Lifting communities with affordable housing: Liebherr aids Miami

To meet the demands of affordable housing construction, MRA Equipment Rental LLC is leveraging Liebherr’s self-erecting tower cranes to streamline modular construction sites throughout Miami, including Princeton Gateways I. These advanced cranes enable rapid deployment and offer easy maneuverability, making them an ideal choice for the urban construction site.

Renowned for its tropical climate, vibrant culture, and diverse community, Miami is a highly sought-after city for those looking to establish their roots. Despite the many advantages of this modern city, a major challenge remains – there is a significant shortage of housing options for tens of thousands of residents within certain income brackets.

As the housing deficit continues to grow, companies are seeking initiatives to provide high-quality, affordable housing sites for the South Florida region. Chilean-based company VAIN has partnered with the well-established Alta Developers to create a vertically integrated construction solution that maximizes efficiency and delivers high-quality, affordable housing units at the most competitive prices on the market, using Liebherr tower cranes.

“After 25 years in business, our company was well established and ready for a significant upgrade to our entire fleet of self-erecting cranes. After compiling extensive global research, we attended Bauma and chose to move forward with Liebherr tower cranes. We appreciate that Liebherr is also a family-run company that offers a global service network and high-quality products,” said Ernesto Valle, owner of VAIN. “We bought our first ten Liebherr self-erecting cranes for projects based in Chile, and later progressed operations into Peru, Brazil, and Panama. Now, we are very excited to begin our first job with the self-erectors in the United States.”

Through this joint venture, MRA Equipment Rental LLC was established to exclusively manage the rental of heavy equipment for all in-house developments, beginning with their inaugural US-based project: Princeton Gateways I in Miami, Florida. Scheduled to break ground in August 2025, the development will be fully completed in February 2027. Located in Princeton, a small city in the southern part of Miami-Dade County, MRA Equipment Rental utilizes the Liebherr 125 K crane and 81 K.1 crane self-erecting tower cranes to create the eight-building, 500-unit development at Princeton Gateways I.

Both the 125 K and 81 K.1 cranes are being utilized to lift pre-assembled formwork, rebar, and concrete. The cranes were designed to operate simultaneously within a carefully planned daily cycle, enabling the construction of two apartments per day. This makes it crucial for Liebherr tower cranes to operate efficiently to meet these daily scheduling demands.

“It’s always been a part of our objectives and challenges to look for efficiencies in both costs and time when developing a new job. This effort and our work with Liebherr are in line with that objective and the goal of delivering great homes for future families,” said Ignacio Montes, president of Alta Developers.

By taking a much more industrial approach to developing a residential community, Montes noted that they are looking for more continuity, remaining efficient in cost, and hoping to create a new production line for Alta Developers in future.