LIBERTY CITY, Florida. – The so-called Liberty City Rising plan for Liberty Square is the largest redevelopment project in Miami-Dade County.
The opening of the new residential complex with apartments for people of different incomes was planned for four years ago. But astronomical prices, the COVID-19 pandemic and a number of other problems led to construction delays.
A recent drug overdose accident in one of the demolished units prompted Local 10 News to ask county officials when the project would finally be completed.
Travis Bentley had overcome much in his life, but in April the challenges became too much. His life ended due to a drug overdose on a dirty mattress on the dirty floor of a soon-to-be-demolished apartment in Liberty Square, number 6202.
He was 55 years old.
Shortly after Bentley’s death, construction workers erected a fence, but our Local 10 News team was still able to walk through and return to the spot where he died.
It was an abandoned apartment that had apparently been inhabited by several people for days.
By June, the apartments had been finally demolished.
County Housing Authority officials say the Liberty Square redevelopment is the largest in county history.
For residents who have lived here before and would like to return one day, it is also one of the longest stays.
Their frustrations were addressed in a recent PBS documentary called “Razing Liberty Square,” along with how rising sea levels and gentrification led to the heart of Liberty City undergoing extensive relocation.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava was a county commissioner when Liberty City Rising was unveiled with much fanfare in 2015. The contract was awarded to then-mayor and current Congressman Carlos Gimenez and The Related Group, the developers.
Now, almost a decade later, the project is in phase four of nine phases.
Once completed, the district expects in 2028, there will be a new supermarket, a football field, an education center and more than 1,400 new housing units, almost half of which will be social housing.
Phase four of the Liberty Square redevelopment project includes a homeownership component for future residents.
The county says phase four should be completed sometime next year.
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