UPDATED, April 27, 10:40 a.m.: How do developers market their projects and neighborhoods to boost interest? Lissette Calderon is going the literary way.
Calderon launched a luxury lifestyle magazine about Allapattah, the once gritty Miami neighborhood where she is spearheading three apartment projects.
AllaWay magazine’s target audience includes people looking to live in Allapattah and business owners looking to establish a base in the neighborhood, Calderon said. Yet, during AllaWay’s premier party last week, she insisted the new publication is not intended to be a self-promotional vehicle, even though the inaugural issue’s main feature is on Calderon.
“We felt Allapattah was such a hidden gem, and it was such an untold story, we wanted to tell everybody the story of Allapattah,” Calderon said. “At first, it was a guide to Allapattah, and it just started evolving into a lifestyle magazine because of the character and the authenticity of Allapattah.”
Calderon, president and CEO of Neology Life Development Group, built No. 17 Residences, a 192-unit Allapattah apartment building that opened in April of last year and is fully leased. She is also developing The Julia, a 14-story, 323-unit multifamily project, and Allapattah 14, a 237-unit rental building with ground-floor retail space.
For her publishing venture, Calderon tapped Jenny Starr Perez, former editor-in-chief of Indulge Magazine as AllaWay’s editorial director. And Neology’s creative team, led by lifestyle photographer and creative director Maria Galli, is in charge of the magazine’s design.
The inaugural 36-page issue features interviews with restaurateur Andreas Schreiner, who owns the restaurant Leku at the Rubell Museum — the scene of the launch party — and Shantelle Rodriguez, director of experiential art centers at Allapattah museum Superblue Miami. Other pages are dedicated to quick blurbs about local businesses, such as sneaker repair shop The Cobblers, and thrift store Lotus House. Miami historian Paul George contributed a piece about Allapattah’s history.
AllaWay issue also featured a story about, well, Calderon and why she is developing in Allapattah, written by Perez. “That was definitely not me,” Calderon said. “Jenny felt very strongly that the person that was most passionate about the story of Allapattah and being at the forefront, is me. I did push back. The compromise was to tell various peoples’ stories. I wanted to make sure Allapattah wasn’t just seen through my eyes.”
Calderon, Perez and Galli began working on the first issue near the end of 2021 with a spring publishing deadline. “Our first run was about 5,000 copies or so,” Calderon said. “At first we thought maybe we will do it semi-annually. But given the incredible reception and interest so many people are expressing, we are possibly looking at doing it quarterly.”
Correction: A previous version of this story misidentified the number of units in No. 17 Residences.