Little Havana apartment residents forced to move after property purchase by City of Miami

MIAMI – Neighbors living in Little Havana said they were blindsided by a notice on their door giving them just two weeks to move out.

Sergio Castillo is among the eighteen people living at the property at 1510 Southwest 7th Street.

“I’m by myself, you know, alone,” Castillo said. “But there’s a lot of people that came from Central America, Nicaragua, alone, you know they got kids. They don’t have a place to go.”

The multi-family building is in the process of being sold to the city of Miami. The reason for the purchase has never been shared publicly despite the million dollar price tag. The resolution was sponsored by Commissioner Joe Carollo and approved by the city commission in December.

The pending sale raised eyebrows and concerns for homeless activist Jeff Weinberger who spoke at the commission’s January meeting about the resolution.

“Unfortunately passed without debate. I say unfortunately because there’s much reason to be concerned about this very fishy looking deal,” Weinberger addressed commissioners. “Why are you intending to buy this building at all?”

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Weinberger is founder of the Oct. 22 Alliance to End Homelessness. He told Local 10 News he was seeking clarity on why the city is spending public funds to buy the property and more importantly, what would become of those living there.

“Especially in this notorious marketplace,” he said. “We need to be doing everything possible to make sure people remain housed.”

Emails obtained by Local 10 from the city’s real estate department indicate they too were trying to learn what the city was planning for the property and where the money should come from.

One email to Commissioner Carollo’s Chief of Staff Jose Suarez asked, “…Please confirm the future land use of said property so that we may identify funding source.”

“If there was a good purpose for this, then why not just come out and tell the world what that reason?” Weinberger asked. “But the fact is, they’re not doing that.”

Sources have told Local 10 News the plan is likely to demolish and build new affordable housing and possibly parking.

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After several unsuccessful attempts to speak with Commissioner Carollo about plans for the property, Local 10′s Amy Viteri caught up with him in person to ask about the mystery city purchase.

Did the purchase have anything to do with Carollo’s long-standing public feud with the owners of the Ball & Chain bar, which happens to be located directly behind the property?

The bar owners have claimed Carollo has used city resources to wave war against them because they supported his opponent. It has become so nasty the restaurant is now suing the city.

When asked about the property, Carollo responded, “You guys have a tremendous bias…bias for certain people that you want to protect…We have given information about many of our properties.”

When asked again to provide any information about future plans for the property in question, Carollo replied, “We have given information about many of our properties,”

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Viteri asked Carollo if the plan is to build affordable housing.

“Well, you haven’t covered any of the affordable housing properties that we bought before,” he responded. “We stated that already.”

But Local 10 News has found no record of the city sharing any such plans. The property seller Ezequiel Steinman, who issued the termination notices to tenants and would be required to vacate tenants from the building prior to the sale being finalized, said he too was in the dark about what the city had planned.

Weinberger said rentals in the building are currently affordable for people who live there and efforts to remove them will leave them with few options.

“If they’re forced out of that building, they’re not going to find comparable rents, in Little Havana or anywhere in Miami,” he added.

Local 10 News learned the initial tenancy termination notices given to tenants were invalid under county law.

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The building owner has since issued new notices to tenants giving them until May 25 to vacate, in compliance with the new county ordinance which required a 60-day notice to residents.