In a recent NBC6.net story titled “Population Boom Hits Downtown Miami”, Jorge Perez, Miami’s leading developer whose company The Related Group is responsible for the development of an estimated 6,400 units in the Dwntwn (no pun intended)/Brickell area, states that his only regret was not buying more land near his first building in the area, the 896-unit One Miami, located at the mouth of the north bank of the Miami River and Biscayne Bay.
His prognosis: there will be 20,000 new units in Downtown Miami in the next five years that “will get occupied over time. The more those buildings get occupied, the more the city will work".
The more those buildings get occupied, the more the city will work?
Will the city’s urban core actually work as a result of local government’s lack of proper planning (i.e transportation - public or otherwise)? Better yet, will it work as a result of government’s lack of execution (i.e. half penny tax)? Will the price of oil force locals to trade their Mercedes Benz keys in for a pair of New Balance 992s? Will the desire for a sense of place convince “white flighters” to give up the backyard, the mango trees, and the picket fence? Will an urban playground be enough to attract “the best and the brightest”?
Is Jorge Perez our modern day version of Robert Moses (albeit less polarizing) or is he just a powerful private citizen/urban planner/developer (described in a 2005 Time Magazine article as an active Democratic fund raiser who advised Bill Clinton on Cuba) who graced and persuaded us with his vision of Miami as a 24-hour self-sustained city?
Will design take over our lives in 10 years? Will Miami green space cease to be an oxymoron? Will the Marlins join us dwntwn - does it matter? Will Bayside Marketplace make a comeback? Will the MFA (Master in Fine Arts) be the new MBA? Will architects be the only ones who matter?
Will the scantily-clad brochure model be around when the last unit has sold?
Full Story “Population Boom Hits Downtown Miami”
http://www.nbc6.net./news/14293477/detail.html
Adrian Salgado is a Realtor Associate with RED I Realty in Miami, FL and can be reached at 305-491-7179 or SalgadoA@gmail.com.
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