Resia has transferred the development rights for the Palmetto Station apartment complex in Medley to a new group of developers, who plan to expand the project to 1,152 units. 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 leading the workforce housing project at the Palmetto Metrorail station.
The developers took over in the second quarter and are leasing the site from Miami-Dade County under a 90-year term 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 developer specializing in multifamily units across the country and operates as a subsidiary of Brazilian homebuilder MRV.
Jose Gonzalez founded GLC Real Estate after more than 27 years with Florida East Coast Industries. Ivan Herrera co-founded UniVista Insurance with his wife in 2009 and launched Unicapital earlier this year after partially selling UniVista for $700 million. Alex Lastra started Desarrollo in 2018 following his tenure at Atlantic Pacific Companies.
According to documents filed with Miami-Dade County earlier this month, plans for Palmetto Station now include one eight-story building and two twelve-story buildings. The revised proposal features 7,000 square feet of office and retail space along with 1,742 parking spaces. Renovations are also planned for the adjacent Palmetto Metrorail stop.
Previously, Resia’s partnership with MagicWaste Youth Foundation called for four twelve-story buildings totaling 948 units, plus more retail space and fewer parking spots. That plan had received approval from county planning officials last year.
Resia’s original approach was aligned with Florida’s Live Local Act; however, Gonzalez said that while the new team will not use Live Local incentives, all apartments will still be designated as workforce rentals targeted at households earning up to 120 percent of area median income (AMI). Current data from Florida Housing Finance Corporation shows Miami-Dade’s annual AMI stands at $87,200 (https://www.floridahousing.org/programs/area-median-income-limits).
Gonzalez noted that part of their redesign stemmed from Resia’s intent to use prefabricated kitchens and bathrooms—a method Resia recently implemented at its Golden Glades property in unincorporated Miami-Dade—while the new design uses U-shaped buildings around a central garage instead of linear layouts.
Construction on Palmetto Station is expected to begin next summer.
Residential projects have been increasing in Medley as development expands beyond Hialeah into areas traditionally dominated by industrial properties.
Looking ahead, GLC Real Estate, Unicapital, and Desarrollo also plan an affordable housing project on land currently occupied by Miami-Dade’s overflow animal shelter. They are partnering with the county to build a new animal shelter facility elsewhere; once completed, they will receive control over the existing Medley site for future development.
