The playbook for building a genuine transit-oriented neighborhood on publicly owned land has been running for a decade on seven acres beside Miami-Dade's Douglas Road Metrorail Station — and in June 2026, that playbook crossed its most meaningful finish line yet.

Link at Douglas Is Proving That Publicly Owned Land Can Anchor a Full Neighborhood

On June 11, 2026, 13th Floor Investments and Barings secured a $134 million construction loan and broke ground on Crescendo, the 37-story, 392-unit fourth and final tower at Link at Douglas. Construction has begun on Crescendo, the fourth and final tower at Link at Douglas, following the securing of a $134 million construction loan. The 37-story residential tower, at 3070 SW 37th Avenue, represents the final phase of the larger 7-acre, master-planned transit-oriented development; developed by 13th Floor Investments and Barings, it will yield 392 apartment units adjacent to the Douglas Road Metrorail Station and is expected to complete in 2029. When Crescendo opens, Link at Douglas will have more than 1,500 residential units — all built on land that Miami-Dade County previously used as a surface parking lot.

  • June 11, 2026: $134 million construction loan for Crescendo closed, led by Santander Bank, TD Bank, and First Horizon Bank.
  • Phase one, which delivered in 2023, introduced two fully leased residential towers totaling 733 apartments — the 312-unit Core and 421-unit Cascade buildings — along with more than 30,000 square feet of retail space.
  • The third tower, Cadence, is set for completion in 2028. Across all four towers, Link at Douglas will have more than 1,500 residential units.
  • The 7.5-acre site sits at the intersection of US-1 and Douglas Road, between Coral Gables and Coconut Grove, atop one of the Metrorail's busiest stations.

The $17 Million Infrastructure Deal Shows How TOD Can Fund Its Own Station

What makes Link at Douglas remarkable is not just the apartment count — it is the infrastructure bargain embedded in the ground lease. The development team collaborated with Miami-Dade County and the Department of Transportation and Public Works to invest more than $17 million in public infrastructure improvements, including the creation of a public plaza connecting to The Underline linear park and the renovation of the Metrorail station. The county received a renovated station and a public plaza without spending a dollar of transit capital — and the developer received long-term occupancy rights on transit-rich land. That is exactly the template Miami-Dade should replicate at every underutilized station parking lot on the Metrorail spine.

  • Private capital renovated the Douglas Road Metrorail Station as a condition of the ground lease.
  • The public plaza connects with The Underline, a 10-mile-long linear park that goes south from downtown Miami.
  • When completed in Fall 2026, The Underline will be a 10-mile linear mobility corridor below the Metrorail, transforming 120 acres of underutilized County-owned land below the aerial Metrorail tracks from the Miami River to the Dadeland South Metrorail Station into a first-class multimodal corridor.

The "Link" Brand Is Becoming a Corridor-Scale Strategy — and That Matters

The most exciting implication of Crescendo's groundbreaking is what 13th Floor has announced beyond Douglas Road. The firm is explicitly franchising the model up and down the Metrorail and Tri-Rail corridors. The firm recently broke ground on Link at Boca, a mixed-use development adjacent to Boca Raton's Tri-Rail Station that will deliver 340 residential units and 24,000 square feet of retail space. The firm also plans to develop Link at SoMi, a two-tower, 670-unit multifamily community adjacent to the South Miami Metrorail Station that emphasizes walkable design and urban living near major employment and education hubs. In South Miami, the density story intensifies further: SOMI Walk, a 16-story student housing development, is rising near the University of Miami campus in South Miami, located steps from the South Miami Metrorail station and within walking distance of The Underline.

  • Link at Douglas — Douglas Road Metrorail Station, Coconut Grove/Coral Gables: 1,500+ units, completing 2029
  • Link at SoMi — South Miami Metrorail Station: 670 units planned
  • Link at Boca — Boca Raton Tri-Rail Station: 340 units, under construction
  • SOMI Walk student housing — steps from South Miami Metrorail: 673 beds, delivering fall 2028

None of this was accidental. Developed in collaboration with Miami-Dade County and its Department of Transportation and Public Works, Link at Douglas has transformed publicly owned land surrounding the Douglas Road Metrorail Station into a mixed-use community that integrates housing, retail, and transit. The lesson for the county is to keep doing exactly this — ground-leasing station-adjacent parcels with mandatory infrastructure upgrades written into every deal.

South Florida's Most Replicable Model Is Already Running — and It Works

Miami-Dade has roughly two dozen Metrorail stations, many still surrounded by surface parking. If even half of them achieved a fraction of what Douglas Road has accomplished, the county gains thousands of housing units, renovated station facilities, and new riders — all without a single dollar of transit capital debt. "Link at Douglas is a model for the future of development and mobility in Miami-Dade County. The project will enable more residents to live, work and play without having to worry about traffic or parking, while helping to offset expenses, reduce emissions and promote increased ridership on our Metrorail system," said Eulois Cleckley, Director and CEO of the Department of Transportation and Public Works for Miami-Dade County.

That vision is no longer hypothetical. It is a 37-story tower with a $134 million construction loan and a 2029 delivery date. South Florida's most investable transit corridor is already built — it runs from the Miami River to Dadeland, beneath an elevated guideway that now has a 10-mile linear park running under it and a growing chain of mixed-use villages rising above it. The only move left is to keep stringing the beads.