Developers Of Sprawling SoLé Mia Project To Build 90K SF Charter School

A charter school is coming to SoLé Mia, the latest new use for the master-planned community in North Miami after its developers began construction on a medical center there last year. 

The 184-acre SoLé Mia will add a 90K SF Mater Academy elementary school that is slated to open in 2025, Bisnow can first report. The school will be built across two phases and will serve up to 1,500 students living in the master-planned community, developed by New York-based LeFrak and Aventura-based Turnberry. 

“Unlike in the Northeast, and largely because of rapidly increasing demand, Miami currently lacks the plentiful optionality in quality schools,” Richard LeFrak, chairman and CEO of LeFrak, told Bisnow in an emailed statement. “As a company, when developing any of our communities over many decades, LeFrak has always focused on the three significant standards that motivate people looking to relocate: schools, shopping and access to transportation. The school is another and a very important piece to the puzzle of community building.”

Billed as a city within a city, SoLé Mia is gradually being built out between Biscayne Boulevard and Biscayne Bay. Construction started in 2015, and around 1,000 people live in three properties on the site: The Shoreline, Villa SoLé and Villa Laguna. LeFrak and Turnberry broke ground on a fourth property in March, a 30-story tower called 2400 Laguna Circle that will add 328 apartments to the development. 

Mater Academy SoLé Mia will place an emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics education and will take advantage of the nearby Oleta River State Park to “expose students to natural sciences,” according to a release. Graduating fifth graders will have access to other Mater schools in the area, including Mater Academy Biscayne Middle and High School.

Mater Academy was established in 1998 and operates 41 tuition-free public charter schools serving around 26,000 students in Florida, Nevada and Ohio, including 18 locations in Miami-Dade County. The SoLé Mia school is being built and funded by Mater Academy, which secured the land at no cost through an inducement from LeFrak and Turnberry. 

"Our campus will be open to everyone, which serves as an amenity to our residents but also supports the greater North Miami community," Turnberry CEO Jackie Soffer said in an email. "After looking at some of the other public schools in the area and discussions with several experts, educators and charter school operators, we honed in on Mater Academy because they have such an excellent reputation, as well as an established middle and high school already open in the area." 

Charter schools are a popular choice for parents in Miami. The county has 82,635 students enrolled in 157 public charter schools, according to Miami-Dade County Public Schools, representing 24.6% of the district's total enrollment. The addition of the Mater Academy also comes amid a shortage of private school seats in Miami that has been stoked by a wave of pandemic-era migration of wealthy parents. 

“The rate of people moving here continues to outpace the availability of schools offering a top-tier education and with an ever-present need in the community,” LeFrak said. “Mater Academy SoLé Mia is our solution to this challenge and demonstrates just how much we recognize the importance of schools in a community setting.”

The school is the second community-focused offering for the development. The University of Miami broke ground last September on a 363K SF medical center at the development, called UHealth SoLé Mia. The seven-story facility will be the largest ambulatory site for the university's health system when it opens in early 2025.

“Excellent academic institutions are essential to vibrant, resilient place-making,” Soffer said. “The residents of SoLé Mia, as well as the doctors, nurses and administrators of the future University of Miami’s UHealth Medical Center, will benefit from having Mater Academy join our community.”

LeFrak and Turnberry paid North Miami $22M for 55 acres of the SoLé Mia site in 2015, with the city providing $15M in financing for the purchase. The rest of the site was secured through a 99-year ground lease with the city that was approved by the North Miami City Council in May 2012. 

The developers plan to build out the community over 20 years and have said it will ultimately include 15 to 20 residential properties and 500K SF of retail and office space. 

“If people are willing to move their young families to our neighborhood, it's a significant sign of success and long-term investment in the community we are creating,” LeFrak said. “We are excited to be welcoming an academically strong primary neighborhood school as an attractive amenity that our current and future residents will appreciate.”