<body><div>Years after winning city approval, a proposed 8.5 million-square-foot project in the heart of Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood is now moving forward, with the first portion of the development expected to break ground in 2027.Neil Fairman, chairman of Plaza Equity Partners and co-developer of the Magic City Innovation District, told the Biscayne Times that his team intends to break ground on the development’s first residential building in the second quarter of 2027. Slated to be built at 6001 NE Second Ave., the 25-story Sixty Uptown will include 349 upscale apartments, 13,200 square feet of ground-floor retail and 393 parking spaces.The development team has also started the permitting process for an apartment complex with two residential towers and 553 apartments after receiving the green light from the Urban Design Review Board on Oct. 21, Fairman added. Referred to as Parcel 13 and Parcel 15, the Arquitectonica-designed complex at 255-275 NE 60th St. will stand at 25 stories at its tallest point, according to a memo to the board signed by Plaza Equity Partners co-president George Helmstetter. The memo says the east tower will include 267 residential units, 10,215 square feet of retail and 343 parking spaces, and the west tower 286 units, 15,164 square feet of retail and 375 parking spaces.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0DwgXT_1GozccfP00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0DwgXT_1GozccfP00" width="980" height="575" ><figcaption>(Credit: Arquitectonica and Magic City Innovation District)</figcaption></figure>The Parcel 13 and Parcel 15 complex, which could break ground as early as 2028, would also be situated north of the Promenade du Grand Bois, a pedestrian walkway with public artwork, shaded oak trees, retail and cafes, according to Helmstetter’s memo and an online brochure for the Magic City Innovation District.The first buildings will rise in a neighborhood where activists feared Magic City would cause rents to skyrocket and where, according to one community leader, living and doing business have already become more expensive, even though no buildings have broken ground at the site.Back in 2019, the Miami City Commission approved plans drawn up by Miami-based Plaza Equity Partners and Bob Zangrillo’s Dragon Global to rezone 18 acres of land near NE 60th Street and Second Avenue for a massive, phased development that would include 2,630 residential units, 2.2 million square feet of office and retail, and 432 hotel rooms. The approval came despite fears from several activists that the project would spur overdevelopment in the surrounding area and cause rents in the substantial Haitian working-class neighborhood to skyrocket.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1kdlNk_1GozccfP00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1kdlNk_1GozccfP00" width="980" height="574" ><figcaption>(Credit: Arquitectonica and Magic City Innovation District)</figcaption></figure>To mitigate those fears, Magic City’s developers pledged to give $31 million to the Little Haiti Revitalization Trust for the preservation of affordable housing elsewhere in the neighborhood. Of that sum, $6 million would be paid up front while the rest would be doled out as building permits were issued.Significant development has yet to take place at Magic City, however. Fairman said the team was preoccupied with installing infrastructure for the future project.“There was also a lot of [residential] units coming into the market. There isn’t as many coming online now so it is a good time to [build],” Fairman said.Francois Alexandre, president of Concerned Leaders of Little Haiti/Ti Ayiti, said although no buildings broke ground at Magic City, the project still provided enough of a “spark” for smaller investors and developers to become more interested in the Little Haiti-Little River area. As a result, Little Haiti became a more expensive place to live. Back in 2013, Alexandre said a one-bedroom apartment could be rented for $750. In the past month (October 2026) one-bedrooms in the Little Haiti averaged $1,600 a month, according to Zumper.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1aYixA_1GozccfP00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1aYixA_1GozccfP00" width="980" height="737" ><figcaption>(Photo by Erik Bojnansky)</figcaption></figure>“I feel like Little Haiti has gotten a lot of attention that it wasn’t really ready for,” Alexandre said. He added that Opportunity Zone incentives, nearby development in Wynwood and reports from climate scientists that Little Haiti is situated on higher ground than places like Brickell also had a hand in spurring interest from developers.Now that the project is moving forward, Concerned Leaders of Little Haiti just want to make sure that developers fulfill the promises their “community benefits” package promise, Alexandre added.Indeed, Little Haiti activists have more to worry about than just the impacts of development.“Little Haiti is being attacked on all fronts. Development is one. We got this immigration policy with TPS [expiring]. We got an older population where their Social Security is not meeting today’s market prices as far as the cost of living,” Alexandre said.The Magic City Innovation District isn’t the only major project slated to be built in the area. Developers Michael Swerdlow and Alben Duffie plan to construct about 5,700 apartments on about 64 acres of land near 7101 NE Miami Court in Little River, with about 3,700 of those units sets aside for affordable and workforce housing. Although Magic City’s developers have pledged to pay $31 million to fix or build affordable housing in Little Haiti, new units would be built outside of the innovation district since all of Magic City’s apartments will be market rate.Meanwhile, the Podolsky family has been negotiating with the city since 2016 for the right to replace a 22-acre, 512-unit rental community called Design Place at 5175 NE Second Court with Sabal Palm Village, a 5.9 million-square-foot project with 2,929 apartments, 400 hotel rooms, about 500,000 square feet of office and commercial, more than 195,000 square feet of civic space and a 44,000-square-foot vocational school.Plans for additional buildings at the Magic City Innovation District are also being drawn up. Fairman said his team is looking for another developer to partner with to build the Dragon AI Center, a 20-story office complex that will be geared toward tenants working in computer science, artificial intelligence and health care.Fairman said his partners will soon be presenting plans to the city’s Historic and Environmental Preservation Board for the construction of a new commercial building after developers demolished the original 122-year-old historic building that once stood on the corner of NE Second Avenue and 61st Street. Empty for decades, the original circa 1902 building was demolished in January 2024 following a roof collapse that made the building unsafe, The Miami Herald reported.Also, at 5972 NE Fourth Ave., former Motorsport Network owner Mike Zoi, luxury car seller duPont Registry and Fortune International Group plan to build a 12-story, 699,600-square-foot office and exotic car store facility. The project will be built on nearly two acres of land that affiliates of Zoi acquired from Magic City’s partners for about $14.9 million, according to The Real Deal.</div></body>

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Years after winning city approval, a proposed 8.5 million-square-foot project in the heart of Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood is now moving forward, with the first portion of the development expected to break ground in 2027. Neil Fairman, chairman of Plaza Equity Partners and co-developer of the Magic City Innovation...

Little Haiti Mega Project Moves Forward

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Years after winning city approval, a proposed 8.5 million-square-foot project in the heart of Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood is now moving forward, with

Little Haiti Mega Project Moves Forward

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