A major store, grocery, cruise line and housing are coming to Overtown. See the plans

A five-year effort to revitalize central Overtown, Miami’s first Black neighborhood but more recently a bystander to the city’s rapid rise, is nearing completion, bringing nearly 1,000 new jobs and several major businesses.

A Target, Ross Dress for Less and Aldi are among stores coming to the Sawyer’s Walk mixed-use real estate development at 249 NW Sixth St., in the historic area.

Sawyer’s Walk, 1.5 million square feet, will also include 578 affordable apartments for seniors , allowing those who had been displaced in recent years to return or those who cannot afford to stay in the neighborhood to remain.

Commercial part of property is fully leased

SG Holdings has fully booked the property for commercial tenants, Michael Swerdlow, managing partner of Swerdlow Group, said in an interview with the Miami Herald.

“We are 100% committed,” he said of the building’s commercial space.

SG Holdings is a partnership between Swerdlow Group, SJM Partners, and Alben Duffie, and is building the 3.4-acre development. Construction started in June 2021. Swerdlow, who developed Dolphin Mall in West Miami-Dade, said the company expects to receive a certificate of temporary occupancy for the bottom half of the complex —retail and business — by April 1.

A cruise company will move into the complex

The property also has 130,000 square feet of office space, which SG Holdings has leased to the MSC Group for MSC Cruises’ new North American headquarters. The world’s third largest cruise line is building a $350 million new terminal at PortMiami.

MSC Cargo will also move some staff to Overtown, and MSC will invest about $100 million in its new office.

The $300 million Overtown development, which has faced lawsuits and countersuits but now seems in the clear, stems from the Swerdlow Group winning a bid in 2018 to acquire and develop the city-owned space, referred to as Block 55, from the Southeast Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency. It occupies a full city block between Northwest Second Avenue and Interstate 95 at Sixth Street and had been empty for years. Swerlow initially had to reserve 154 of the apartments to low-income seniors before he expanded the plans.

Overtown was once the center of Miami’s vibrant Black entertainment district. The Lyric Theater, near Sawyer’s Walk, drew performances by Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and Nat King Cole. Jackie Robinson attended concerts.

READ MORE: This Miami theater was almost torn down, but now it’s celebrating 110 years in Overtown

But over the years, many residents left the area. The construction of I-95 and I-395 in the 1960s isolated central Overtown and displaced thousands of people.

And it became a retail desert.

Other nearby neighborhoods have seen a real estate renaissance, including the former manufacturing area of Wynwood, which is now the heart of the city’s arts district. A financier heading from his or her office in Brickell to a tech happy hour at a Wynwood bar passes through Overtown, but rarely stops there. That could change with the new complex.

New jobs coming to Overtown

The retailers moving into Sawyer’s Walk will generate about 600 jobs. Swerdlow said that all retail shops are scheduled to open on Oct. 13, a date driven by Target, which is taking up 50,000 square feet.

Aldi, the German grocer growing fast in Florida and across the United States, will occupy 25,000 square feet.

The Arquitectonica-designed complex will also include Burlington, Tropical Smoothie Café, Five Below and a bakery.

Swerdlow and his partners expect that MSC will finish construction in the first quarter of 2025.

The cruise company will have about 550 employees, with 250 moving to the new headquarters and another 300 to be hired locally, he said.

MSC’s entry into Sawyer’s Walk was unexpected, and the last tenant to finalize a lease, said the developers.

Swerdlow said that real estate broker Cushman and Wakefield asked the developer if they had space. “So, we took a retail floor and just did not build it out, and we converted a couple of freight elevators to passenger elevators,” he said.

For the housing, Swerdlow anticipates obtaining a certificate of occupancy by the end of July. Then it will take another three months to get everyone moved in, he said.

A large affordable housing complex for seniors

Apartments with floor-to-ceiling glass are on the upper floors of Sawyer’s Walk and include studios, one-bedrooms, and two-bedrooms. Swerdlow said that the apartments are for seniors earning at or below an average of 60% of the area median income. But they would go as low as 30% and as high as 80%.

Amenities include a rooftop swimming pool, large sun deck, barbecue station and fitness center.

“Everything you get in a fully luxury building is in that building,” Swerdlow said.

This all comes as there is a push in Miami-Dade County to create more affordable housing.

Last year, the Robert King High Towers, a once rundown building easily spotted from the Dolphin Expressway, opened 315 apartments for seniors at 1405 NW Seventh St, part of the River Parc community. Also, in 2023, construction began at the Ludlam Trail Towers in suburban Coral Terrace of 64 new apartments.

Sawyer’s Walk apartments are mostly taken, the developer said. The Southeast Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency is handling the leasing, and anyone interested should contact them or Miami-Dade Public Housing and Community Development.

About 140 residents are coming from the Harry Cain public housing nearby. It was condemned in 2019 for asbestos and mold, and residents were forced to leave. They were dispersed all over the city, said Swerdlow, but now many are returning to his property. “They all want to come back.”

The property will also include a 25,000-square-foot public plaza and a pedestrian promenade and children’s playground open to Overtown residents.

A parking lot with over 1,000 spaces is also part of the complex. Parking will be open to the public and the first two hours will be free. Brightline’s downtown Miami station is just a few blocks away.

“We’re serving a necessary market, people who have lived there for many years and can now stay,” Swerdlow said.

“I believe in affordable housing,” said the developer. “We need more of it.”