Gen Z Tenants Booted From Gables Apartment Slated for Redevelopment Are Leaving Miami

When 19-year-olds Elizabeth Peñas and Victoria Genendlis moved out of their family's houses and into a $1,400-a-month one-bedroom Coral Gables apartment last December, they thought they'd hit the affordable-housing jackpot. But less than four months after moving in, they were notified that their building had been purchased and the entire block was being demolished to make way for the Gables Village luxury development.

"Growing up here, there's always been so many tourists — it's like the whole place has an identity crisis," Peñas tells New Times. "I don't think it's spoken about, but it's known. People who grew up here know we're gonna have to go."

For young Miamians entering college and the workforce, the idea of putting down roots amid the housing crisis is becoming a pipe dream. People their age were raised amid the 2008 housing-market crash and are entering adulthood during a certified housing-affordability crisis. Many Gen Z Miamians accept the situation for what it is and are either living at home with their parents or looking to leave town altogether.

But that's just two of the tenants at 503 Santander Ave.: For Miamians like the young women's older neighbors, the notion of relocating to a new city isn't so easily reconciled.

"This is my home, my mom was born here. If there was an option, I'd go there, but I don't even see a viable option," says 42-year-old Dylan Pukel, who has lived in their building for the past four years.

Whereas his Gen Z neighbors are open to abandoning Miami, Pukel is outraged at the prospect of his longtime home pricing him out.

"I haven't been able to find anything anywhere. Period. There are no listings in Coconut Grove, and all the listings in the Gables are way too expensive," he says. "If you don't have housing for regular working people to live in, who’s going to do the work?"

Rents are estimated to have risen by as much as 50 percent across South Florida, according to a recent study by Realtor.com. Tenants in apartment complexes in places like Hialeah have had their rent jump by upward of $600, prompting city officials to seek federal assistance for cost-burdened residents. Home prices, too, are soaring, as transplants from other states like New York and California move to South Florida en masse.

A report from Florida International University (FIU) found that Miami was already suffering from "brain drain" of skilled college graduates and technical professionals to other cities in Florida, like Tampa and Orlando, back in 2019. It seems, at least anecdotally, that the mass exodus of the city's youngest and brightest will continue as housing costs continue to rise and demand for affordable housing increases.

The Miami Herald reported earlier this month that several buildings on the block of Santander Avenue near the Coral Gables Youth Center would be demolished by MG Developer for a luxury development called Gables Village. Several buildings next door to Peñas' and Genendlis' quaint three-story building,  many of them built just after World War II, were purchased by investment groups. Up to now, they've been an oasis of affordable housing in the otherwise high-dollar municipality.

Shortly after they moved in, Peñas and Victoria Genendlis say, their landlord informed them the building had been sold, though he didn't know how much notice they'd be given before they'd have to move out. They also say the landlord refused to supply contact information for the new owner. (New Times was unable to reach the landlord for comment by phone on Tuesday and Wednesday.)

The news was devastating for the young women, high school friends who are enrolled at FIU and Miami Dade College and had only recently moved in after months of searching.

"Coral Gables has made me want to stay in Miami because of the people and the environment, and we can't beat this rent anywhere else," Peñas says.

Now they're thinking it might be easier to cut their losses and try their luck in another city.

"I was between transferring to the University of Miami and going to Emerson College in Boston. Now this kinda makes my decision for me," Genendlis says. "Growing up in Miami Springs, I always knew finding a place to live would be expensive. I guess because of that issue, you don't really know where you can plant your life and have a relationship with your community."

In the meantime, she and Peñas are in limbo, awaiting word from the new owners that they have to pack up and go. They're enjoying the time and "going down in style."

"I see myself moving somewhere else, like California, and always going around," Peñas says. "My goal is to explore as much as I can."