Temple Judea, the only Reform congregation in Coral Gables, has named a three-firm team to restore and modernize its landmark Morris Lapidus-designed campus at U.S. 1 and Granada Boulevard.
The congregation’s LEV – From the Heart Capital Campaign (“lev” means “heart” in Hebrew) will pair Miami-based ELM ARCH as project architect with South Miami’s RedDoor Construction and New York firm CetraRuddy, which will lead interior design. The announcement, reported by Community Newspapers, marks the project’s shift into design and construction planning as fundraising continues.
The scope includes restoring the building’s historic architecture, renewing the sanctuary and communal spaces, upgrading technology and lighting, improving accessibility and strengthening security. No construction start date has been disclosed. The campaign’s fundraising goal is $10 million.
Campaign co-chairs Margie Baron, Michael Spritzer, Julie Simon and Gary Simon said in a joint statement that the project carries “an extraordinary responsibility to preserve an important part of Coral Gables and Miami architectural history” while creating a campus that will serve the congregation for another 80 years.
A Lapidus landmark since 1966
Lapidus, the architect behind the Fontainebleau and Eden Roc hotels on Miami Beach, completed Temple Judea in 1966. It was the first Jewish temple built in Coral Gables and the first building Lapidus designed in the city. The City of Coral Gables designated the campus a Local Historic Landmark in 2013.
The building’s signature three entrance arches were inspired by then-Rabbi Kipper’s vision of a synagogue as a House of Worship, a House of Study and a House of Assembly. As Lapidus himself described his intent in a passage republished in a March 2023 Coral Gables Magazine feature: “I wanted to create a feeling of light and welcome to the religious, social, and educational facilities which make Temple Judea a complete center of activity for the entire congregation.”
Nearly 700 households
Temple Judea traces its roots to 1946, when Jewish families in and around Coral Gables gathered in private homes, storefronts and at the University of Miami Hillel Center for worship. The congregation formally organized in September 1948 and took the name Temple Judea in 1956. It now counts nearly 700 member households.
Senior Rabbi Judith L. Siegal and President Lawrence Lambert lead the congregation. Lambert called the campaign “the careful stewardship of an architectural and spiritual legacy honoring what Morris Lapidus created, celebrating what generations of Temple Judea families have built and imagining what comes next.”
ELM ARCH founder Erik Myers, a Miami native with nearly three decades of South Florida commercial architecture experience, will oversee the project’s architectural work. CetraRuddy, which received a 2025 SARA NY Design Award of Honor, will handle interior design.
No groundbreaking date or public campaign event has been announced.
