Use unlock
Multifamily and mixed-use residential allowed on land zoned commercial, industrial, or mixed-use under qualifying conditions — regardless of the underlying zoning's prohibition on residential use.
Specialty · SB 102 (2023) + SB 328 (2024) Statutory Framework
Multifamily density on commercial & industrial land. Statewide.
Florida's Live Local Act (Senate Bill 102, expanded by SB 328) created statewide multifamily-density opportunities on commercial- and industrial-zoned land that meets specific eligibility criteria. Apice handles technical feasibility, design pathway, and permitting alignment for Live Local Act projects.
What the act enables
Density unlock with statutory protections.
Six statutory benefits when the project qualifies. The combination is what makes deals pencil that previously didn't.
Density unlock
Density up to the highest allowed in any zoning district in the local jurisdiction — subject to the project meeting the act's affordability requirements (40% at 120% AMI for 30 years).
Height unlock
Height up to the highest allowed within a 1-mile radius (per SB 328) of the project site — with statutory protections from local height-cap pushback.
Administrative review
Qualifying projects entitled to administrative-only review — without requiring a public hearing, rezone, or comp-plan amendment. The political risk of a council vote is removed.
Parking flexibility
Reduced parking requirements where the project meets the act's transit-proximity or mixed-use criteria. Material per-door cost reduction for podium and structured-parking deals.
Property-tax incentives
Property-tax abatement or exemption available for qualifying projects under separate FL statutory framework — coordinated with the act's land-use benefits where applicable.
Eligibility criteria
Whether the parcel actually qualifies.
Not every commercial site qualifies. The technical screen matters before any further work happens.
01
Underlying zoning
Site must be zoned commercial, industrial, or mixed-use that allows commercial use. Comp-plan future-land-use designation also reviewed.
02
Use compatibility
Specific qualifying-use criteria under SB 102 / SB 328 confirmed for the parcel and the surrounding-area context.
03
Affordability commitment
40% of units committed at or below 120% AMI for 30 years — recorded against the property as part of the entitlement.
04
Height baseline
Highest height allowed within a 1-mile radius of the parcel mapped from local zoning — this sets the statutory height ceiling.
05
Density baseline
Highest residential density allowed in any zoning district city-wide / county-wide — this sets the statutory density cap.
06
Administrative pathway
Administrative-only review confirmed with the jurisdiction. Some jurisdictions still resist — documentation of statutory protections matters.
What Apice handles
Eligibility · Design · Permitting.
Eligibility analysis
Site-specific analysis of whether the parcel qualifies. Zoning, comp-plan compatibility, surrounding-jurisdiction height baseline, and whether the affordability commitment makes economic sense.
Design within the act
Architectural design coordinated with the act's specific density, height, unit-mix, and parking requirements — and with the affordability commitment that makes the entitlement valid.
Permitting pathway
Submittal strategy for administrative-only review. Documentation of statutory protections invoked. Comment-cycle management with jurisdictions still adjusting to the act's framework.
Affordability coordination
Coordination of the act's affordability commitment with project economics — units committed at defined AMI levels per the statute, recorded land-use restriction, compliance reporting framework.
When this works
The deals that pencil under the act.
Live Local Act is most powerful where the underlying commercial / industrial parcel was suppressed in value because residential wasn't allowed. The unlock changes the basis math.
- Underutilized retail centers near transit corridors
- Older office product where residential conversion adds value
- Light-industrial parcels in growth-corridor submarkets
- Surface-parking-dominated commercial sites near downtown
- Adaptive-reuse candidates (existing structure, residential conversion)
Have a commercial site that might qualify? Send the parcel ID — eligibility screen takes 48-72 hours.
Review Site Feasibility SB 102 / SB 328 Statutory Framework · (407) 674-2415