A city of Miami zoning overhaul of a traditionally single-family neighborhood just north of Wynwood is largely aimed at enticing affordable housing development in the area.

The Miami City Commission last week unanimously approved the Wynwood Norte Neighborhood Revitalization District, a zoning overlay that proponents claim will protect the community’s unique character, improve the area’s housing stock and create economic opportunities for small businesses and local residents.

Yoni Bornstein, president of the Wynwood Community Enhancement Association, said the goal of the new district is to improve the quality of life in the neighborhood at a time that out-of-town developers are planning and building new mixed-use projects. The overlay covers 140 acres bounded by Northeast and Northwest 29th Street and 36th Street between North Miami Avenue and Northwest Seventh Avenue.

It’s the second revitalization district Miami officials approved for Wynwood.  The first one, approved in 2015, covers Wynwood from Northeast and Northwest 29th Street to 21st Street. It has allowed builders to redevelop industrial warehouses into office and apartment-oriented mixed-use projects.

“The NRD-2 is a much-needed intervention, respectful of the past with solutions for the future,” Bornstein said in a statement. “It’s about reinvesting in the schools, parks, safer streets, small businesses, and bringing back a healthy mix of housing affordable to working families.”

The Wynwood Norte district began taking shape in 2018, a year after Dallas-based Westdale Real Estate Investment Management submitted plans to build a 202-unit apartment complex with some office and commercial space on a 3.42-acre site on Northwest 29th Street between Northwest Second Avenue and Northwest Third Avenue.

When the Miami planning board voted in November 2017 to recommend a denial of the project, Westdale delayed its plans to work with residents, neighboring property owners and activists on the new overlay. At the time, city planners said Westdale’s proposed development would be inconsistent with Miami zoning code and that it would alter the character of the neighborhood due to the surrounding residential homes.

For more info: https://therealdeal.com/miami/2021/04/01/wynwood-norte-plan-aims-to-spur-new-affordable-housing-development/