A rendering of part of the planned, nearly 18-acre Magic City Innovation District in Little Haiti. It would rise between Northeast Second Avenue and the Florida East Coast Railway tracks and from the Little Haiti Soccer Park and the Little Haiti Cultural Center.

Miami's Magic City Innovation District mega project is headed for a final vote next month with mixed feelings in the Little Haiti community — including heightened concerns that it would gentrify the historically rich but economically struggling area. Developers envision a multi-block district where entrepreneurs and startups primarily in the creative, communications and technology fields would set up shop and open up educational and training opportunities. The community also would include galleries, a farmers market, training and research facilities, and maybe a film and digital production studio. The 18 acres — from Northeast Second Avenue east to the Florida East Coast Railway tracks, and from the Little Haiti Soccer park south to the Little Haiti Cultural Center — would have offices, shops, hotels, restaurants and apartment towers that at 24 stories would be the tallest buildings in the neighborhood. Akerman partner Neisen Kasdin, representing the developers, spoke at a community meeting Monday about the building scale rising toward the center in an area of small warehouses and a former mobile home park. The historic DuPuis Medical Office and Drugstore Building at 6041 NE Second Ave. would be preserved. The City Commission is expected to take a final vote June 27. The development trio of real estate firms Plaza Equity Partners and Metro 1 and the Dragon Global venture capital company wants to build over 8 million square feet across 17 buildings. This breaks down to 2,630 apartments with possibly some micro-units; over 2.2 million square feet of offices; 201,600 square feet of hotels; 520,970 square feet of other commercial space; 119,610 square feet of exposition space; garages with 6,081 parking spaces; and 165,528 square feet of civic space, according to a city ordinance tentatively approved by the commission. The project has proved contentious with opponents saying Little Haiti residents will be priced out of Magic City and eventually the rest of Little Haiti as the upscale project increases property values. Some opponents say Magic City is too big and doesn't fit Little Haiti's character. "You are about to build something that this community cannot afford," Trenise Bryant told the development team at a meeting Monday evening. She said the lowest wage would have to be $20 an hour for those Magic City employees to be able to live there. Supporters have countered that Magic City would revitalize Little Haiti by bringing in new patrons, and by creating jobs as well as training and educational opportunities. The developers have touted benefits like Haitian art exhibits, small business training and a summer camp. Developers told the attendees on Monday they haven't determined salaries. But project partner Neil Fairman said in an interview Thursday that the training Magic City would provide would allow residents to earn higher incomes. Low incomes, and not rising housing costs, is the true cause of the affordable housing crisis here, he says. "In our mind, us trying to bring 10,000 jobs and 1,000 startups to Little Haiti ... will be a phenomenal ability for the next generation to be able to find employment in Little Haiti and live there rather than constantly moving to Little Haiti when they are impoverished and moving out once they succeed," said Neil Fairman of Plaza Equity. Opponents have taken issue with changes in a benefits package midway through project negotiations — mainly scrapping a plan for 184 affordable and 368 workforce housing units. Instead, the developers would give $31 million to a city-created Little Haiti Revitalization Trust with a board directing the money to new affordable and workforce housing, education, business growth, parks and road improvements. |

'Death of Little Haiti'

Some residents who attended the meeting weren't sold. "You guys have been talking about $31 million and numbers and math when there's families on the line. There are mothers and fathers and children, uncles and aunties and cousins," resident Aja Monet said. "When you keep giving math as an answer to people's livelihood, we know you are not listening. You are not listening. ... You are telling us we should be happy with $31 million when we have no idea what's going to happen in the coming years in our lives." Another speaker asked the developers to disclose their projected profits, but the team declined to say. Others pushed for the development team to build affordable housing and incorporate residents' concerns in the project — the developers committed to neither, only saying they'll consider the input — as well as for an explanation of the new benefits package. Anthony Burns, a project partner with Plaza Equity, maintained the $31 million is a much better offer because the money will go to Little Haiti, while the original plan called for a cash contribution that could have been spent anywhere in Miami. "At the end of the day, this is a significantly larger contribution from us to the city," Burns said. "That will generate significantly more affordable housing than the previous plan." Suzie Stephen, a Little Haiti property owner, said she supports Magic City but said residents should push to get as much as they can out of it for the community. Resident Wendy Stephan disagreed, predicting "the death of Little Haiti" and noting the project already has divided the community and left it fighting over "scraps," a reference to the community benefits. The developers have applied for a special area plan, which would allow them to build more than under the current regulations in return for benefits like public parks. Community benefits include a commitment that 20% of the workforce would be sourced locally and 20% of the retail units would be reserved for local startups. The 3.8-acre Promenade du Grand Bois connecting Second and Fourth avenues would be open to the public. Related stories: Magic City Innovation District Developers Buy More Little Haiti Property