Adam Neumann is fast becoming persona non-grata in El Portal, the small village in northeast Miami-Dade County where he wants to erase an old church to make way for his wife’s private school.
At a town hall Thursday, a procession of village residents bashed Neumann, who was not in attendance, and two owner representatives for SOLFL School, who hosted the event.
Four days earlier, crews began tearing down the Rader Memorial United Methodist Church at 205 Northeast 87th Street, which Neumann purchased 11 months ago for $13.7 million. The price was more than $8 million above the previous sale price in 2021. While the 1950s building is not a historic landmark, the church has stood as the village’s signature property for nearly 75 years.
El Portal residents said they were blindsided by the demolition, fueling their suspicions that Neumann and SOLFL representatives are going to plow ahead with redeveloping the property without their input.
The name is an acronym for Student of Life, For Life, a holistic Jewish school founded by Rebekah Neumann that operates a Montessori-style, Torah-centered learning environment, according to SOLFL’s website.
Neumann did not respond to email requesting comment.
Roughly 100 people attended the town hall, and several spoke with condemnation.
“When you tore down the church, you punched us in the face,” said Denise White, a resident who spoke at the town hall. “Right now, you’re acting overlordy, not neighborly.”
It was the first of two community meetings mandated by El Portal Village Council after its members delayed voting on zoning changes that would allow the school on the church property.
SOLFL is a rebranding of WeGrow, a school started by the Neumanns as an off-shoot of WeWork, the co-working firm previously helmed by Adam Neumann. He stepped down as CEO in 2019 under pressure from WeWork’s board of directors and investors after a botched attempt to take the company public.
In December and January, SOLFL representatives presented the vision for the new campus, which consists of two-story Tiki hut-style buildings and an eight-foot wall surrounding the property’s perimeter. The structure would be built using 3-D printing technology. The proposed campus would teach a maximum of 350 students from kindergarten to 12th grade.
Demolition of the church is in SOLFL’s site plan and other documents submitted to the village, but school representatives did not disclose that a teardown permit was obtained in November and that the teardown would begin before the town hall, videos of the city council meetings show.
SOLFL representative Jeffrey Davis said the demolition work could not be paused. “It has to be cleared,” he said. “It is completely unsafe.”
Residents said keeping them in the dark about the demolition reinforced their lack of trust.
“You weren’t transparent at the last meeting,” said Calixto Navarro Acosta. “There are ulterior motives and nefarious motives here. We are not dealing with a clean slate.”
SOLFL is seeking village council approval for a site plan, an amendment to El Portal’s comprehensive master plan and a special exception for 2.1 acres that includes the church property and a neighboring single family house and vacant lot, which was part of the $13.7 million acquisition.
Neumann purchased the church property from an affiliate of Miami-based Elm Springs, which paid $5.5 million for the site five years ago, and had previously planned on converting the building into office, retail and restaurant spaces.
Over the summer, SOLFL explored renovating the church into a school, but had to pivot to new construction because it is less expensive, Davis said.
The school is one of two projects Neumann is planning in El Portal.
Last year, Neumann’s Miami-based multifamily development firm Flow and Canada Global bought a 16-acre former mobile home park in El Portal for $71.5 million after winning a courthouse auction for the site. The joint venture is planning a mixed-use project with 2,380-plus apartments, but plans have not been disclosed.