwest 74th Street. To facilitate this change, they are partnering with the county on constructing a new animal shelter at 29500 Harriet Tubman Highway in south Miami-Dade; once complete, the Medley site will be transferred to them for redevelopment.
Residential growth from neighboring Hialeah is beginning to extend into Medley, which has traditionally been dominated by industrial properties.
