City Centered Perez began his career as an urban planner with the city of Miami, thinking that it would be the best way to influence the urban skyline. But it wasn’t long before he developed the itch to build. In 1979, he partnered with Steve Ross, who already owned The Related Group of New York, to form The Related Group of Florida.
Because of financial constraints, the company’s early focus was affordable housing. Perez’s experience working in the city government was helpful; he knew how and where to get the money to build Section 8 housing. In those days, financing was easier to obtain for affordable housing.
After 10 years of success in affordable development, Perez was ready for something different. While he thought affordable housing served a great public purpose, the cost limitations and government design control held him back. “I did not want the constraint of always being cost driven,” he says. He also wanted to build mixed-used projects, and he says it’s very difficult to get retailers to go into affordable locations.
Perez moved into garden apartments, only to tire of suburban building after about five years. “We did great things inside and outside of the [garden-style] units,” he says. “But you keep asking yourself what you believe in. With me, it was cities.”
Specifically, Perez wants to improve the cities. He thinks this can best be accomplished by building thriving city centers, complete with shops, restaurants, offices, and, of course, multifamily dwellings.
One of the first steps in his back-to-the-city crusade came somewhat unexpectedly. In 1993, he bailed out developer Thomas Kramer, who was having construction problems on a South Beach project. “[Kramer] got to about the fifth or sixth floor of his first building [and ran into problems],” says Joyce Bronson, a senior vice president for The Related Group. “He needed to partner with someone who was skilled in construction and easily financed, which Jorge was.”
After the project, Portofino Towers, was completed in 1995, Perez built four more condominium projects on a 20-acre site he bought from Kramer for approximately $150 million. Another is still in development on this site. “It’s almost as if each of the buildings was adding another crown to what he had just done on South Beach,” Bronson says. “But Portofino Towers created the buzz that Jorge was moving into the condo market.”
Despite the focus on condos, Perez still builds apartments. He currently has about 1,000 units in the pipeline. While many of the buildings are sold once they are leased, the company remains the owner of the more luxurious projects. Though he has a management company that oversees about 10,000 apartment units, Perez admits it is not a part of the business that he likes very much. “Management is a royal pain in the behind for me, but it’s a necessary evil,” he says. “It’s very, very important to have a good management company that will protect your assets.”
