Miami Beach Breaks Ground on Workforce Housing Project

The City of Miami Beach has broken ground on an innovative workforce housing complex. The 80 residential units, located at 224 23 St., will be prioritized for income-eligible artists, educators, first responders, veterans and other Miami Beach employees with households that earn 120% or less of the area median income for Miami-Dade County.

This public-private partnership (P3) is partially funded through the city’s 2022-voter led Arts and Culture General Obligation Bond program and includes dormitory housing serving Miami City Ballet’s student dance education program. The project will also feature ground floor space for potential public, cultural or performing arts activations through not-for-profit partners.

“This project represents years of exploration, discussions and planning involving the City of Miami Beach, residents and our cultural anchor, the Miami City Ballet,” explained Miami Beach City Commissioner David Richardson. “This project not only provides much-needed workforce housing inventory at a time when housing costs have soared, it also complements Miami Beach’s creative spirit and cultural character by supporting our cultural partners and programming.”

In 2016, the Miami Beach City Commission initiated pursuit of a workforce and artist housing facility on city-owned property in the Collins Park Cultural District, home to the Miami City Ballet, the Bass Museum, Collins Park and the future Collins Park Cultural Center at the new Collins Park Garage. Developed in collaboration with housing developer Servitas and Moss Construction, the project’s innovative bond financing structure permits housing to be constructed and operated at minimal cost to the city, and enables excess rental revenues to support cultural programming at the complex.

Founded in 1985 by philanthropist Toby Lerner Ansin and ballet luminary Edward Villela, the Miami City Ballet is headquartered steps away from the proposed workforce housing site. The Miami City Ballet School provides training as well as quality dance education for the next generation of professional ballet dancers as one of the largest dance domestic training programs, with national and international auditions that attract more than 1,300 students each season. The annual season includes performances in Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Broward and Collier counties while entertaining more than 132,000 people throughout South Florida and beyond each year.

“This project is a result of the original, pioneering and collaborative thinking by Miami Beach leadership to develop a true cultural campus,” shared Miami City Ballet Chair Jeff Davis. “The result will allow our students to focus on honing their craft instead of on where to live and how to get to rehearsals. We are confident that this project will help us attract and foster the next generation of artists, who will continue to produce elevated performances that Miami Beach and the world will be proud to support.”

Angel Rivera, Servitas executive vice president shared that Servitas is proud to be a catalyst for affordable workforce housing and a contributor to the growth of the creative and essential worker community of Miami Beach. “We understand that what we build impacts the quality of life of a community and we work to create spaces that deliver meaningful value,” Rivera said.

Photo: Moss Construction

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