The Miami real estate market is a very important economic sector. We want to know who are the main players in this market. To do so, we decided to focus on two neighborhoods that have changed tremendously in recent years.
District Design: Initially, this district was named BUENA VISTA and known for its furniture factories and warehouses. At that time, this neighborhood was also known for its very high crime rate. It was not until the late 1990s that an entrepreneur saw the potential of this neighborhood and decided to transform it: Miami-born Craig Robins was a visionary. He will quickly own 18 blocks and implement a strategy to attract the big names in design, convincing them to come and settle in this long shunted neighborhood.
Knowing how to surround himself, he partnered with L REAL ESTATE, subsidiary of the LVMH group (LOUIS VUITTON) creating DACRA. DESIGN DISTRICT then becomes the neighborhood of art and luxury by juxtaposing designer brands with art collections of international importance, phenomenal temporary and permanent installations of art and design, leading worldwide luxury fashion brands stores, famous restaurants. To promote this neighborhood, Craig Robins decided to create in 2005 an American franchise of ART BASEL, a contemporary art event held annually in Basel, Switzerland (now in Hong Kong, China as well).
From now on, DESIGN DISTRICT is known and recognized around the world as a high place where luxury and contemporary art coexist.
Wynwood: This district, originally named EL BARRIO, was a high place of clothing manufacturing. Rapidly a victim of its reputation, rents increased, forcing the manufacturers to leave the premises to settle mainly in HIALEAH where rents were more accessible but also where their employees lived, leaving WYNWOOD abandoned.
The artists then took possession of the abandoned warehouses, but another visionary developer and artist, Tony Goldman, will buy 30 buildings in 2010 and ask some artists to express themselves on these abandoned walls and thus creates a community spirit that, according to him, creates the emulation of a neighborhood and its wealth.
That’s when he opens Wynwood Walls, an open-air museum that becomes a tourist attraction. Investors will soon realize that they must be present and change the face of this neighborhood that is now in demand by a new, more affluent and trendier population.
