Allapattah borders some of Miami’s hippest areas — Wynwood and the Design District — but many predict the working-class neighborhood might soon be a cool destination itself. The Real Deal reports forward-thinking investors are taking notice of the neighborhood, resulting in a flurry of activity and rising prices. 

The city of Miami recently rezoned much of the neighborhood to allow for taller, more dense developments. This comes on the heels of last year’s announcement that the Rubell Family Collection Museum, currently in Wynwood, is moving to Allapattah in 2018. With the Rubell family’s endorsement of the neighborhood, more companies are moving in.

The neighborhood has many attributes that are causing developers to take notice. Its warehouses give Allapattah the industrial charm of neighborhoods like Chicago’s West Loop or New York’s Meatpacking District; there’s a lot of land available; it’s near some of Miami’s biggest employers including Jackson Memorial Hospital, the Ryder Trauma Center, and the Civic Center; and it’s close to Downtown Miami and the airport. And best of all? The neighborhood sits on higher ground, making rising sea levels less of a threat.

Of course, the neighborhood is already getting expensive. While some property in the big neighborhood remains cheap, Carlos Fausto Miranda, a commercial real estate broker quoted in The Real Deal article, said some properties in the neighborhood can rent for as much as $30 per square foot, and sale prices have jumped from $100 per square foot to as much as $300 in the few-year period he’s done business in the neighborhood.