Brandon Shpirt Plans Rentals on Land Partly Outside UDB
Developer Brandon Shpirt wants to build a 773-unit apartment project on a south Miami-Dade County site that is partly outside the Urban Development Boundary.
Shpirt, who leads Miami-based BSB Global Enterprises, proposes the six-story complex on 13.8 acres at 14505 Southwest 260th Street near the Naranja neighborhood, according to an application filed to Miami-Dade on Wednesday. The project, called Infinity Gardens Apartments, would include between 7,500 square feet and 10,000 square feet of retail.
An affiliate of Shpirt bought the land for $9.4 million in October, property records show.
The 8.5-acre western portion of the development site is outside the Urban Development Boundary and zoned “agricultural,” filings show. Shpirt is asking Miami-Dade to rezone this section of the land to “Urban Development Boundary Planned Area Development” to bring it within the UDB.
Miami-Dade’s UDB is a greenbelt created to curtail suburban sprawl west toward Everglades National Park and east toward Biscayne National Park. While much of the land outside the UDB is farmland, some of it is wetlands or open space that could eventually be used for Everglades restoration projects.
As demand for housing in Miami-Dade has grown in recent years, developers have increasingly filed requests to expand the UDB to allow for construction on their land.
In his application, Shpirt cites a 2021 county report that determined that Miami-Dade’s supply of single-family homes will soon be depleted, necessitating the need for more rentals.
Generally, developers face an uphill battle to move the UDB. A supermajority of commissioners have to approve a boundary expansion, although requests to include small acreage within the UDB could be more easily approved.
Last year, county commissioners approved a controversial proposal by Aligned Real Estate Holdings and Coral Rock Development to build a 5.9 million-square-foot industrial project on 378 acres outside the UDB. The South Dade Logistics and Technology District is planned for the southeast corner of the Florida Turnpike and Southwest 122nd Avenue.
After the vote, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity threw a wrench in the plans when it opined that Miami-Dade approved the project after a deadline. In May, Aligned Real Estate and Coral Rock sued the state over the opinion, arguing the county met its deadline.
Developers Legacy Residential Group, CD Group and Fenix Contractors also want to build outside the UDB. In April, they proposed a 630-unit multifamily project on 20 acres at the southeast corner of Southwest 252nd Street and Southwest 145th Avenue in the Princeton neighborhood.
Shpirt is new to developing in South Florida. Previously, he was a real estate investor and still owns a portfolio of about 200 multifamily units mostly in south Miami-Dade, Shpirt told The Real Deal.
State corporate records show he incorporated his BSB in 2018. His other development plans include an 108-unit, three-story garden-style multifamily complex in south Miami-Dade’s Goulds area.
