The city of Doral has initially approved zoning changes for vacant land just south of Trump National Doral, paving the way for thousands of new residential units and commercial space on the former president’s golf resort and country club northwest of downtown Miami.
City officials voted late Wednesday evening on an ordinance amending the zoning around a 56.4-acre plot on the property’s southeastern corner along the intersection of Northwest 87th Avenue and Northwest 36th Street. In a 3-2 vote, the zoning around the 643-room hotel and spa was changed to downtown mixed-use.
The change clears the way for Doral International Towers to be the latest addition to the 800-acre property. Plans for Doral International Towers currently include 1,498 residential units across four, 210-foot-high towers, 141,694 square feet of commercial space and a public plaza.
Attorney Felix Lasarte, who represents the Trump-owned entity developing the project, told the city council prior to the vote that the units would be for sale with prices beginning at $2 million. Lasarte said the team expects to find international buyers who are drawn to the Trump brand. Lasarte did not respond to multiple emails and phone calls from CoStar News.
For decades, Miami’s condominium market has been a haven for foreign buyers from Europe and Latin America looking to park their money in U.S. real estate. Cash purchases, typically used as an analogue to foreign buyers, accounted for 49.9% of Miami-area condo purchases in June, according to the Miami Association of Realtors.
Condo sales priced at more than $600,000 in the Miami area have increased 99.3% since prior to the pandemic in June 2019, while sales of condos priced at more than $1 million are up 85.5% during the same period, according to the Miami Association of Realtors. The sales numbers signal the wealth migration to South Florida since the pandemic, the association said.
Background
The Doral Country Club opened in 1962 as the first structure in what would eventually become the city of Doral that now has a population of around 81,000. New York City-based Trump Organization purchased the Doral Country Club in 2012 for $150 million and rebranded it as Trump National Doral. The company spent around $250 million renovating the property between 2013 and 2016, making it into "an internationally renowned and universally heralded golf resort destination," according to Trump Organization's zoning application to the city of Doral.
Now, decades after the country club first opened, the Trump Organization is "seeking to once again allow this property to lead the city of Doral into the next step in its evolution," according to the application.
A final vote on the zoning change for Doral International Towers is expected to occur next month. The development of the four towers would take place across what is primarily surface parking, and leave the current hotel and spa untouched.
Addressing concerns about traffic congestion from residents at the city council meeting, Lasarte said that $5 million in traffic and infrastructure improvements around the intersection are in the works. Upgrades include the addition of designated turn lanes and an expanded sidewalk that would help link the property to Doral’s nascent downtown about half a mile north of the development site.
The total cost of the project is expected to range anywhere from $2.5 billion to $3 billion, according to Bloomberg. Financing for the proposed project was not disclosed.
Final plans for the PPKS Architecture-designed project have yet to be approved by the city and, according to the master development agreement, the Trump entity reserves the right to modify the mix of residential unit types, with the ability to mix between multifamily units, townhouse units or single-family units as long as the changes don’t result in an overall increase of residential density.