South Florida Business Journal | Brian Bandell | August 20, 2021
An affordable apartment complex could be developed along U.S. 1 in Riviera Beach.
The city’s Planning & Zoning Board on Aug. 26 will consider plans for Berkeley Landing on the 4-acre site at 3100 and 3124 Broadway Ave. (U.S. 1). The vacant site, a former trailer park, was sold to the developers for $2.5 million in July by EC Commercial Properties and East Coast Property Investment Group, both based in Lake Worth Beach.
The land was purchased by Berkeley Landing Ltd., a joint venture between Miami-based Pinnacle and Altamonte Springs-based Wendover Housing Partners, both veteran affordable housing developers.
The application states that 40% of the land in the Riviera Beach Community Redevelopment Agency district is either “vacant or derelict” and the median household income in the city is $29,000, which is well below the countywide number. It says there’s a shortage of affordable housing in the city.
The CRA previously approved $640,000 towards Berkeley Landing. The Florida Housing Finance Corp. also awarded $2.38 million in annual low-income housing tax credits for this project.
Under the development plans, the project would total 131,799 square feet in two buildings of three stories each. It would have 110 affordable apartments, two live/work units, and 191 surface parking spaces. Amenities would include a pool, a playground, a community room, grilling stations, and a dog walk.
Ranging from 707 to 1,185 square feet, the apartments would be exclusively affordable housing, with residents earning no more than 80% of area median income. Some units would be reserved for residents making up to 30% of area median income. There would be 26 one-bedroom units, 61 two-bedroom units and 23 three-bedroom units.
The two live/work units would be market-rate rentals. They would total 1,414 and 1,964 square feet and face U.S. 1.
The approvals process continues work that started in October when the Riviera Beach City Council agreed to support Berkeley Landing by granting it a “Local Government Area of Opportunity” designation, the developers said in a statement.
“Berkeley Landing will provide best-in-class affordable and workforce housing in a prime area of redevelopment focus by the city and its Community Redevelopment Agency, and our companies are proud to be part of this effort,” they stated.
Boca Raton-based RLC Architects designed Berkeley Landing. The developer is working with West Palm Beach-based planning firm Urban Design Studio and Fort Lauderdale-based general contractor D. Stephenson Construction. As part of the deal with the city, the developers agreed to award 25% of the contracted work for the project to local minority, women-owned and small businesses.
The application says the construction budget for Berkeley Landing will be about $18 million and the project should be valued around $30.5 million upon completion.
