The Multifamily Development Panel at TRD’s Miami Forum

More than a thousand apartments along the Miami River. Over two hundred in Allapattah. Another 310 in Wynwood, and 427 right around the corner, plus another 289 on the border with Edgewater. 

These are a few of the plans of just two of South Florida’s growing number of multifamily developers. 

These developers in particular — Lissette Calderon of Neology Life and Jenny Bernell of Clearline Real Estate — both know how to get projects done in South Florida. But it’s not so easy to keep building, especially with uncertain markets, expensive financing, and more competition than ever to build Miami’s next hot project.

It’s not an easy time to bring a project onto the market, either, with occupancy starting to drop, and population declining (albeit slightly) in Miami for the first time in years. We reported that investment sales volume was down over the summer, though as one source pointed out, “dropping from 97 percent occupancy to 95 percent is really more of a normalization.”

Still, the multifamily asset class has become a magnet for new investors and development wannabes in the last few years. Some of those, particularly the fix-and-flip types and the syndicators whose deal volume has skyrocketed, have seen cracks in their business plans already. 

But for those with the right know-how, plenty of opportunity is still to be had. That’s why The Real Deal is bringing these top multifamily developers to the 2023 South Florida Forum. We’ll lay out all the problems and possibilities with developing today. 

Lissette Calderon, known as the “Queen of the Miami River,” has been developing since she was 28, first sharpening her skills at the Related Group, but now with thousands of apartments under her own banner. Jenny Bernell, meanwhile, struck out on her own from Kushner Companies in 2021, and already has 1,500 apartments in the pipeline up and down the Eastern Seaboard. Three of those are just a stone’s throw from our stage at Mana Wynwood. 

Don’t miss these experts detailing everything you need to know about one of the nation’s hottest asset classes. Get your tickets to the South Florida Forum today. We’ll see you on Nov. 9th!