MIAMI — Swerdlow Group has broken ground on Sawyer’s Walk, a 1.4 million-square-foot mixed-use development in Miami’s Overtown neighborhood that will include 250,000 square feet of retail space below 578 apartments designated for low-income seniors. Swerdlow Group is collaborating with the Southeast Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) on the $300 million project.
Swerdlow Group and its partners, Delray Beach, Fla.-based SJM Partners and Miami-based Alben Duffie, acquired the 3.4-acre property at 249 NW 6th St. from the Community Redevelopment Agency for $10 million. Construction is scheduled for completion in 2023.
Sawyer’s Walk will include a 50,000-square-foot Target and a 25,000-square-foot Aldi supermarket, as well as new locations for Ross Dress for Less, Five Below and Burlington. The development will provide approximately 1,000 parking spaces. Sawyer’s Walk will also feature 25,000 square feet of public space that includes outdoor seating for the project’s restaurants, a children’s playground, pedestrian promenade and dog park.
The residential portion of Sawyer’s Walk will include studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments reserved for seniors earning at or below 60 percent of the area median income. Community amenities will include a rooftop pool deck, a clubhouse and entertainment lounge, meeting rooms and a complimentary health club membership for all residents.
“In working with the CRA and listening to nearby residents, it became clear that seniors housing, affordable shopping options and quality jobs are among the most pressing needs in Overtown,” says Michael Swerdlow, CEO of Swerdlow Group, a private real estate firm based in Miami. “Sawyer’s Walk will check all of these boxes, while also creating a new destination for retail and dining that will activate city streets and attract people from throughout downtown Miami and surrounding neighborhoods.”
Sawyer’s Walk will be located alongside Interstate 95 and adjacent to downtown Miami’s Brickell district. The development is also close to Brightline’s Miami Central station, the 27-acre Miami Worldcenter development underway, Lyric Theatre and Miami-Dade College’s Wolfson campus.
— Julia Sanders