Terra Group has finalized plans to build more than 1,369 apartments close to the planned American Dream Mall near the intersection of Interstate 75 and Florida's Turnpike.

The project will be on a 70-acre development site Terra purchased for $52 million on Northwest 170th Street in northwest Miami-Dade County.

Terra acquired the site from industrial giant Prologis in a deal that closed Dec. 9. The site purchase was made possible with a $43 million loan from Synovus. The site is fully entitled for residential development, and a permit for initial site work has been issued. Construction is expected to begin early in the new year.

Terra Group president David Martin said the development will include garden-style apartment buildings in three master-planned subdivisions. Each subdivision will be centered around a community clubhouse with pools, resident amenities and fitness centers, while a network of greenspaces will create outdoor recreation areas.

"This project is in line with Terra's ongoing efforts to shift large scale residential density from areas that are vulnerable to climate change to higher-lying ground," Martin said. "The firm is doing this though urban infill and new development on vacant land away from the coast. The project will address the market's pent-up demand for attainable housing and bring residents close to major employers."

Martin said one-bedroom rents at the unnamed apartments will be between $1,400 and $1,500. Two bedrooms will go for $1,800 to $2,200, and three bedrooms will run between $2,400 and $2,500.

Adding nearly 1,400 new units near Miami-Dade-Broward county line will help fulfill demand  for rental housing in South Florida, he said.

Approximately 1.2 million Miami-Dade residents live in 500,000 apartments, according to data from the National Multifamily Housing Council and the National Apartment Association. Meeting rising market demand would require the development of an additional 13,000 units annually.

"Solving South Florida's market-rate housing crunch means identifying opportunities for urban infill development as well as land in suburban areas that can be rezoned to accommodate new inventory," Martin said. "In this case, we are going to convert a vacant site initially earmarked for industrial development into a residential community that will create much-needed apartment housing minutes away from some of South Florida's largest employers. And we're doing it in a sustainable, resilient way by building within the Urban Development Boundary and on high-lying ground."

Terra has enlisted Pascual, Perez, Kiliddjian Architecture to create the development's master plan and design its buildings. JLL's Brian Smith represented Prologis on the sale.

John McCurry reports for GlobeSt.com.