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.

Projects the size and scope of the Magic City Innovation District eventually could push out more than 3,000 households in Miami's Little Haiti. Collectively, these families would pay $68 million over 10 years in relocation-related expenses, a new study says.

Magic City Innovation District opponents released the report in a push against the proposal. They also held a protest Thursday, a week before the Miami City Commission is set to take its final vote.

City officials need to further research the proposal's social and environmental impacts, concluded the study by Earth Economics, a Tacoma, Washington-based nonprofit research organization.

The study was commissioned by opposition groups—Community Justice Project Inc., a nonprofit legal services organization outside Little Haiti and founded by attorney Meena Jagannath, and the Family Action Network Movement, a Haitian women's advocacy organization based in Little Haiti.

Earth Economics conceded that direct impacts from Magic City are uncertain, but it added that combined with other projects, gentrification definitely will follow in Little Haiti.

The economically struggling but culturally rich neighborhood already has caught the eye of real estate speculators and investors, stirring fears among the community of gentrification and erosion of the area's character.

A household gentrified out of Little Haiti could pay $5,200, which includes immediate costs for moving and loss of wages because residents had to miss work to look for new homes, the study said.

The report assumes residents would be moving to North Miami, North Miami Beach and Sweetwater, all areas farther from employment centers than Little Haiti, hence up to $2,500 annually in additional transportation and other costs. Little Haiti residents who already have left the neighborhood generally have relocated to these three cities.

Altogether, these costs amount to an additional 10% of a Little Haiti household's income, a hefty increase for a neighborhood where the median income is $24,800, the report says.

The Magic City development team called the study a detraction from a detailed plan they say would uplift the community.

“It's unfortunate that activists are trying to detract from a project that has been developed alongside residents and leaders of the Little Haiti community for over two years to ensure that the proposed … master plan embraces the rich culture of Little Haiti and helps all members of the community to grow and thrive together,” Neil Fairman, chairman of project partner Plaza Equity Partners, said in an emailed statement.

Plaza Equity Partners is working with Metro 1, both of which are real estate firms, and the Dragon Global venture capital company on the over 8 million-square-foot development across 17 buildings. The team also includes big-name project investor Guy Laliberte, the founder of Cirque du Soleil.

They say they already have invested in the community through the Magic City Innovation District Foundation, including supporting local youth sports teams and holding a summer camp and small business training for Little Haiti residents.

The project would be a boon for Little Haiti as it would infuse $188 million annually to area businesses from the foot traffic the district would prompt. On a larger scale, Miami would benefit as well, receiving more than $80 million in permit and impact fees and an additional $27 million in property tax revenue, Fairman said. A third of the tax revenue would be for local schools.

In community meetings and media interviews, the development team consistently has brought up one main point: In Miami, the affordable housing issue isn't because rents are rising but it's because incomes are remaining stagnant. The Magic City Innovation District would change this by not only creating over 11,680 jobs but also skills training mainly in the technology, creative and communication fields.

The project will rise on 18 acres on lots developers have assembled roughly 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

Back and Forth 

About 20 protesters gathered Thursday afternoon in front of the Toussaint Louverture Memorial Statue along North Miami Avenue in Little Haiti.

Part of their chant—”Tragic City, you must fail. Little Haiti is not for sale. From Palestine to Little Haiti, these settlements have got to go.”—was a play on words between “Magic City” and “Tragic City.”

The back-and-forth between the two sides has been ongoing, with tensions most recently boiling over at a recent community meeting.

A point of contention has been the developers scrapping an initial plan to build 184 affordable and 368 workforce housing units. Instead, they say they will put $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.

Opponents have said the amount is not enough to mitigate the impact of the project and that it won't address the disruption to the everyday lives of Little Haiti families.

Developers have said they will incorporate Little Haiti's cultural fabric, pointing to a project plan that shows different parts of the development named Les Ateliers, Les Bureaux and Les Residences.

That's a “mockery of all that the Haitian people and the residents of Little Haiti have fought to accomplish,” resident Jessica Saint-Fleur said at the protest.

Opponents have raised issue with the scale of the project, where some buildings could reach 24 stories in an area with one and two-story homes and warehouses.

The developers' attorney, Akerman partner Neisen Kasdin, has countered that the tallest buildings would be in the center of the project.

The Earth Economics study also cited potential environmental effects, such as the loss of trees and grass and the creation of an urban canyon effect. That occurs when an area is developed with high-rises that prevent the circulation of wind, creating a heat island effect, the study said.

Fairman countered that the project actually would create more than twice the amount of open, green space the city requires.

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Miami's Magic City Innovation District Heads to Vote With Community Dissent