Resia has stepped away from its planned Palmetto Station apartment complex in Medley, handing the project to a new development team that plans to expand it significantly. The Real Deal has learned that Jose Gonzalez of GLC Real Estate, Ivan Herrera of Unicapital Asset Management Group, and Alex Lastra of Desarrollo are now overseeing the workforce housing development at the Palmetto Metrorail station.
Gonzalez stated that the group took over the project in the second quarter. The developers are leasing the site from Miami-Dade County for 90 years at 7701 Northwest 79th Avenue.
In a statement, Resia confirmed it is “no longer involved with this project” and it “transferred the development rights to another developer.”
Resia is a Miami-based multifamily developer and subsidiary of Brazil’s MRV. The company originally planned four 12-story buildings totaling 948 units, with 7,500 square feet of retail space and a garage for 1,596 vehicles. In partnership with MagicWaste Youth Foundation, Resia had received approval from Miami-Dade planning officials last year.
The new plan includes one eight-story building and two twelve-story buildings with a total of 1,152 apartments. The revised design also calls for 7,000 square feet of office and retail space and parking for 1,742 vehicles in both garages and surface lots. According to filings submitted earlier this month to Miami-Dade County, there are also plans for renovations at the adjacent Metrorail stop.
Gonzalez explained that changes were partly due to Resia’s intention to use prefabricated kitchens and bathrooms—an approach supported by its manufacturing facility in Fairburn, Georgia. Last month Resia completed its first modular unit project at Golden Glades in unincorporated Miami-Dade.
“We redesigned it into U-shaped buildings with a garage in the middle,” Gonzalez said, noting that Resia’s previous design featured linear buildings.
Construction on Palmetto Station is scheduled to begin next summer.
The developers do not plan to use Florida’s Live Local Act but will still reserve all units as workforce rentals for households earning up to 120 percent of area median income (AMI). Under county law, projects near major transit stations like Palmetto can build more densely without relying on state incentives. As reported by Florida Housing Finance Corporation, Miami-Dade’s annual AMI stands at $87,200.
The Medley area—traditionally industrial—is seeing increased residential activity as nearby Hialeah’s growth spills over.
GLC Real Estate, Unicapital Asset Management Group and Desarrollo also have future plans for affordable housing at another county-owned site: once they complete construction on a new animal shelter at Harriet Tubman Highway in south Miami-Dade—a joint effort with the county—the existing overflow shelter property at Northwest 74th Street will be transferred to them for redevelopment.
