Matthew Martínez, CEO, Beacon Hill Development Group

Invest: spoke with Matthew Martínez, CEO of Beacon Hill Development Group, about the company’s workforce housing strategy under Florida’s Live Local Act, selecting new markets, and being purpose driven. “We feel as if we are contributing to society, fulfilling a desperate need in our community, and making a difference,” Martínez said.

How is Beacon Hill Development Group tackling the growing gap between affordable and market-rate housing in Florida, particularly for the missing middle?

Senate Bill 102, also known as the Live Local Act, was enacted on March 29, 2023, and became effective on July 1, 2023. Prior to that time, we were underwriting projects without Live Local, and they were not penciling. We could not achieve a 7% return on cost nor a 20% IRR, so we weren’t able to attract investment capital to our multifamily projects.

With Live Local, there are several incentives provided to investors, including a reduction of impact fees, sales tax rebates, an expedited entitlement process, and a property tax exemption. With those financial incentives and faster processing times, we were able to develop a long-term and economically viable business plan to construct 1,500 workforce housing units over the next five years. One hundred percent of those units will be dedicated to individuals and families making less than 120% of AMI, which is approximately $100,000 in Miami-Dade County.

When we use the term missing middle, we are referring to gainfully employed individuals making less than $100,000 a year. These are nurses, school teachers, firefighters, police officers, and first responders. They are the people who make our communities run.

You mentioned the 1,500 workforce housing units planned over the next five years. What markets within Florida would that include, and what strategies are driving that pipeline?

We currently have three active projects and plan to develop 10 to 12 projects over the next five years, reaching approximately 1,500 units.

Our first three projects are located in Princeton, Miami Gardens, and Boynton Beach.

Beacon Hill at Princeton is the first ground-up Live Local project in Florida to move from inception through groundbreaking to completion, which is scheduled for August. While other projects have been converted to Live Local, none have gone through the full development cycle. The project will deliver 112 workforce housing units.

Our Miami Gardens project is located approximately three miles south of Hard Rock Stadium, on a 2.6-acre site, and is planned for 94 units. The project is currently in the entitlement phase.

Our third project, in Boynton Beach, sits on approximately four acres and is planned for 122 units. This project is also advancing through approvals.

All three developments are 100% dedicated to workforce housing.

Since the Live Local Act plays a key role in your strategy, what opportunities will it unlock moving forward?

In Miami-Dade County, there’s about a 100,000-unit shortfall. In my estimation, it will take 10 to 15 years to develop that many units dedicated to workforce housing. We have a 10-year business plan. The first five years are focused on building 1,500 units in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. In years six through 10, we will double that to 3,000 units statewide.

Florida, and particularly Miami-Dade County, has become the epicenter of unaffordability. The people who make our communities run are finding it difficult to live in our state because they are required to spend more than 30% of their income on housing. We plan to address that through our development model.

What key indicators do you look for when selecting new markets across Florida?

We are highly sanguine on the outlook for our business model across the tri-county area. South Florida benefits from strong employment, sustained demand, and high barriers to entry, which supports our conviction. While we also see attractive fundamentals in markets such as Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville, and Naples, our primary focus for the first five years remains the tri-county region.

Our investment criteria are grounded in fundamentals—occupancy levels in existing multifamily stock, demand drivers, job growth, and the composition of local employment. We are not pursuing low-income housing tax credit opportunities, Section 8 programs, or highly amenitized Class A products.

Our focus is workforce housing—delivering well-located communities that allow residents to live in close proximity to employment centers, improving both affordability and quality of life.

How does your development model improve efficiency and manage risk?

We do not provide in-house property management. Instead, we outsource leasing and operations to experienced third-party managers.

Our focus is on the development lifecycle: sourcing land, navigating the entitlement process, underwriting each opportunity, and partnering with a third-party general contractor to deliver the project.

Once construction is complete, we engage a third-party property management firm to lease up, stabilize, and operate the asset. We remain focused on capital formation—raising equity and debt—executing the build, and achieving stabilization before transitioning our attention to the next project.

What design and amenity considerations go into developing housing for essential workers?

Our buildings are intentionally lightly amenitized. We provide core amenities—such as swimming pools, fitness centers, community rooms, co-working spaces, and a leasing office—while maintaining a disciplined approach to cost.

To preserve affordability, we develop 3-star, garden-style product with 100% at-grade parking. The goal is to offer a quality living experience without over-amenitizing.

Residents will find thoughtful, functional amenities that support day-to-day living, but not luxury features like tennis courts, padel courts, or climbing walls. This cost discipline is essential to our model, as it allows us to keep rents attainable while still delivering well-designed communities.

What are the biggest obstacles you face today?

With Live Local, the risk profile has shifted from zoning to statutory interpretation and infrastructure constraints, including concurrency and water/sewer capacity.

If the underlying zoning is compliant, workforce housing is generally permitted. However, once a project enters due diligence and advances through approvals, the primary risk becomes how municipal staff interpret and apply the legislation.

This represents a different risk profile than traditional development. The risk has not been eliminated—it has shifted toward legislative interpretation and infrastructure feasibility.

How do you see the workforce housing segment evolving, and what role will Beacon Hill play?

We are facing a 100,000-unit housing shortfall, and while we will play only a small role in addressing it, we are committed to helping close that gap. We do not expect to solve the entire problem, but we are proud to be leaders in this space and to be developing the first Live Local project in the state.

Over the next 10 years, we aim to deliver 4,500 units and make a meaningful impact. Our work is purpose-driven—we are contributing to a critical need in our community and, in doing so, creating tangible value beyond the projects themselves. That sense of purpose is what drives us every day.