On Thursday, April 10, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner joined the Related Group, Miami-Dade County officials and community members for a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the completion of the fourth phase in the sweeping redevelopment project at Liberty Square.
Serenity at Liberty Square includes 193 residential units — 27 reserved for the final legacy families who have already moved in, 50 Project-Based Voucher units, and 116 affordable and workforce units for households earning under 80% of the Area Median Income.
“This is the day of promises made and promises kept to this community,” said Albert Milo, president of Related Urban. “From the very beginning, we knew this wasn’t just about building housing. It was about how to rebuild this community. What started as very difficult discussions through communication and collaboration, we started to build that trust with the community, and today, you’re seeing this because of the time we took to have that dialogue with the community.”
The project has been closely watched as a test case for how public-private partnerships around the country can tackle affordable housing without displacing long-term residents. At Thursday’s ceremony, HUD Secretary Turner, who also attended the 2019 groundbreaking, was visibly moved…