A Cutler Bay hotel is one step closer to becoming apartments for the homeless, but not without controversy.
A La Quinta Inn and Suites Hotel is another step closer to being transformed into housing for adults looking to get out of homeless shelters in South Florida.
The proposal is stirring controversy at Miami-Dade County Hall, and also in the South Dade Town of Cutler Bay, where the hotel is located.
“We were really left out of this process," Town Mayor Tim Meerbott said.
Meerbott's office produced a video, with the mayor insisting the proposal puts at risk a developer’s plan for that site, which includes an apartment complex, shops and restaurants.
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"We have talked with the developers, the developers are having issues with their lenders," Meerbott says in the video. "The vision that they had of bringing these thousands of jobs, bringing thousands of additional housing that we need in Cutler Bay, that we need in South Dade County, looks to be in jeopardy now because of this initiative."
The development would house 107 units. That’s how many hotel rooms there are now.
It would accommodate people 55 years and older, and residents would pay minimal rents.
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Commissioners voted to move the project forward and consider purchasing the hotel property for some $14 million.
A second and final vote is set to happen at a future meeting.
Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins is in favor of the project and questions pushback from the developer.
“Having housing, supportive housing, does not necessarily mean you can’t build,” she said at Tuesday’s meeting. "It happens in downtown all the time.”
