Despite ongoing cleanup, these Ludlam Trail apartments are expected to be ready in 2022

A signature village planned for the long-awaited Ludlam Trail linear park will go ahead as scheduled — but after the developer detoxes the site.

In December, MiamiDade County commissioners declared the four-acre site at the intersection of the Ludlam Trail and Bird Road as contaminated. But Orlando-based development firm ZOM Living said the finding won’t delay from its original completion date of 2022.

ZOM said it will be able to remediate the land while moving forward on the $90 millionMiLine Ludlam Trail. The project includes 950 rental apartments, retail and grounds with a bike trail, pool deck and dog park.

“As part of our phased development plan, we coordinated a standard remediation process that was thoroughly vetted and approved by Miami-Dade County’s Department of Environmental Resources Management and all other requisite jurisdictions,” said a ZOM spokesperson via email.

In 2018, the entire 6.2 miles of the former rail corridor from Dadeland to Miami International Airport was fenced off after environmental regulators discovered soil and groundwater contamination. Though the corridor’s environmental review won’t be completed until later this year, the county relaunched the trail last November with a public meeting seeking input on the project’s design. Construction on the linear park is scheduled to begin in 2022 and will take three years.

MiLine Ludlam Trail is the second development underway along the proposed linear park. In June 2020, the Altman Companies broke ground on the $55.4 million Altís Ludlam Trail, a six-story apartment complex at 7004 Bird Road. It, too, is slated for completion in 2022.

Lake | Flato ZOM Living is developing a $90 million mixed-use development on the Ludlam Trail. Above is a rendering of ZOM Living’s 50,000-square-foot outdoor amenity space.