BISHOP T.D. JAKES: Partnering with Miami’s New Urban Development to build affordable housing units. PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIPEDIA

MIAMI, Fla. – A popular television evangelist and one of Miami’s largest Blackowned real estate developers have teamed to build affordable housing units in Miami Gardens and Hallandale amid South Florida’s affordable housing crisis.

Bishop T.D. Jakes’ Dallas-based Real Estate Ventures, and New Urban Development (NUD), which has affiliated with the Urban League of Greater Miami, have agreed to collaborate in constructing two housing development projects in an effort to revive moribund Black communities.

The partnership is targeting the South Florida housing market and sought other properties for future developments.

Oliver Gross, president and CEO of New Urban Development, told the South Florida Times the two real estate development companies are planning to build 150 apartment units on seven acres of land in Miami Gardens and 200 units on a five-acre site in Hallandale.

Both unit projects are to include an array of amenities such as parks and community centers.

In Miami Gardens, the property located adjacent to Miami Gardens Senior Family Center, 16405 N.W. 25th Ave., will be the first of its kind, a senior housing complex with walking trails and a clubhouse.

The developers said they hope to break ground on the project in Hallandale in the first quarter of 2024, and in 2025 in Miami Gardens.

"With this partnership, we’re bullish about the South Florida market," Gross said. "Potentially we are looking at other sites in South Florida."

Gross declined to disclose the price tags for the two development projects.

"They both are multimillion dollar projects," he said.

Gross said the two real estate companies connected when they discovered they had the same vision for community revitalization and housing development in Black communities.

South Florida was on Jake’s Real Estate Ventures’ radar and New Urban Development has built a rash of affordable housing in the area for years.

"It’s an opportunity for two organizations to put their ideas together on what revitalization and development should look like and how we are able to take advantage of respect, strength and relationships," Gross said.

Gross said Miami Gardens awarded his organization the property with an agreement to correspond with the current senior centers while the county was awarded funding for the housing development.

Marcus Dawson, managing partner for Jakes Real Estate Ventures, said in a press release that the partnership will help South Florida’s affordable housing crunch.

“Florida continues to grow, and the need for more living options is at an all-time high,” Dawson said. “It is our mission to create the necessary alliances that help address the most glaring issues like affordable housing. NUD shares similar ideologies of community transformation for seniors and underserved populations, and what they have already developed proves it."

Gross said New Urban Development has built thousands of housing units in the South Florida areas, the most recent closing on a deal for 129 units for $63 million in Liberty City.

Jakes’ real estate company also launched a partnership with Wells Fargo in 2023 to buy 95 acres of land at the former Fort McPherson Army base in Atlanta to develop a mixed-use, mixed-income community to revive underserved neighborhoods.

The partnership hopes to bring in $1 billion in capital financing and grants from Wells Fargo Foundation.