Verde Gardens
Location: Formerly Homestead Air-force Base Homestead, Florida
Owner: Miami Dade County – The Homeless Trust
Cost: $16,000,000.00
Status: Completed
Verde Gardens is a project on 52 acres of property at the former Homestead Air Force Base. Consisting of 145 units of permanent supportive housing, the development will serve the homeless and formerly homeless families, this project will house approximately 600 people. Residents of the Verde Gardens complex will enjoy amenities that will provide a true sense of community, including open public plaza areas, basketball court, community center, and children’s play area, jointly the “central public plaza”, and a soccer field to the north of the central plaza area.
This unique green development also will feature an organic farm and farmer’s market and the entire development is seeking Gold LEED certification. The organic farm will produce fruits, vegetables and landscaping plants that will be sold in the farmer’s market or wholesale to area restaurants and organic buying clubs. In addition to job training and micro-enterprise opportunities, the farm also will set aside plots for community gardening for the residents. The farmer’s market will provide job-training and micro-enterprise opportunities for residents to sell organic produce and plants as well as handcrafted items to the public. The market also will operate a small bakery.