A Miami Beach high-rise proposal just got dramatically bigger. Crescent Heights now wants to build a 525-foot, 39-story tower at 824 Alton Road, a sharp jump from the 31-story, 120-unit version the developer floated just last year, according to plans detailing the project’s growth.
From 404 Feet to a Near-Supertall
The project at 824 Alton Road in Miami Beach, Florida 33139, sits in Miami-Dade County and is being pursued under Florida’s Live Local Act, the state law that lets qualifying workforce-housing developments bypass certain local zoning hurdles. As reported by Floridian Development, the revised version would rise 525 feet, up from the roughly 404-foot design submitted when the project first surfaced in September 2024. At that height, the tower would become just the third building in Miami Beach to climb above 500 feet, per the same outlet’s reporting.
The unit count is climbing too. Plans now call for 149 residences, up from the original 120, with 72 workforce housing units and 77 market-rate residences, according to Floridian Development. That’s a shift from the earlier design, which had offered 48 workforce units and 72 market-rate units, as Florida YIMBY notes. The market-rate apartments would average around 1,368 square feet, while the workforce units would be far more compact, averaging just 445 square feet.
Pools, Retail and a Bigger Garage
Communal amenities would be concentrated largely on the seventh floor, where a planned amenity deck includes multiple swimming pools, outdoor seating and terraces alongside 5,909 square feet of indoor amenity space, the same report states. Ground-floor retail would total 2,556 square feet, adding a commercial component to the residential tower.
Parking is expanding as well. The revised design includes a six-level parking podium beneath the residential tower, growing from 119 spaces in the original plans to 156 spaces in the latest version. Crescent Heights is developing the project, with RSP Architects handling the design, per the same account.
What the Live Local Act Requires
Under the Live Local Act, qualifying developments must designate at least 40 percent of their residences as workforce housing to access the law’s benefits, which include relief from certain local zoning and density restrictions. State statute spells out those protections directly: a municipality may not require a qualifying multifamily development to obtain a zoning or land-use change, special exception, conditional-use approval or variance for the development, according to Florida Statutes Section 166.04151. The law also generally bars cities from restricting qualifying projects below specified density, floor-area-ratio and height thresholds. In exchange, the statute requires that at least 40 percent of units remain affordable rental housing for a minimum of 30 years…