In his final act before leaving office last year, longtime Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo quietly put together a complex, multimillion-dollar deal to provide public land in East Little Havana to three developers to build 500 affordable apartments in one of the city’s most housing-challenged districts. The unusual no-bid deal, which Carollo conceived of and oversaw, was not a secret.

Developers and community leaders at a Miami real estate conference said affordable housing and transit are critical to preventing displacement in Little Haiti and Little River as development accelerates. At the digital media company Bisnow’s conference, “The Future of Little River & Little Haiti,” Thursday morning, panelists repeatedly returned to the same concern: how to grow the neighborhoods without pricing out the people who have long called them home.

Miami-Dade is undergoing a major transformation in public housing, with more than 10,000 new affordable and workforce units planned under the federal Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program. The initiative is triggering a wave of private investment aimed at replacing aging housing stock with higher-density, modern developments.

The RAD model allows developers to partner with the public sector, gaining long-term ground leases on publicly owned land along with access to subsidized financing. In return, the county benefits from upgraded housing, increased density, and new revenue streams tied to redevelopment. For many projects, this approach represents one of the few viable paths to delivering large-scale affordable housing in today’s high-cost construction environment.

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — Miami-Dade County’s Perrine area moved a step closer to having hundreds of new jobs related to a new Costco. Developer Michael Swerdlow broke ground on Monday at Southwest 190th Street and 108th Avenue to build a site to lease to Costco. Miami-based real estate development group SG Holdings expects that the construction will be completed in 2028. Swerdlow committed to hiring locals. The county purchased the 17.3 acres for about $2 million to fill the water and sewer department’s needs. While the site’s appraisal was $31 million, Swerdlow acquired it for $7.177 million through SG Cutler Bay LLC as part of a no-bid county arrangement. Miami-Dade County Commissioner Kionne McGhee, also the commission’s vice chairman, said the site had been vacant for over 20 years.

“South Florida by the numbers” catalogs the most notable, quirky and surprising real estate statistics. 

Alongside Miami’s record-breaking luxury and penthouse sales, of real estate story is reshaping the city, measured not in price per square foot, but in thousands of units at a time. A wave of workforce and affordable housing development is gaining serious momentum, driven by public-private partnerships, state incentives and relentless demand from a growing population priced out of market-rate housing.

Block 55 at Sawyer’s Walk, developed by Swerdlow Group in Miami, Florida, has been recognized in the 2025 NAHB Best in American Living Awards (BALA) under Category 26 – Best Mixed-Use Community, Multifamily. The project is highlighted on page 29 of the official BALA digital awards publication.

Sawyer’s Walk, developed by Swerdlow Group, has been recognized in the 2025 NAHB Best in American Living Awards in Category 19 – Best Affordable Multifamily, Mid-Rise/High-Rise (6 stories or more). The project is highlighted on page 22 of the official BALA digital awards publication.

A collection of two-story buildings with orange stucco walls sits on a quiet lot along Miami’s busy Northeast Second Avenue. A few blocks west, single-story white homes with air-conditioning units wedged in windows and clotheslines in courtyards cluster underneath Interstate 95. These are some of Miami’s public housing complexes, built from the 1940s to the 1970s along a mile stretch in the Little River neighborhood, and now primed for their next era. Over the next eight years, Swerdlow Group plans over 20 new buildings, ranging from 15 to 27 stories, with 5,730 units: 314 replacing all existing public housing units and reserved for current tenants at low rents, and the balance affordable and workforce housing.

Sawyer’s Walk, a transformative 3.44-acre development in the heart of Overtown, Miami, revitalized land once vacant at 249 NW Sixth Street. This mixed-use project encompasses 578 affordable units (Residences at Sawyers Walk). Half are reserved for seniors earning below 50% of the area’s median income, which offers relief for families amid the nation’s housing crisis. It also brings 250,000 square feet of commercial and entertainment space, anchored by major retailers such as Target, Aldi, and Ross. With a 925-space garage and MSC Group headquarters on-site, it’s a catalyst for economic growth. The Southeast Overtown Park West Community Redevelopment Agency’s strategic land investment, valued at $18 million, fuels further neighborhood reinvestment and long-term community transformation.

In recent years, officials across South Florida have leaned more on public-private partnerships (P3) to finance, develop and operate major works. These long-term agreements between governments and private sector institutions range from state-of-the-art sports complexes to major affordable housing projects. “A P3 as a funding mechanism makes sense for a municipality because there’s projects out there that cost millions and millions of dollars…and those dollars aren’t necessarily readily available for the city to spend,” Joann Hussey, Hollywood’s director of communications, marketing and economic development, told the Business Journal.

Swerdlow Group is seeking a deal with the city of Miami to build affordable housing on two city-owned properties in Little Havana. The City Commission will consider a resolution on Nov. 20 asking the city manager to negotiate a 99-year land lease with SG Little Havana LLC, an affiliate of Miami-based Swerdlow Group, for two properties. The resolution would require approval from four of the five city commissioners because these two properties are not headed to public bidding. According to a city staff memo, the developer, led by Michael Swerdlow, intends to build about 300 apartments for people ages 55 and up making up to 60% of arena median income.

Swerdlow Group and its partners are seeking a redevelopment deal with Miami-Dade County for four public housing locations, including new for-sale workforce housing at these properties. The Miami-Dade Housing Committee, will consider the resolution on Nov. 12 to declare those four properties in south Miami-Dade surplus and negotiate a lease and development agreement with SG South Miami-Dade Ventures LLC, led by Michael Swerdlow, Stephen Garchik, and Alben Duffie. If approved by the committee, it would head to the full County Commission on Dec. 2.

South Florida could see dozens of large developments spring up around Tri-Rail stations between West Palm Beach and Miami as the region embraces a new urban planning concept called the 15-minute city.

Sawyer’s Walk at Block 55 is a nationally significant model for mixed-use, affordable housing development that has addressed Miami’s housing affordability crisis. Its residences comprise the largest affordable senior housing community built on a single site in the U.S. in the past decade, delivering 578 high-quality residences for low-income seniors that is fully leased in Overtown, a historically black community.