Miami-Dade office could be converted into apartments

By Brian Bandell for South Florida Business Journal

An office tower in Downtown Dadeland could be converted into apartments as part of a previous plan to build multifamily on the site.

Dadeland Towers North Associates LLC and Dadeland Metro LLC, both affiliates of Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania-based Keystone Property Group, filed a pre-application with Miami-Dade County officials for the 8.3-acre site at 9200, 9300, 9400 and 9500 S. Dadeland Blvd. They are calling for an amendment to the master plan the county approved for the property in 2022 that allowed an apartment tower called Hyve Dadeland.

The property currently has three office buildings with a combined 405,462 square feet of space, plus a parking garage. They were built between 1972 and 1982.

The 2022 county approval for the site allowed a 25-story tower with 365 units to be constructed on the north side of the property. In the second phase, the county approved converting the 145,441-square-foot office at 9400 Dadeland Blvd. into 121 residential units.

In the new application, Keystone seeks approval for the third phase: the conversion of 113,120 square feet of office at 9500 Dadeland Blvd. into 90 residential units. The other office buildings on the site would remain.

It also mentions a fourth phase, a 219-unit apartment tower, but that would be part of a future application. It would replace the parking garage on the south side of the property.

Miami-based attorney Vanessa Madrid, who represents the developer in the application, couldn’t be reached for comment. In her letter to the county, she noted that the 25-story apartment tower hasn’t started construction, but the conversion of office to apartments at 9400 Dadeland Blvd. is underway. The footprint of the 8-story office buildings doesn’t need to change to convert them to residential, she added.

Kimley Horn is working with Keystone on Dadeland application. The site plan shows 898 parking spaces, including 118 surface spaces and the rest in garages.

The office-to-residential conversion trend has been fairly common across the nation since the Covid-19 pandemic caused many companies to reduce their office footprint in favor of remote or hybrid work. There haven’t been many conversions in South Florida. However, property owners often elect to demolish older office buildings and build multifamily towers with much greater density. For instance, in downtown Miami, the new zoning code allows for 80-story towers in many locations, so it may not make sense to convert a smaller office building into residential.

External Source: Keystone Property Group could convert office in Hyve Dadeland to apartments – South Florida Business Journal