A $1 billion redevelopment project at Claude Pepper Park promises to transform the west side of North Miami, but long-time unincorporated Miami-Dade residents who live in Mitchell Lake States, bordering the city, say the ambitious project threatens to upend the peace and stability of their long-established community.
The plan
Redwood Dev Co plans to construct eight residential towers, some rising up to 18 stories, with 2,193 units of workforce, affordable and senior housing. The mixed-use project also includes 121,500 square feet of retail space featuring a grocery store, medical center and restaurants; over 4,000 parking spots; and significant upgrades to Claude Pepper Park.
Those upgrades would bring an expanded Joe Celestin Center with classrooms, a computer lab, a kitchen, a gym, an event terrace and a banquet hall, a new amphitheater next to the center, running trails, repairs to tennis and basketball courts, a community pool and ADA-accessible recreation spaces.
“The park is very important to us. It has been a staple park for residents and local neighbors to be able to utilize,” said Brian Sidman, founder of Redwood Dev Co.
The housing would stand on approximately 11 acres of vacant land west of the park. Redwood was selected through a city-issued RFP in 2022 and gained Conceptual Master Development Site Plan approval from the North Miami City Council in July 2024.
But the scale of the project has raised alarms for residents of Mitchell Lake Estates, which sits just behind the Joe Celestin Center.
Community concerns
“We live in a kind of bedroom community, and it’s awfully quiet around here,” said longtime homeowner Ronda Mims. “Since they put the apartments on the west side of Seventeenth Avenue, we get traffic. It comes through Fourteenth Avenue, going all over the place. There are no speed bumps and kids can’t even play outside in our neighborhoods.”
LaToya James-Edwards, who has resided in the neighborhood since 1986, said the development’s scale doesn’t fit the neighborhood’s character…