Related Ross bumps West Palm plan to 191 units to clear Live Local

Related Ross, the affiliate through which Stephen Ross is pushing back into affordable housing, has revised its plan for 209 N Sapodilla Avenue in West Palm Beach, raising the count from 164 to 191 units on a 1.7-acre site the firm bought for $7.5 million in 2025. The new design, by MSA Architects, is two seven-story buildings holding 182 apartments and nine for-sale market-rate townhomes, with rent-restricted units set aside at 30, 50, 60 and 80 percent of area median income. The city’s Plans and Plats Review Committee takes it up July 23.

Why it matters

The unit bump is the whole story. Under Florida’s Live Local Act, a project only wins the statute’s density and tax advantages if at least 40 percent of its homes stay affordable to households at or below 120 percent of AMI. Adding 27 units is not the developer reaching for scale. It is engineering the mix so the affordable share clears that 40 percent gate. For anyone underwriting a Live Local deal, this is the lever: you size the building to the exemption, not the other way around.

The numbers

At 191 units, the 40 percent test implies roughly 76 income-restricted homes, a floor the 164-unit version did not reach. The four AMI bands, reaching down to 30 percent, are deeper than the statute strictly demands, a signal Related Ross is aiming at genuine workforce and low-income tenants rather than the thinnest qualifying slice.

What’s next

The July 23 committee vote is the first checkpoint. West Palm has already rejected an earlier Live Local proposal over parking and tree removal, so the design details will get scrutiny even where the density is by right. Related Ross has signaled more West Palm land buys and a micro-apartment concept, making Sapodilla a template worth reading closely. More South Florida entitlement coverage on our South Florida desk.