Lissette Calderon, Rubells, Simkins’ Lion Plan Miami Project

Lissette Calderon, the Rubell real estate and art family, and Lion Development Group are partnering on a three-phase residential project in Miami’s Allapattah neighborhood, The Real Deal has learned.

The trio plans part I of the project as a 21-story, 330-unit rental highrise with 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail at 1000 Northwest 23rd Street, according to the developers’ news release. Construction of the building is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2027, and completion is expected in the first half of 2029.

Calderon’s Coconut Grove-based Neology Group, the Rubell family and Michael Simkins’ Miami-based Lion Development plan two subsequent phases, to be announced next year, the release said. The project is being developed in a nod toward Allapattah’s growth as an arts and culture district.

The project marks a new partnership between Calderon and the Rubells, both powerhouses in the Allapattah neighborhood. It also comes amid a South Florida multifamily slowdown due to hefty deliveries of new units in the past two years, and a calmer influx of out-of-staters, leading to slower lease-ups and more concessions.

Developers have argued the market will pick up by the time they finish their apartment projects in the coming years.

The Rubell family owns the 1-acre development site where the first highrise is planned, property records show. The land also is near the Rubell Museum, a 100,000-square-foot art campus with 33 galleries in several interconnected warehouses. The museum is at 1100 Northwest 23rd Street.

The Rubells, who have been Miami Beach developers for years, opened their collection to the public in 1993 in Miami’s Wynwood. Over the past decade, Wynwood was supercharged as an arts district and real estate market, and the Rubells moved their collection to Allapattah in 2019, where they’ve also been amassing properties.

Simkins’ Lion has partnered on projects elsewhere in Miami, including the 659-unit 38 West Eleventh Residences Miami condo tower with PMG and Marc Roberts, one of a slew of towers the trio plans.

Allapattah, traditionally a Dominican enclave where the primary industry once was fruitpacking, has attracted developers’ and gallerists’ eyes.

In Allapattah, Calderon’s completed apartment projects in recent years include the 192-unit No. 17 Residences, finished in 2021; the 323-unit The Julia Residences, which was finished this year; and the 237-unit Fourteen Main Street Residences, also completed this year.