Lissette Calderon’s Neology Life nixed a 1,360-unit multifamily project after selling a development site near the Miami River for $54 million.
An affiliate of Miami-based Neology sold the 7.3-acre site at 2301 Northwest 33rd Avenue to Miami-Dade County, records show. Calderon’s firm had planned to develop the site into a multifamily complex consisting of three buildings with 1,360 apartments that would have been built in three phases.
Three years ago, Neology paid an entity tied to Chicago-based Oak Street Management $32.2 million for the former car rental facility, records show. The site is near Miami International Airport and Miami Freedom Park, the planned $1 billion mixed-use project anchored by a soccer stadium. Miami Freedom Park is being developed by Inter Miami, led by Miami billionaire Jorge Mas, retired soccer star David Beckham and Los Angeles-based Ares Management
Last month, the Miami-Dade County Commission approved the purchase of the development site. Miami-Dade officials began negotiations with Neology about a year ago to acquire the site, a county memo states. The land will likely be used for new parking as part of a $9 billion capital improvement program for the airport. The county obtained two appraisals that valued the land at $54 million and $63 million, respectively, according to the memo.
Neology recently completed The Julia Residences, a 14-story multifamily project with 323 units in Miami’s Allapattah neighborhood. In January, Calderon’s firm obtained an $84.5 million refinancing for The Julia from New York-based Apollo Asset Management. At the time, the building was 97 percent occupied.
The developer also recently opened Fourteen Main Street Residences, another Allapattah multifamily project consisting of a 14-story building and a five-story low-rise building with a combined 237 apartments. In December, Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Property Trust provided a $63.5 million refinancing for Fourteen Main Street Residences.
Calderon was among the first developers to build condominiums along the Miami River in the early 2000s.