Just how huge is demand for affordable housing in South Florida? When news spread of new apartments being offered with rents as low as $1,100 a month, a developer was stunned by the mountain of applicants.
Tim Wheat, a partner with the developer Pinnacle, had expected some interest. Next came the surprise: A whopping 21,000 people — all eager for an apartment.
“It’s very scary,” Wheat told the South Florida Sun Sentinel of the crushing demand. “It’s indicative of how deep and alarming the housing crisis is in South Florida.” He called it the “canary in a coal mine” of how serious the housing crisis is.
Courtesy of Pinnacle
When a South Florida developer recently offered an affordable-housing lottery, the opportunity enticed about 21,000 people to apply. The whopping response stunned the developer, who typically only gets a few hundred inquiries. The developer, who offered the new housing at Pinnacle 441 in Hollywood, says it highlights the huge demand for housing in the region. (Courtesy Pinnacle)
Offering apartments
Pinnacle 441 Phase 1, located on the southwest corner of Johnson Street and State Road 7, is set to open next month in Hollywood, offering 113 apartments. The calls from people interested in living there were steadily streaming in. About 8,000 queries came within a short time.
City officials were telling Wheat they, too, were being inundated with requests about how to get a unit. So the developer opened a 10-day registration window for a lottery, and 21,000 people put their names on the list.
That’s an impossible number to satisfy, with just 110 homes available at affordable rates and the remaining three at regular market price. “That’s a whole new ballgame,” Wheat said of the demand.
Setting up a lottery
Then came the problem how to pick from among 21,000 families.
Wheat said Pinnacle used a “randomizer” computer program that takes a list and shuffles them, akin to a card deck shuffler. They held a Zoom meeting and asked the city to witness. The names were randomly drawn, and soon hopeful residents will be contacted to start the application process.
The eight-story building — with views of the Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood skyline and Hard Rock — could open in sometime in May. The units range from offering one, two and three bedrooms.
To qualify, a family of four must earn no more $63,360 a year. Based on size of the unit, the rents will range from $1,100 to $1,500 a month.
A string of communities
The same developer completed Pinnacle at Peacefield in Hollywood in 2021.
That development featured 120 units, also for seniors age 62 and older. The developer also is now building Pinnacle at La Cabaña, a five-story, 110-unit affordable housing development for seniors, now under construction in Miramar. Everyone living in the unit must be age 62 or older. That will be completed in mid-2025.
A second Hollywood project is planned; the 100-unit Pinnacle 441 Phase 2 is slated for completion in the first quarter of 2025, immediately to the west of Phase 1. That project is also eight stories, not restricted by age, but income restricted. The rents will be the same as Phase 1.
Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com. Follow on X, formerly Twitter, @LisaHuriash