Ardid family’s Key International proposes 462-unit rental tower next to Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Miami 

Key International wants to build a 42-story multifamily tower next to the historic Trinity Episcopal Cathedral that’s at the foot of the Venetian Causeway in Miami. 

The proposal marks the latest planned redevelopment of a South Florida religious site. While some plans allow for the preservation of churches, others call for moving the congregation elsewhere. 

Key, led by the Ardid family, wants to build on the vacant portion of the Trinity Episcopal Cathedral lot at 515 Northeast 15th Street and 464 Northeast 16th Street near the Adrienne Arsht Metromover Station, according to an application filed by site owner, The Diocese of Southeast Florida, to Miami-Dade County last month. The 1.9-acre property is at the intersection of the Arts & Entertainment, Edgewater and downtown Miami neighborhoods. 

Designed by Sieger Suarez Architects, the L-shaped tower would have 462 units atop a 533-space garage that would be for both residents and Trinity Episcopal Cathedral’s parishioners. The tower also would have a 4,000-square-foot parish hall on the ground floor.

The Diocese of Southeast Florida would lease the site to Key International for a 99-year term, the development firm confirmed. 

As a co-developer, the diocese would use project proceeds for “much needed repair” and operating costs of the cathedral, as well as for its planned affordable housing projects across Miami-Dade, according to the application. 

Trinity Episcopal Cathedral was built during the 1920s real estate boom in Miami. Architect Harold Hastings Mundy designed the building to partly emulate the Roman Catholic Church of St. Gilles in France, using Romanesque, Byzantine and Italianate architectural elements, according to the church’s website. 

The 100-year-old building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The Diocese of Southeast Florida now also is seeking historic designation by the city of Miami, according to the project application. 

The application marks Brickell-based Key International’s second proposed tower on a portion of a church site in Miami. In Brickell, Key is partnering with Arnaud Karsenti’s 13th Floor Investments on a planned 80-story condo tower on a portion of the First Miami Presbyterian Church lot at 609 Brickell Avenue. The project would replace the parking lot and a religious school on the site. 

As of last March, Key and 13th Floor had put the development site under contract, Commercial Observer reported. Key didn’t provide an update on the deal. 

In Pompano Beach, Cavache Properties’ 319-unit Old Town Square apartment project would rise on the site of the Christ United Methodist Church building at 210 Northeast Third Street and adjacent lots. The church’s Pompano site has been closed for years, with Christ United instead holding services in Fort Lauderdale. Cavache plans to move a historic building that was part of the church campus to the city’s Centennial Park.   

In Fort Lauderdale’s Progresso Village, Tal Levinson and Eric Malinasky plan a six-story apartment building on the southeast corner of Northwest Seventh Street and Northwest Fourth Avenue, which includes the First Eben Ezer Missionary Christian Church. The developers helped the church find its new home in Oakland Park at 3970 Northwest 21st Avenue. 

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