LIBERTY CITY, Fla. – The so-called Liberty City Rising plan for Liberty Square is the largest redevelopment project in Miami-Dade County.
The new vision for mixed income apartments was scheduled to open four years ago, but sky high prices, the COVID-19 pandemic and a host of other problems have led to construction delays.
A recent accidental death from a drug overdose in one of the demolished units led Local 10 News to ask top county officials when the project will finally be complete.
Travis Bentley had overcome a lot in his life, but in April the challenges had become too much. His life ended on the dirty floor of a soon-to-be demolished apartment, number 6202, in Liberty Square on top of a dirty mattress due to a drug overdose.
He was 55 years old.
Soon after Bentley’s death, construction workers put up a fence, but our Local 10 News crew was still able to walk right through and go back to where he died.
It was an abandoned apartment that appeared to have been occupied by a number of people, and for days.
By June, the apartments were finally demolished.
County housing officials say the redevelopment of Liberty Square is the largest in the county’s history.
It’s also proving to be one of the longest for residents who used to live there and plan to one day return.
A recent PBS documentary, “Razing Liberty Square,” featured their frustrations, along with how sea level rise and gentrification led to the heart of Liberty City getting a major transplant.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava was a county commissioner when Liberty City Rising was introduced in 2015 with much fanfare, with then-mayor and now Congressman Carlos Gimenez and The Related Group, the developers who won the contract.
Now, nearly a decade later, the project is in phase four of nine phases.
When finished -- the county anticipates in 2028 -- it will include a new supermarket, soccer field, education center and more than 1,400 new units, nearly half for public housing.
Phase four of the Liberty Square redevelopment project includes a home ownership component for future residents.
The county says phase four should be finalized sometime next year.