Jesse Scheckner
A long-vacant stretch of land in North Miami will begin transforming next year into one of the city’s largest mixed-use developments, featuring housing, health care, and retail components.
Miami Beach-based workforce and affordable housing builder Redwood Dev Co. is months from breaking ground on Claude Pepper Global District, a 12-acre mixed-use development adjacent to Claude Pepper Park in North Miami.
The project will include workforce housing units, medical services, retail space, and a $10 million investment in improvements to the nearby park.
A master plan approved by North Miami officials last July, designed by Miami architect Kobi Karp, calls for eight buildings comprising 2,193 residential units and approximately 125,000 square feet of retail space.
Redwood co-founder David Burstyn said in a statement that his company spent years engaging with residents, local leaders, and community stakeholders to ensure the product it brought to North Miami meets local needs.
“We’ve listened closely,” he said, “and we’re proud to bring in top-tier partners like Miami Jewish Health and a major grocer operator, which will deliver real value from Day One.”
The first phase of the project will include 203 affordable senior housing units, a 20,000-square-foot Miami Jewish Health PACE Medical and Urgent Care Center, and 9,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.
Phase 2 comprises 255 affordable housing units for families, along with a full-service grocery store designed to serve both the development and its surrounding communities. Miami Jewish Health — a top employer of Haitian Americans in Miami-Dade County, according to the nonprofit’s reports — will operate the medical center, offering high-paying jobs locally.
The park component includes renovated multipurpose fields, upgraded community space, Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant walking trails, concessions, dugouts and fitness equipment.
Public access will be maintained during a phased construction timetable, which is expected to begin in early 2026, according to Redwood.
In a statement, Redwood co-founder Brian Sidman emphasized his company’s focus on meeting local needs.
“At Claude Pepper, that means delivering urgently needed senior and family-oriented housing, access to medical care, job opportunities and a revitalized park,” he said.
Redwood included a supportive message from musical artist, entrepreneur and philanthropist DJ Irie — real name Ian Grocher — whom many know as the Miami Heat’s official DJ.
Irie, who has committed to providing programming for the project’s new amphitheater, called the project “exactly what the people of North Miami want.”
“This project isn’t about buildings,” he said. “It’s about building community.”
To ensure long-term local impact, Redwood founded the Pepper Foundation and committed $500,000 to neighborhood-rooted organizations. Its first donation went to Little Haiti FC, a youth soccer program with deep community ties.
The North Miami City Council unanimously approved the Claude Pepper Global District in July 2024, signing off on a plan for eight 18-story buildings, some 121,500 square feet of retail space, and more than 4,100 parking spaces on roughly 27.7 acres.
Critics of the proposal, including residents of the adjacent Mitchell Lake Estates, have expressed concerns that the $1 billion project could negatively alter the character of what has been a quiet, “bedroom community.” Some complained that, contrary to Redwood’s official line on the process, they never heard about the project until it came before a City Council vote.
The development replaces a lakefill site that has remained undeveloped and environmentally degraded for decades.
Construction is scheduled to begin in early 2026.
