380-Unit Apartments Planned for Doral's Westside Plaza II

A Denver-based real estate private equity firm is moving to convert a decades-old Doral office building into a 380-unit apartment complex, citing Florida’s Live Local Act as the regulatory pathway that made the project viable.

Ascentris, working alongside investment firms Highline Real Estate Capital and Square2 Capital, announced the repositioning of the Westside Plaza campus at 8400 NW 33rd Street in Doral. The joint venture sold two of the campus’s three office buildings, Westside Plaza I and III, while separately transferring Westside Plaza II to a new partnership that includes ZOM Living. That transaction closed January 16, 2026. The four-story Plaza II building, constructed in 1998 on a 6.57-acre site, will be torn down and replaced with the multifamily rental development.

The original three-building campus spans 22 acres and was acquired by Ascentris, Highline, and Square2 in 2021. In the years following that acquisition, the team renovated the I and III buildings and pushed occupancy from roughly 63 percent to 98 percent before completing the sale. The strategy, according to the developers, was to concentrate tenants in two buildings while preparing the Plaza II parcel for a different future.

Jay Caplin, principal at Square2 Capital, pointed to deliberate early planning as the key to executing on both sides of the deal. “By concentrating tenancy, investing in the office assets, and advancing a residential component, we were able to unlock value across the site and execute on both sides at the right time,” Caplin said.

David Moret, principal at Highline Real Estate Capital, credited Florida’s Live Local Act with accelerating the residential pivot. “While the improvements we completed at Westside I and III set the table for a highly viable office execution, the passing of the Live Local Act created an accelerated path to a multifamily redevelopment,” Moret said. He described the shift to apartments as the best use of the property.

Florida’s Live Local Act, which took effect in 2023 and has since driven a surge in multifamily proposals across the state, allows developers to bypass certain local zoning restrictions in exchange for including workforce-friendly rental units. The law has become a frequent tool for South Florida developers looking to convert or replace underperforming commercial properties.

The planned apartment community at Plaza II will sit near CityPlace Doral and the Airport West Corridor, positioning it close to Miami International Airport and the web of major roads that define Doral’s commercial geography. ZOM Living, a multifamily developer with an active South Florida portfolio, will lead the residential development. Plans call for a mix of unit types along with parking, shared amenity spaces, and landscaped outdoor areas.

The project reflects a broader shift playing out across South Florida, where office properties acquired before and during the pandemic are now being evaluated for conversion or replacement as hybrid work patterns continue to reshape commercial real estate demand. Doral, which functions as a hub for logistics, finance, and international business, has seen sustained residential interest driven by its proximity to the airport and access to major transit corridors.

For now, the approved plans offer a window into how developers are reading the region’s near-term trajectory. The bet at Westside Plaza is that Doral’s residential demand is strong enough to absorb nearly 400 new rental units while the surviving office buildings, freshly renovated and fully leased, continue serving business tenants on the same campus. Whether that dual strategy holds up as the rental market absorbs more inventory across Miami-Dade County will depend on factors the developers cannot fully control, including interest rates, construction costs, and the pace of job growth in the corridor.

No construction timeline has been publicly announced for the residential portion of the project.