To paraphrase the late Sen. Everett Dirksen: A billion dollar project here, a billion dollar there and pretty soon you’re talking about a booming real estate market.
That’s what makes the timing so interesting for the Marcus & Millichap and Institutional Property Advisors” Commercial Real Estate Forum: Florida conference on Thursday, Jan. 29. We all want to know just how will this development wave in South Florida keep unfolding and how long can it go on?
The conference has an impressive list of panelists, speakers and presenters, which should make for great networking and dealmaking. The keynote speaker in the morning will be David Martin, President and Owner of Terra Group, who co-founded the company with his father, Pedro. Martin will be talking about community and the importance of design.
SFBW is a media sponsor and you can get a $75 discount by using this shortcut link: https://goo.gl/TuYc8r and applying our promotional code: MP-75SFBW.
I’d urge you to look at the speakers and agenda on the event website, mmfloridaforum.com, but I’ve picked out four panels that intrigue me a lot:
State of the Market
I like this panel because it has a great mix of long-established developers, such as Joel Altman and Andy Ansin, and people involved in cutting-edge new projects.
Miami Worldcenter and All Aboard Florida’s Miami station will transform the area near the NAP of the Americas and north of the Miami-Dade County Courthouse with about $2 billion in investment. Only in Miami, of course, would there be another $1 billion project across the river – Brickell City Centre.
John Guitar, one of the panelists, was recently in SFBW as part of an article about transit-oriented development in the region – https://sfbwmag.comdepartments/new-south-florida/10-takeaways.
SFBW also had an architectural Spaces feature about the Climate Ribbon at Brickell City Centre ” https://sfbwmag.comdepartments/spaces/fighting-elements
Here is the list of panelists:
” Joel Altman, Chairman, Altman Companies
- ” Andy Ansin, Vice President, Sunbeam Properties
- ” Casey Cummings, Chief Executive Officer, Ram Realty
- ” John Guitar, SVP – Business Development, All Aboard Florida
- ” Adam Lustig, Partner, Bilzin Sumberg
- ” Nitin Motwani, Principal, Miami Worldcenter
Building for the Future: Emerging Hot Spots
This panel will include a focus on millennials, which is a hot topic among business people. The description for the panel encapsulates what I’m hearing from business people by asking, “What needs to be done to ensure millennials don’t leave the state? What kinds of new spaces are they demanding to work, live and shop in, and where are those projects being built? How will the addition of mass transit connect communities and further power the trend of development north of Miami where land prices and lack of availability is prohibitive to certain types of asset classes?”
The speakers are:
- ” Ryan Bailine, Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig
- ” Chris Cobb, Principal, Grass River Properties
- ” Michael Ging, Managing Director, Alliance Residential
- ” Jordan Kavana, Chief Operating Officer, K Group Holdings
- ” Michael Tillman, Director, LeFrak Organization
Supply & Demand: The Future of Investing in Florida
The basic question for this panel: Is South Florida pricing itself out of the market?
I don’t think so based on what I’ve heard recently, but like this topic because of several trends I’ve noticed:
- South Florida has joined the top tier of major cities in the U.S. when it comes to development. (Some argue that it only trails New York City.)
- Office projects can’t make the numbers work in Brickell, because condos developers can pay a lot of money for sites.
- Condo developers in Miami are launching projects in Broward and marketing lower prices points.
- South Florida has long said it is a cheaper area than other global hot spots, but its prices are rising.
The speakers are:
” Patrick Carroll, Founder & CEO, Carroll Organization
” Ed Easton, Founder, Chairman & CEO, Easton Group
- ” Pedro Garcia, Property Appraiser, Miami Dade County
- ” John Osborne, Vice President, Crocker Partners
- ” Brian Schmier, Vice President, Schmier & Feurring Properties
Miami’s Top Real Estate Families: The Next Generation
I’ve been saying recently that there seems to be a changing of the guard coming in the next decade – a lot of business people my age are grooming their successors.
” Kirk Felici, First Vice President/Regional Manager – Miami, Marcus & Millichap, will be the moderator and the speakers are:
” Ana-Marie Codina Barlick, Chief Executive Officer, Downtown Doral
- ” Michael Berkowitz, Vice President, Berkowitz Development
- ” Matthew Whitman Lazenby, President & CEO, Whitman Family Development (Bal Harbour Shops)
- ” Jon Paul Pérez, Vice President, Related Development
