SouthPlace City Center in Cutler Bay is under construction. Sunset Place in South Miami hasn't moved in six years. The difference is how each one is being paid for.
BH Group and Electra America broke ground on the $1.5 billion SouthPlace project in late 2025, according to the South Florida Business Journal, after securing a $125 million predevelopment loan from New York-based Tyko Capital in November 2024. The 98.43-acre development at 20505 South Dixie Highway calls for up to 5,000 residential units in 18-story buildings, 650,000 square feet of retail, a 177,000-square-foot medical office building and a 150-room hotel, according to The Real Deal. The Cutler Bay Town Council approved the project in 2022.
Private financing gave SouthPlace's developers the ability to move without waiting on government votes. A few miles north on U.S. 1, Sunset Place shows what happens when a project depends on public dollars instead.
Sunset Place: six years of ownership, no demolition
Midtown Development bought the 10-acre Sunset Place mall in downtown South Miami in late 2020 for $65.5 million. The developer said in 2025 it hoped to begin demolition in early 2026. As of July 17, the mall still stands, the Miami Herald reported.
The main holdup: Miami-Dade County Commission approval of a special taxing district and community redevelopment agency needed to finance nearly $150 million in infrastructure work. That includes new water and sewer lines, improved pump station capacity and the extension of South Miami's street grid and sidewalks into the redevelopment.
South Miami Mayor Javier Fernandez told the Herald on July 17 that a formal agreement with the county was finalized that week. The County Commission is set to take a final vote in September, and Fernandez said he expects approval.
"Over three years, we've been working really hard to be a positive force for the property's transformation," Fernandez said. "The framework is now in place for them to begin."
Once the county approves the taxing district, Midtown can secure financing and buy out remaining tenant leases. The approved master plan, designed by London-based Heatherwick Studio and approved by the South Miami City Commission in 2024, envisions seven towers of 12 to 33 stories, roughly 1,500 residential units, a hotel, movie theaters and 150,000 square feet of shops and restaurants. The Herald reported the full buildout could take up to 20 years.
Midtown Development principal Alex Vadia declined an interview with the Herald but said in an emailed statement that the company "remains fully committed" to the project.
Meanwhile, tenants wait in limbo. Joaquin Ortiz, founder of Tea & Poets cafe at Sunset Place, told the Herald he has tried multiple times to meet with Midtown's principals about his lease status and received no response.
The financing lesson for Cutler Bay
Both projects are massive South Dade mall-to-mixed-use conversions. Both required Miami-Dade County involvement. But SouthPlace's developers locked down private financing before breaking ground, while Sunset Place depends on a public taxing district that requires county commission votes years after acquisition.
For Cutler Bay residents, the takeaway is straightforward: SouthPlace's private-capital structure insulates it from the kind of political and bureaucratic delays that have kept Sunset Place dormant for more than five years.
The Miami-Dade County Commission's vote in September on the Sunset Place taxing district will determine whether that project can finally move forward.
