Miami Wynwood Norte Zoning Overlay Creates New Development Opportunities

Earlier this year, the Miami City Commission approved a major zoning overhaul for the portion of Wynwood lying north of NW 29th Street—the newly dubbed Wynwood Norte. Given its proximity to the Wynwood Arts District and Midtown Miami, the neighborhood is poised for significant development, leading community members to work with property owners and the City to create the Wynwood Norte Neighborhood Redevelopment District (the “NRD-2”). Aimed at encouraging dense infill development while preserving affordability in the area, the NRD-2 is a special overlay district within the Miami 21 zoning code that creates a wide range of development opportunities in Wynwood Norte.

First, the NRD-2 adds development capacity throughout the neighborhood. The areas along NW 36th and 29th Streets—Wynwood Norte’s north and south borders—are now zoned T6, allowing significant increases in height, density, and intensity. The areas around Wynwood Norte’s principal north-south arterials and in the western portion closest to I-95 are characterized by T5 zoning, allowing for mid-sized development encompassing a mixture of uses as well as additional density. Finally, the historically single-family central portions of the neighborhood are now zoned T4, creating an opportunity for small-scale but more dense residential development as well as a mix of uses.  

Along similar lines, the NRD-2’s parking requirements emphasize flexibility and encourage dense infill development. In the T4 and T5 zones, structures with less than 20,000 square feet of total floor area have no required parking at all. Even for larger projects where parking is required, flexibility is available: The NRD-2 allows for parking to be provided off-site or replaced altogether through a payment into the Wynwood Norte Parking Trust Fund, which will help fund centralized parking in the district and encourage walkability. 

The NRD-2 builds on Miami 21’s citywide Public Benefits Program by introducing a similar program within Wynwood Norte: Developers looking to maximize development capacity can either pay into the Public Benefits Trust Fund or provide on-site public benefits such as affordable housing, public open space, and micro-retail or startup on-site in exchange for significant bonus height and floor area.
Finally, the NRD-2 allows the owners of “legacy structures”—pre-existing buildings that are actively in use and maintained in good condition—to sell their unused development capacity as TDRs within Wynwood Norte. This program creates another opportunity for bonus height in new developments while incentivizing the preservation of existing housing in older structures throughout the neighborhood.

If you’d like to learn more about development opportunities in Wynwood Norte after the passage of the NRD-2, please do not hesitate to reach out to the authors of this article, Anthony De Yurre, Javier Aviñó, and Andrés Rivero.