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SunPost 50

Last year, when the SunPost 50 hit the streets, American troops had stormed into Baghdad, Iraqis were lynching statues of Saddam Hussein and it appeared that the war was all but over.

Now, Americans prepare to storm Najaf and Fallujah, Iraqis lynch the corpses of American contractors and the war appears to be a never-ending one.

Current events, they can be circular sometimes.

Current events have also influenced the SunPost 50 – on a local level. In this issue we take a look at the changes occurring in our coverage area and the individuals pushing these events forward.

As such, an inescapable reality is that many on this list are involved in the real estate industry in one way or another. Good or bad, the industry that seems to be booming right now is real estate as high-rises and office buildings sprout from the ground like wheat in a wheat field. This “wheat field,” in turn, effects the daily lives of just about everything this free weekly covers: politics, nightlife, restaurants, special events, etc. 

Another event that is hard to ignore: the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit. Moody anarchists did not burn Miami to the ground. But the leaders of Miami may have shown their true feelings on opinions that don’t quite go with the program. Calls for a special committee to investigate clashes between civilians and police from 40 or so agencies were not only rejected – they were ignored, leaving an understaffed Civilian Investigative Panel (CIP) and a powerless Independent Review Panel (IRP) to make sense of it all.

So here is the SunPost 50, a sort of “people” way to look at recent events and trends that have shaped this community and how 50 influential people either helped set these events in motion – or reacted to them in a significant way.

Written by Erik Bojnansky
Created by Andrew Stark

Bonnie Clearwater

The Curator

Miami has a thriving art scene.

This news is being spread throughout the planet Earth via print media outlets ranging from the glossy W magazine to the arts section of the New York Times. (Like there was any doubt once Art Basel decided to hold its spin-off art fair here a couple of years ago.) But the term “Miami” might be a little simplistic. Sure, there are some interesting spots in that sprawling city, from the emerging arts center in Wynwood to the Design District in Miami. But there are other places in this Miami-Dade County that is home to interesting arts venues.  Yes, there is Miami Beach. But we were thinking more on the line of North Miami – as in the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Once laughed off by the arts establishment, MoCA has now been hailed as one of the region’s best arts museums.

And Bonnie Clearwater has had a lot to do with that.

The executive director of MoCA, Clearwater was director of the Mark Rothko Foundation in Los Angeles before coming on board in North Miami. Anyone who is curious about Clearwater’s qualifications in art should simply go to Google and type in her name. You’ll find she has written and edited numerous arts books with titles like Sweet Dreams and Nightmare; Painting Into Photography, Photography Into Painting; Defining the Nineties and Roy Lichtenstein: Inside and Out.  You’ll also see she’s written monographs on many modern artists. 

But it’s Clearwater’s expertise as a curator that’s behind MoCA having hosted some of the most innovative art exhibitions in South Florida – ranging from the paintings of Roy Lichtenstein to the works of Yoko Ono. Yet another search on the Internet will reveal a host of local artists proudly listing Clearwater as a curator of their work. An important part of MoCA’s mission, in fact, is to exhibit the work of local artists. Among MoCA’s programs is Optic Nerve, which displays the film and movies of local filmmakers and artists, Music at MoCA, where South Florida classical musicians show their stuff, and, of course, the ever-popular Jazz at MoCA series.

Jeff Morr
Omnipresent

Majestic can mean many things: regal, royal, magnificent. In Miami Beach and Miami, Majestic might as well mean “omnipresent” because Majestic Properties signs can be seen on virtually every house, building or plot of land. And the ever present figure of Majestic, a company that not only handles real estate transactions and development but also representation and marketing for contemporary condominium projects, is Jeff Morr.

Morr got into the real estate business before he was old enough to drink. At the age of 21, Morr was the top producer of Century 21 Prospect Realty in Ft. Lauderdale. Having his fill of Broward County, Morr moved to Miami Beach in 1990, working as a real estate agent for Remax and Wimbish. In 1995 Morr founded Majestic Realty, a company that soon grew to a staff of over 200 agents that registered more than $300 million in property sales. A couple of years later he started the Majestic Collection, a special division that helps developers with everything from marketing and representation to site identification and land acquisition.

As if that weren’t enough, Morr has now decided to become a developer. Partnering with Fabien Tremoulet and Jeremy Green, Morr founded Urbana Development, a company his bio describes as being “focused on cutting-edge, mixed-use residential and retail/commercial projects in emerging, urban neighborhoods.” Right now Urbana Development is constructing Aria, a tower soon to rise over the Miami Design District.

Manny Diaz
Free Trader

Manny Diaz loves free trade. So much so that he was willing to debate an eccentric activist known as Bork when she caught up with him at Washington, D.C. during a Conference of Mayors summit to complain about how Miami welcomed opponents of the Free Trade Area of the Americas by having its police fire pepper balls and tasers at them and throwing them, still handcuffed, in Dade County Jail. Instead of calling Secret Service agents to make Bork disappear, Diaz actually debated her – accusing the FTAA demonstrators of intolerance of those who want free trade and plotting to destroy the summit. And just as vehemently as Bork insisted that she was “tortured” by police, Diaz insisted that his police force did a great job preventing Miami from being taken over by unruly anarchists and referred her to the Civilian Investigative Panel.

Two words can best describe Diaz: “business friendly.” If there is one thing his administration can be credited with it is creating such a friendly environment for developers in Miami that dozens and dozens of new projects are lining up to build.  Need an increase in zoning?  No problem. Want us to look into expanding the proposed light rail by your project?  Sure. Got some concurrency problems? We’ll see what we can do. The result: developers who were being shut out of beach areas flowed right into Miami.

But now, with signs that the development boom may impact Miami’s quality of life, residents are asking for the brakes to be applied. The city and Diaz have been compliant with such demands – examining old ordinances, enacting height limits here and there, and strengthening historic preservation laws. But not so much as to keep the real estate frenzy from being Miami’s economic engine – much in the same way as tourism is the economic engine for Miami Beach.

Diaz has had his scrapes with controversy. His support of the police action against FTAA demonstrators has made Diaz every bit the boogeyman for labor union activists around the country as Police Chief Timoney. And the lawsuit surrounding his business, Monty’s, has given him a black eye in the publicity arena. But in temperament and style, Diaz is far superior to predecessors like Xavier Suarez and Joe Carollo. Diaz is thus the picture of economic stability and Miami’s economic revitalization goes on.

Edie Laquer

Insomniac

The official nickname of Miami is the Magic City. An argument could also be made that the giant municipality should be called “Deal City,” since all sorts of real estate projects and deals are popping up like magic.

And the head wizard of deals in this booming metropolis is Edie Laquer. Laquer brokered virtually every big land deal in Miami. The Midtown Miami/FEC Railyard/Buena Vista deal? Brokered by Laquer. One Miami? Brokered by Laquer. Everglades on the Bay? Brokered by Laquer. CocoWalk in Coconut Grove? Brokered by Laquer. Even Laquer-involved land deals that haven’t gone through yet are intriguing. Case-in-point: Jacob “Hank” Sopher’s bid to buy the Miami Arena from the City of Miami, the facility that Mayor Manny Diaz has affectionately called a “white elephant.” At deadline nothing’s been signed, but that could change – if Laquer likes the deal.

Laquer has been brokering landmark deals in Miami since she arrived from Toronto in 1979. The secret to Laquer’s success seems to be insomnia, if a 2000 Miami New Times profile on the broker is accurate. She goes to work at 4 a.m. to organize the basic deals and keeps on working until the late evening. Her energy, networking skills, and work ethic have won her the admiration of developers and realtors all over South Florida, paving the way for her company (which pretty much consists of herself and her secretary) making hundreds of millions of dollars in sales. (A New Times article from four years ago quotes Laquer as saying she racked up “more than a half-billion dollars in property sales over her twenty-year career.” Given today’s market, that figure is definitely higher.) 

Laquer’s also pretty tough and someone who likes to stay in control – definitely someone you don’t want to mess with on the opposite side of a negotiating table. She has a secret weapon that few in Florida have utilized: the ability to get right to the point. If she’s busy, she’ll tell you. If she likes you, she’ll tell you. If you are a reporter and she thinks you’re asking ill-prepared questions when she has like a million things to do, she’ll tell you. There is no beating around the bush with Laquer. Just be direct. And whatever you do, don’t waste her time. 

Norman Edelcup

The Moderate

When Dave Samson, founder of Sunny Isles Beach, passed away, the gavel automatically passed to Norman Edelcup, the city’s vice mayor. And when it came time for an election, no one opted to run against Edelcup. Thus his title was changed with minimal fanfare from interim mayor to mayor in the city Samson basically created.

That isn’t why he is a “50.”

Prior to Samson’s death, Edelcup and his colleague Gerry Goodman were part of an increasingly influential voting block pining to control development in what is fast becoming the most concrete laden municipality in South Florida. Back in the 1990s Edelcup fought alongside Samson to bring cityhood to Sunny Isles. But when the first election was held in 1997 his opponent for commissioner received Samson’s blessing and he was defeated at the polls. His chance at the dais came on the most tragic day in recent American history – September 11, 2001 – when he defeated incumbent Connie Morrow.  As the years went by, Edelcup became increasingly critical of certain projects. For a time various controversial development projects were narrowly passed by a 3 to 2 vote with Edelcup and Goodman (also elected on 9-11) on the dissenting side. Then with the election of Lewis Thaler over incumbent Lila Kauffman, the pendulum shifted toward their block. Samson’s death swung the pendulum still further.

Yet as mayor of Sunny Isles Edelcup has sought moderation between the interests of developers and the community he serves. He has created special committees on city issues. He listens to the arguments of property owners. He has both frustrated and pleased the Sunny Isles Citizen Coalition, a controlled development advocacy group. 

In the wake of Samson’s death, Edelcup has brought to Sunny Isles what the city needed desperately: a leader willing to listen.

Jorge Perez
Midas Touch

For several years waterfront South Pointe parcels owned by Thomas Kramer, a German commodities broker turned land broker, remained vacant as his legal team battled the city over the future zoning of what has been called the “Alaska Assemblage.” Soon a deal was ratified between the city and Kramer’s Portofino Group and the ink had hardly dried on the signatures when the parcels were sold to someone who did more than just broker land – he develops it.

The buyer: The Related Group, one of the largest real estate development firms in the country. The point man for the Florida division: Jorge Perez, arguably the most prolific developer in South Florida. And when we say that we are not blowing smoke: just look at the skyline of South Pointe, the “mini-metropolis” that Kramer often spoke of building south of Fifth Street in mid-1995. They weren’t developed by Kramer or by his successors within the Portofino Group. Those high-rises were built by Jorge Perez, the very man who gave these luxury high-rises names like Murano at Portofino, Murano Grande, Portofino Tower and the Phillipe Starck-inspired Icon. 

And that is just counting Miami Beach’s South Pointe and not projects in Sunny Isles, Miami, Aventura, Hallandale and Palm Beach County. 

His latest venture, known as One Miami, has sparked still more development in the already saturated Brickell-Downtown Miami market. Perhaps Perez will try to do something more challenging, like maybe building a residential project in the middle of a Northeast Dade suburban mall. Oh wait! He’s doing that! The Venture, the mixed-use residential and commercial building now under construction in the midst of Aventura’s Loehmann’s Plaza! “Why would people want to live in a half-dead mall?” you ask. Well, if the publicity is to be believed, Venture in pre-sales alone has nearly sold out its units. 

We may have given the King Midas title to someone in a previous SunPost 50, but how best do you describe Jorge Perez? All that he touches seems to transform into gold.

David Dermer

Juggernaut

Yes, he has made it to the “50” list yet again. But what can we say? David Dermer is the 500-pound gorilla that cannot be ignored by special interest groups. When they try, Dermer is liable to slap and beat them senseless with his pro-resident rhetoric. 

Case-in-point: the light-rail Bay Link. Last year’s “50” acknowledged the fact that he slowed down what seemed like a done-deal light rail link between South Beach and Downtown Miami after many residents screamed that they did not understand the point of it all. And while he did scream and yell about how the rail project should be approved by the electorate, by a narrow four to three vote a resolution to further study the project – or perhaps we should say pay more consulting fees – was approved.

So Dermer lost? Big deal. He still questioned a several hundred million dollar capital transportation project that, while looking good on paper, seems to be doing little else than financially boosting the local consultant industry. 

Dermer has often called attention to things that don’t look right, such as when the county owed Miami Beach $15 million in convention development tax money. Not only did Dermer insist the city receive its money, he ridiculed the idea there was an “agreement” for a baseball stadium that would allow the county to divert another $50 million in bed tax money for the project. The result: the county gave up the $15 million and approved an agreement where funds for a needed convention center expansion are guaranteed – whether or not a baseball stadium is built.

Dermer recently made noise yet again – this time in support of a charter amendment requiring a voter referendum on the up-zoning of most parcels of land in Miami Beach.  (Dermer was elected in 1997 on a similar issue: a voter referendum requiring a zoning increase for land along the waterfront.) In spite of a last minute challenge by an unknown phantom group, the amendment was passed by a landslide.

Sure Dermer, a Democrat, does have a habit of supporting the Republican Bush clan. But Dermer’s only real demon – if you can call it that – is his insistence on representing his public. Right now, at least, Dermer appears to be a juggernaut and his potential opponents have decided it’s probably best to go around him.

This was evident during the last election. Although there are plenty of folks in the county who would prefer he go away, the only individual who dared run against him last election was Ronald Rickey – a slightly eccentric fellow who believes that casino gambling will cure all ills of society. Needless to say, Dermer creamed him.

Seth Gordon
Mr. Connected

Full disclosure. Seth Gordon has partnered with the business end of the SunPost for various networking events regarding future development in Miami. Gordon not only helped moderate the discussions, he was instrumental in promoting and planning the forums that have managed to draw large crowds.

Why does the SunPost partner with Gordon in such discussions?  Simple: he’s connected.

A founding partner of the Gordon Reyes public relations firm, Seth Gordon came here in 1968, as his bio states, to “get a tan” – and simply never left. 

After working as a legislative aide and an assistant to Miami-Dade’s county manager, he formed Seth Gordon Associates. The firm would change several times until it reached the present form known as Gordon Reyes & Co. His clients have included land owners and developers in booming Miami – as well as politicians seeking to be elected or re-elected.  Gordon is also active on several boards like the Coconut Grove Chamber of Commerce (which he’s the president of) and the Miami Arts & Entertainment Council. 

Gordon has been described as a serious sort of guy, a man who will pretty much go to the wall for his clients or for issues that he believes in. And with his writing talent, his knowledge of the area, and his familiarity with the people of Miami – be they activists, developers, politicians or lobbyists – Gordon is a force to be reckoned with.

Daniel Pfeffer
The Point

Daniel Pfeffer wanted to be a doctor when he grew up. He even attended a pre-med program at the University of Rochester in New York and was awarded an undergraduate fellowship in Neurosurgery at New York Hospital Cornell Medical Center. The hospital was undergoing an expansion and Pfeffer found that process much more interesting than the human body, so he went to work for a real estate consulting company known as Kenneth Levinthal and Company in 1987.

Seventeen years later Pfeffer is the president of New York-based Midtown Equities and effectively the right hand man of a company mostly owned by Joe Cayre, an entrepreneur who made a fortune selling videotape movies to retail outlets around the country. Cayre later went into the video game business, then the record label business, and then the real estate business. The company would go on to start over 100 investment and development projects around the country and Pfeffer, Cayre’s trusted lieutenant, oversaw them all.

Among his tasks: preserving the rights of Midtown Miami following the destruction of the World Trade Center by terrorists on September 11, 2001. Midtown Miami owned 25 percent of the WTC. 

Now, in a joint venture with Samuel & Co., Pfeffer has embarked on a new challenge: selling off or developing 56 acres of a former rail yard that has the zoning for a “miniature city” – but with absolutely no infrastructure. In this venture Pfeffer and Midtown Miami have taken a lead role, seeking approval of a special taxing district that would assess future property owners for the improvements and, now, asking the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County to funnel back to the developers up to $170 million in property taxes collected within the district in order to help pay for said infrastructure. At deadline that deal, one of Miami’s largest subsidies for a developer, hasn’t happened yet.

But Midtown Equities is already on the move with other ventures – including Nirvana, a condo conversion project, in the Upper East Side. 

Tibor Hollo
The Name  

Tibor Hollo is a builder,, credited with building the first high-rise office building in Brickell in 1972. Three years later he built the Venetia/Omni. From then on Hollo has built luxury hotels, condominiums, mixed-use projects, a couple of U.S. Treasury Buildings and the United States Justice Department Building in Downtown Miami.

More recently Hollo has created a telecommunications center in Miami’s Little River neighborhood, is converting the Colonnade Plaza into the Brickell Bay Plaza and plans to construct Opera Tower nearby the future Performing Arts Center that is expected to be completed… eventually. And besides being affiliated with 40 or so civic, fraternal and religious organizations, Hollo is on the Performing Arts Center Strategic Planning Committee and is on the board of directors of the Latin Builders Association.
One of the biggest landowners in Florida and the City of Miami, Tibor Hollo is in the driver’s seat in this crazy development scene market.
 

Joe Arriola
Incredible Hulk

Something about a guy who gives his entire salary to the United Way: he is either a generous man with a strong sense of service, a nut, or both.

Arriola was already rich when he took on the title of city manager. Supporters have credited Arriola with making Miami a more efficient entity than the municipality was a few years before. (In 1997, Miami was bankrupt and under the thumb of a state oversight committee.) 

At the same time, Arriola is legendary for his outbursts: from blasting a leftist activist in front of the media just outside of the Free Trade Area of the Americas policing hearings, to cursing loudly under his breath about Miami Sports and Exhibition Authority members who dragged their feet on the idea of selling the Miami Arena.

So, he’s a guy you probably don’t want mad at you. 

He is also a guy who still hasn’t quite grasped what it means to be in public service. In a recent Miami Herald article, Arriola says he hates being in the paper and thinks it’s a good day when nothing is written about either him or the City of Miami. Talk about wishful thinking. Mr. Arriola, you are the second-in-command of the largest city in the most populated county in the State of Florida. Get used to being in the spotlight.

Still, it’s hard not to admire a man who is not only attempting to bring some order to the convoluted City of Miami, but hands over his hard-earned cash to United “Here Is Where Your Money Goes” Way. Arriola doesn’t just give lip service to “loving this city” – he is in the trenches doing the best he can to make it work. Perhaps Arriola is entitled to an outburst now and then. Besides, it makes covering Miami that much more fun.

Larry R. Handfield

The Chairman

Larry Handfield chairs two public boards. He was recently appointed as chair of the Public Health Trust, an entity that watches over Jackson Memorial Hospital, the University of Miami Medical Center and their $2 billion budget. Handfield is also chair of the Civilian Investigative Panel, a body that examines the actions and policies of the Miami Police Department. 

And it’s as chair of the CIP that Handfield, a partner in the law firm of Pitts Handfield and Valentine, was thrust into the limelight– thanks to a little thing called the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit or FTAA. A couple hundred people were arrested following clashes between a couple thousand uniformed police and several hundred demonstrators. The demonstrators –who included permitted union activists – have demanded that the “Miami model” not be repeated and that a full investigation outside of the police department be conducted right away. And since there were no other independent panels with subpoena powers being formed (and the local political class that was uneager to do so) that task fell in the lap of the CIP.

At one point some members of the CIP appeared to be tempted to place the FTAA on the back burner and just move on to the other backlogged cases of alleged police misconduct. It’s not like they had too much encouragement from some of the affected activists, a few of whom had websites encouraging protestors not to file complaints and instead focus on a class action suit against the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County. But then, at a recent meeting, Handfield put forth a planned method of investigation: dividing the scope of any FTAA investigation into sub-components, one of them regarding the agreements the MPD had with other police agencies and their actions during the summit.

Fair or not, how the CIP conducts its investigation into what happened during the FTAA summit will show the community at large just how potent this board really is. And make no mistake about it: Handfield is the leader of this board and will likely contribute toward the investigation’s outcome. So far Handfield has exhibited a neutral stance, one that should be respected by both the police and the activists. And so far, Handfield does appear to want to get to the truth.

So far, so good.

John Timoney

Bad-Ass

“You are a bad person.  F—k you.”

Sorry, couldn’t resist.  The quote that Timoney forgot he said in front of a few Miami Herald reporters (but still apologized for uttering) during the police action against the FTAA demonstrators is going to stay with him for a while – that and the image of him riding a bike and tackling people who looked like hippies wearing backpacks.

Not that Timoney hasn’t tried to provide other unforgettable images or sound bites: such as the time he decided to call Y-100 and slam the Miami Herald for their story claiming that cops liked to follow hip hoppers around town as soon as they arrived at the airport.  Or the time Timoney shoved a copy of the Miami Herald with a picture of a cop posing with Source magazines in the face of a reporter for that paper during a press conference– and then refusing to take further questions.

Outspoken? You betcha. But that was probably why he was brought on the job.

Timoney, a former New York policeman who went on to be the chief of the Philadelphia Police Department, was hired in 2002 as an outsider who would strive to reform Miami’s troubled police department. In his early days, Timoney won the support of the rank and file police by promoting various people within the department to management positions. When the Department of Justice filed a report urging the department to alter his “use of force” rules, Timoney simply said, “We agree.”

But there was some controversy behind the façade of “Americas Top Cop,” as he was dubbed by Esquire Magazine in 2000. During the 2000 Philadelphia Republican Convention, Timoney was accused of subverting the right of free speech when his police officers swooped down and arrested 400 demonstrators. Timoney insisted that the demonstrators were guilty of vandalism, disrupting traffic and so on. The Philly specter would be revisited during the FTAA summit when police hassled and arrested demonstrators ranging from anarchists and Green Party activists to elderly union marchers. Again Timoney insisted that the chaos was due to “direct action” agitators who threw projectiles at police under the cover of law-abiding demonstrators. 

The latest hullabaloo to hover over the Miami Police Department (as well as the Miami Beach Police Department) is a Miami Herald story alleging that the cops like to stalk hip hop artists. Such a notion, Timoney adamantly insists, is a complete fiction. All the department has is a “binder” that officers received during a recent police conference in New York. And here is the fun part: when everyone is done flipping through the pages of the binder containing info on rappers, Timoney’s assistant said the chief plans to burn it in a public display as proof that they don’t use it. Talk about the ultimate “F--k you.”

Lida Rodriguez-Taseff

American Dream

The aftermath of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) summit last November has created a bonanza of civil rights suits against Miami and Miami-Dade County from lawyers affiliated with an alphabet soup of civil rights organizations: MAD, NLD, etc. 

But from the very beginning, when the City of Miami was in the early stages of drafting ordinances outlawing golf balls and the Miami Police Department took its sweet time permitting events in opposition to the FTAA, the ACLU (as in the American Civil Liberties Union) was raising hell on how the First Amendment was about to be circumvented. At the forefront of the ACLU’s charge was the Miami Chapter’s then president, Lida Rodriguez-Taseff.

A partner in the law firm of Duane, Morris & Heckscher, Rodriguez-Taseff in a way is a product of the American Dream. She was born in Barrio Quiroga, in one of the poorest cities in Colombia. Her mother worked three jobs in New York to bring her three children to the United States. As soon as Rodriguez-Taseff set foot in her new home of Hialeah her mother told her she would go to college. 

Fast forward to 2001 when Rodriguez-Taseff was elected president of the Miami Chapter of the ACLU. Since then the ACLU has criticized Miami Beach’s proposed panhandling law, advocated for a civilian oversight panel with subpoena powers to investigate complaints against the Miami-Dade Police Department, fought for the right of Cuban Americans who wanted to demonstrate against the Latin Grammies, sounded alarms on a proposal to place cameras in Miami’s entertainment district and questioned the need for an anti-prostitute “mapping program.” To sum it up, Rodriguez-Taseff has struggled to preserve the civil liberties that made this nation the prosperous place it is today.

Although Rodriguez-Taseff is no longer the president of the ACLU, she is still actively representing individuals in cases against Miami related to the FTAA. So it’s pretty much a given that Miami has not seen the last of Rodriguez-Taseff.

Johnny Winton
Mr. Pay Raise

The annual base salary of a county commissioner is $6,000 a year. For a Miami Beach commissioner the base yearly salary is also $6,000. Many other elected officials around Miami-Dade County get maybe a dollar a year.

Every so often an attempt is made to give these elected officials a pay raise – the theory being that they will devote more time as elected officials and be less likely to seek, how should we say this, alternative forms of income. Each time, though, the electorate has rejected such a notion…except in the City of Miami where commissioners saw their paychecks jump from $5,000 a year to $58,200 a year thanks to a special referendum last November.

And the man who helped make it happen was Commissioner Johnny Winton. 

Winton, who advocated the pay raise, is very popular in his District Two, which includes parts or all of the Upper East Side, Brickell, Downtown and Coconut Grove areas. And since he was up for re-election against an unknown from Little Haiti, his supporters were motivated to go to the polls, re-elect their guy, and authorize the pay raise to boot.

Winton has gotten flak for refusing to stop his operation at Wynco Realty Partners, but he has remained true to the aspiration of many within his district: the creation of a new, sophisticated Miami every bit deserving of the title of the Magic City. How popular is he? Well, when one part of Winton’s district was going to be ceded to another commissioner’s territory, the residents there nearly staged a riot.

During his tenure Winton has been in favor of ordinances that have encouraged development while, at the same time, supporting legislation that aimed to prevent future projects from overwhelming the character of unique places like the Upper East Side. Winton has even been at the forefront of causes such as strengthening the city’s historic preservation ordinance. That may have been the motivation for his supporters to not only go to the polls and re-elect Winton, but also give him a pay raise.

We’re not sure if the Sunshine Law permits commissioners to go out to a bar and have a few drinks together. If it does, Winton’s colleagues on the dais should have taken him out to Monty’s (a simultaneous gesture to their leader Mayor Manny Diaz).  Maybe advocates of a pay increase for county and Beach commissioners should give Johnny a call?

Cathy Leff

Minister of Propaganda

The systematic propagation of a given doctrine or of allegations reflecting its views and interests. That line was plagiarized directly from the Second College Edition of the American Heritage Dictionary. And, make no mistake about it, if you want to be systematic about a given doctrine, it’s better to be artistic while doing it.

South Beach’s Washington Avenue is home to more than just nightclubs and off-beat clothing shops. Near 10^th Street resides the largest museum dedicated to the art of propaganda. More than 100,000 decorative pieces, rare books, posters and objects can be found, mostly dating from the period between 1885 and 1945.

In charge of it all is Cathy Leff, executive director of the Wolfsonian-FIU. 

Leff has worked for Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. since 1987. At first she oversaw his real estate holdings and investments in Miami and Italy. But later Leff  became responsible for another pet project of Wolfson’s: researching and chronicling the propaganda arts. Wolfson, it seems, likes to collect various decorative and mass media arts, particularly those of an indoctrinating nature. Starting in 1989, Leff began publishing and editing the Wolfsonian’s publication, The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts. In 1996, she was named as director of the Wolfsonian. As director, she has propagandized the museum to the local community and the entire world through her work at The Journal and via outreach events such as lectures and movies within the museum, as well as tours and programs for Miami-Dade Public School kids.

But now Leff has launched another method of getting people in the Wolfsonian’s door: a store and café on the ground floor. Since the expansion was partly funded with money funneled from the City of Miami Beach, part of the deal is free admission days for Miami Beach residents. Hey, why not? More people to indoctrinate about the artistic side of propaganda.

Eric Soroka
The Constant

Extending term limits or leaving things well enough alone. It was enough to send the political class of Aventura into a civil war. And while term limits’ retention did prevent Aventura Mayor Jeff Perlow and a couple of other commissioners from running for re-election, there was no sign of panic in the City of Excellence. The constant known as Eric Soroka is still there.

Soroka has been the city’s first and so-far only city manager and there isn’t any sign that will change soon. His hold-the-line budget style has been credited for the city having efficient services while keeping its millage rate low. This year Soroka has also been pretty busy as he oversees a charter elementary school, the planning of a junior high charter school, the purchase of Waterways Park, the extension of Lehman Causeway, a traffic video monitoring system, the beautification of Lehman Causeway, etc.

In many other municipalities around Miami-Dade County a threat of firing the manager is hinted at from time to time during public meetings. Nothing close to such a thing has ever happened in Aventura. No wonder it took a term limit debate to get things riled up there.

Jorge Gonzalez
The Soft Voice

The man looks very young. He sounds young. But behind his youthful appearance Jorge Gonzalez is an experienced politician.

Previously a top administrator from Montgomery County, Maryland, and a mid-level civil servant with Miami-Dade County’s transportation department, Gonzalez has clashed with just about everyone on the dais at one time or the other. Yet the prospect of Gonzalez being sent packing from his fourth floor office is not too likely, unless he himself decides to leave. Gonzalez is just too good at what he does. When Miami Beach sweated bullets a couple of years ago over a decrease in tourism dollars, the manager still managed to balance the budget without raising property tax rates. When Miami Beach decided to get tough with the county on convention development taxes, Gonzalez was there, ready to turn the screws on George Burgess. Gonzalez was even instrumental in negotiating a contract with the Miami Beach police union that did not bankrupt the city.

Gonzalez has also had his scrapes with controversy. His support for the light rail Bay Link did not endear him to Mayor David Dermer or various other residents who were not too crazy with the project. Various employees have been demoted and re-assigned (a couple of whom, including former Code Compliance Director Al Childress, are suing). And South Beach residents have complained of inadequate services on the weekends when their neighborhoods are assaulted by drunken partiers.

Yet elected officials on the dais have, for now, agreed to disagree with Gonzalez. He is good at what he does, after all.

Jacob “Hank” Sopher

Center of Attention

 One thing about this president of Quik Park: he does demand a lot of attention. Soon after losing his contract to operate the Anchor Garage to Frank “I’m Just a Parking Guy” Pintado’s Standard Parking, Sopher decided to run for Miami Beach city commissioner.  When he was defeated in a run-off against Commissioner Simon Cruz, he ran a paid advertisement column in the Miami Herald and the SunPost detailing how government should be run. Some of his views, believe it or not, are interesting. The SunPost has never received so many letters regarding a paid ad. (Except for maybe our adult ads.)

More recently, his move to purchase the Miami Arena for $25 million is capturing attention in business and sports circles across the county with the prospect that, just maybe, the parking lot magnate will make a deal to have a Marlins Stadium constructed upon it. Sopher, who owns a series of vacant lots in that area, has stated that he wants to build an upscale mall in Overtown and those directly involved in the discussions insist – at least on the record – that any talk of building a baseball stadium is fiction.

Whatever the case may be, Miami Mayor Manny Diaz has stated publicly that resort taxes used to maintain the Arena could instead be shifted to the Orange Bowl or maybe a Marlins Stadium once a site is finalized. 

Whenever that is.

So far, Sopher hasn’t even signed off on an agreement that would pave the way for a contract with either the Quik Park president or some other high bidder. Miami, on the other hand, seems intent to sell off the Arena as quick as it can for as much as it can. (It would like $54 million for the land and stadium.) At deadline, the future of the Arena is still unclear and all eyes continue to look toward Sopher. Even if he doesn’t sell, Sopher still owns the private parking lots surrounding the Arena. Chances are any future developer will still have to deal with him.

Diane Lieberman

Success Story

Her husband Alan Lieberman and his partner Todd Glazer are developers, building projects such as the Montclair Lofts. But those lofts don’t sell themselves, right? Better turn to a real estate company that keeps growing in sales year after year. A company such as South Beach Investment Realty that just so happens to be headed by Alan’s wife, Diane Lieberman.

While Alan was busy collecting boutique hotels, Diane, who had years of experience selling real estate in Philadelphia and New York, was setting up South Beach Investment Realty. She opened up for business in 1999 and within a year her sales reached $14 million. By the next year her sales doubled. And the sales kept growing and growing and growing in spite of competition from giant realtor conglomerates such as the Coldwell Banker Empire. Currently, her company specializes in selling condominiums, waterfront homes, luxury properties and managing real estate investments all over Miami-Dade County. Her staff has also grown to a selling force of 50 agents fluent in various languages such as Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, Estonian, Hungarian, Dutch and Flemish. (How many people do you know who speak Flemish?)  She’s even opened up an additional office on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami. (Perhaps explaining why her company has lately been known as SBI Realty.)

And something about success in Miami-Dade… it has a tendency to turn people into philanthropists. Thus Lieberman volunteers at the Michael-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center, the Aventura-Turnberry Jewish Center, the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, and the Jewish Museum of Florida (where she is a member of the board of directors). Lieberman has also sponsored the Children’s Cultural Series, recently co-chaired an event for the Purim Ball 2002, co-chaired the Milk & Honey Gala and has started something called “Art on Biscayne,” showcasing local artists at her new office on Biscayne Boulevard.

Selling condos, attending galas, supporting artists, Lieberman is a woman who stays busy.

Romero Britto

Local Boy

There is a rite of passage in Miami-Dade County: if you want to be in the power clique, you have to own something created by Romero Britto. It can be a painting. It can be a sculpture. It can be a tie. It can be a poster of a Britto Absolut vodka ad. After all, by Miami standards, Britto is a local boy done good.

Like many Miamians, Britto was not born in Miami. Britto came to be in Recife, Brazil in 1963. At the age of 14 his brightly-colored, whimsical works were displayed in an Organization of American States exhibition. Scholarships and trips to Europe followed. Finally in 1989, South Florida beckoned him. He never left. Miami and Miami Beach became his home and base of operations as he became the favorite artist for advertisement campaigns such as Absolut Vodka, Pepsi Cola, Movado and Disney.

Today. Not only does Britto have a gallery on Lincoln Road (Britto Central, which has been there for years) but he recently opened a namesake restaurant in the Royal Palm Crowne Plaza where Britto fans can dine surrounded by bright, whimsical Britto creations.

Britto is also a giving person: donating money, art and time for such charitable organizations as St. Jude’s, the American Red Cross and Best Buddies.

Cliff Schulman

Zoner

Environmental regulations, coastal regulation, solid waste, resource recovery, utilities, FEMA regulations, zoning…

These are some of the areas of expertise that form the basis of a successful non-criminal attorney in Miami-Dade County. Particularly zoning. And Cliff Schulman is an expert in all these fields. Particularly zoning.

Affiliated with the powerful law firm Greenberg Traurig, Schulman can often be seen at public meetings all over Miami-Dade County pitching for his clients in his unique oratorical style that can be pleasantly jocular at times or, if the public body threatens his clients’ interests, menacingly dark. 

But while Schulman has often been seen at the Stephen P. Clark County Hall, Miami Beach City Hall and Miami City Hall, it is the Northeast Dade area that is considered his base – especially Aventura and Sunny Isles Beach. Part of the reason could be that Schulman is chairman of the Aventura Marketing Council, an influential business organization in Aventura and Sunny Isles Beach that often agrees with the premise that development is good. As Schulman told the Aventura News, the official newsletter of the Aventura Marketing Council, “as co-chair of the firm’s national practice group for Environmental and Land Use Law, I support Greenberg Traurig’s goal to be actively engaged in northeast Miami-Dade municipalities welcoming both new development and re-development.”

On duty or off, Schulman will talk about the virtues of development and the evils of down-zoning (or as zoning attorneys call it, “inverse condemnation”) in even the most densely built areas with sincerity and legal case law. So if you are planning a mixed-use project along Sunny Isles Boulevard and you want to argue that you gotta build 300 feet or so into the atmosphere or else you’ll have to sell your children into slavery, you might want Schulman to push that point for you. But stand in line, Schulman is a zoning attorney in high demand.

Leonard Brenner

Eight Is Enough

The president of the Joint Council of Aventura for the last 10 or 11 years, Leonard Brenner says he has no interest in public office. He insists that his reason for opposing an initiative to extend term limits from two four-year terms to three four-year terms had more to do with how it was done. If there really is a need to extend term limits, he says, let the charter review committee endorse it first.  What’s the rush?

Well, whatever the reason, Brenner decided to form a political action committee known as Aventura Residents for Term Limits and team up with commissioner Jay Beskin and Bob Diamond and ex-commissioner Patricia Rogers-Libert in opposing the measure proposed by Ginger Grossman and her Aventura Citizens Initiative Committee. When the dust settled from the battle of the condo commando PACs, 71.9 percent of residents voted against allowing elected officials to serve 12 years instead of eight on the city commission.

Sure, there are rumors floating around about Brenner’s motivations. The same, though, could be said about Grossman. In the end, all that matters is that Brenner’s PAC won.  That victory means three elected officials, including Mayor Jeff Perlow, are termed out in what many are now expecting to be an interesting March 2005 election. Even with that day many months away, there is already a declared mayoral candidate and at least three declared commission candidates. Several more people are rumored to be considering a run. Would the prospects of an interesting political contest be occurring right now if Brenner had lost and term limits had been extended?  Probably not.

Fane Lozman

King Killer

Leonard Brenner of Aventura led the fight against amending term limits and won, thus clearing the playing field for new challengers and forcing three elected officials to consider life outside of public service.

And, several years back, North Bay Village activist Gabrielle Nash-Tessler, while never succeeding in getting elected to office, did manage to pass retroactive term limits that forced out an entire entrenched city commission.

Fane Lozman, a tall, rail thin and eccentric computer engineer, was responsible, directly and indirectly, for removing three North Bay Village city commissioners from public office – via them being arrested.

To hear Lozman tell it, this story all started with a landowner, Al Coletta, who allegedly didn’t want to put a ramp by a handicapped live-aboard’s boat. According to Lozman, Coletta evicted him from the houseboat he was renting after the two argued about installing a handicap access ramp for his neighbor, a World War II veteran. (Coletta has told the SunPost that he believes that Lozman is “unbalanced” and “feels sorry for him.”)  So Lozman did some research, found a financial link between Coletta and Commissioner Bob Dugger and started a website called dumpdugger.com. Turned out that, according to prosecutors, Dugger had voted on the Bayshore Yacht and Tennis Club even though he was paying back a giant loan from Coletta. Dugger was removed in December – the second city commissioner to be removed from office that year. (Commissioner David Fleischer was arrested for abusing his position during an argument with a city sanitation worker.)

But Dugger would not be the last.

You would think that Mayor Al Dorne would be more appreciative of Lozman after he helped remove Dugger, then a thorn in the mayor’s side. But Fane Lozman was thrown out of a commission meeting by Dorne during its “good and welfare” portion.  Lozman claimed he was “physically abused” by North Bay Village police officers. So Lozman set about trying to get Dorne removed from office. An “anonymous” cartoonist would inadvertently help him. Suddenly obscene cartoons of Lozman started popping up and word soon spread that it was Police Chief Irving Heller, a friend of Dorne since their Metro-Dade police days, who was the one who drew them. City Manager James Vardalis asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate while Heller, who denied any involvement, resigned to help take care of his ailing wife. Not a very happy camper, Dorne set up a few secret meetings to plot the ousting of Vardalis. But FDLE and Miami-Dade State Attorney investigators caught wind. Long story short: Vice Mayor George Kane cut an immunity deal and Dorne and Commissioner Armand Abecassis were arrested.  The pair resigned a few days later.

At city hall, following the arrest of Dorne, there was almost a festive mood in the commission chambers. Even Lozman’s enemies were rejoicing. “Why is everyone smiling?” observed Rachel Dugger, wife of Bob Dugger, herself smiling. Not to say they suddenly liked Lozman, or vice versa. Yet in NBV being liked isn’t what matters – it is respect.

Michael Swerdlow

Dade Days

In Broward County developer Michael Swerdlow is a controversial figure. That controversy has led to the dissolving of the Port of Everglades land deal and the International Swimming Hall of Fame project and the ousting of various public officials native to the county of the north.

Yet a recent Swerdlow partnered project in North Miami is being welcomed with open arms. Perhaps Swerdlow is now asking himself, “Who needs Broward?”

In the 1970s Swerdlow became a master in the area of “bankruptcy liquidations” whereby he turned leaseholds of bankrupt tenants into “valuable assets.” Between 1977 and 1984 Swerdlow sold over 30 million square feet of leases. Between 1985 and 1987 Swerdlow became a developer, building two million square feet of retail and office space in Northern Virginia, Connecticut and Illinois. Then in 1988 Florida attracted Swerdlow’s attention and he led a group of investors to take over Hollywood, Inc., making him the master of $400 million worth of 3,000 acres of vacant land and two million square feet of functioning properties. 

Swerdlow also developed projects such as Dolphin Mall, Las Olas Riverfront, West Lake Village, Oakridge and Oakwood Plaza. 

But it’s in a place known as Munisport that he is likely to make a huge impact in North Miami and the rest of Northeast Miami-Dade. It’s at this former dump that North Miami has given Swerdlow and Boca Developers the green light to build Biscayne Landing, a project that will construct 5,000 condominiums, a hotel, a town center, and possibly even a charter school. To speed things along North Miami got a $49 million grant from Miami-Dade County to clean up any remaining pollution at the site. 

The potential for more housing and facilities has so far been fairly popular in North Miami and has sparked talk of an economic revival in the area. If Swerdlow can keep the momentum of good will on his side, there will likely be plenty more ventures for Swerdlow south of the Dade-Broward line. 

Andi Greenwald

Cash Money

Want to up-zone in Miami Beach? Gotta go to a public referendum, baby. In developer language that pretty much means forget about any zoning increases on the billion dollar sandbar.

But it doesn’t mean the end of development.

For years Greenwald has perfected the art of not only working within current zoning but also with buildings that are already standing. Her renovations of buildings such as the Santa Monica, Metropolis, Coconut and Cabana have earned her recognition from preservation groups like the Miami Design Preservation League. Right now she is putting the final touches on Tribeca, a luxury project along Michigan Avenue that is constructed within an Art Deco building. You read right development community: luxury – as in state-of-the-art living facilities within a historic building. As in Greenwald is making M-O-N-E-Y. 

So there is an alternative to trying to seek additional square footage from the government. Something to think about, developers.

Chad Oppenheim
Lookin’ Good

You have to admire a Miami property owner who says to a local artist, “Sure, go ahead and paint a big-butt naked woman with her back turned on one of my buildings.” To contribute to Miami’s claim of being an artistic community for at least a little while (the work was later painted over by parties unknown) is definitely worthy of mention.

That isn’t the reason why Chad Oppenheim is a “50.”

Oppenheim is the designer of some of the more innovative-looking projects going up in Miami, Miami Beach and North Bay Village – the kind of buildings that even controlled development advocates have to admit that, yeah, those towers are kinda tall but they look pretty good. Buildings with names like Ten Museum Park, Aria, and Ice and Sky. 

A native of New York, Oppenheim was the recipient of the Kume Fellowship in Japan.  In 2002 Oppenheim received three awards from the American Institute of Architects-Miami. Oppenheim has written two books, his work is exhibited in New York, Miami and Rome galleries and he has taught and lectured at places such as Florida International University, New Jersey Institute of Technology and Cornell University.

And he is only 32 years old. 

Michael Capponi

The Crossover

Michael Capponi was promoting events all over Miami Beach, when he started looking at the real estate market.

“Hmmmmm,” he thought to himself, “now here is a booming market I can promote.”

And so Capponi made the transition into real estate. As a partner in the future 50-story high-rise known as Ten Museum Park in Miami, Capponi has thrown some of the biggest condo opening parties known to real estate-dom. 

But Capponi, who has been involved in South Beach’s nightlife industry since the 1980s, hasn’t walked away from the club and cocktail circuit. Quite the contrary: besides the occasional mixer for those involved in the real estate industry, Capponi continues to throw regular events at Opium Garden’s Prive and B.E.D. On top of that, Capponi now hosts parties at the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Di Lido Beach Club and Mansion (the former Level). Capponi has even demonstrated that he can show philanthropists a good time with events such as the Fashion Art Ball (to benefit Cystic Fibrosis Foundation), the Bvgari Ball (to benefit Jackson Memorial Foundation) and the Best Buddies Jobs Gala. 

In nightlife some promoters have a tendency to come and go. Capponi not only has stayed but he’s evolved, expanded, and is actively seeking new markets.

Craig Robins

Single Again

Watch out ladies.  Craig Robins is single again. 

Yes, the news is out: Craig Robins’s wife decided to part ways, leaving him alone with his very own booming district, his redevelopment project at a former hospital, and his world famous extensive art collection. What is a man to do, other than to throw huge parties inviting Miami’s social, media and business elite to his Moore Office building?

As commonly known, Robins made his reputation in Miami Beach as an unconventional preservationist with an interest in politics (as in supporting politicians) before moving across the bay into what is commonly known as the Design District. From the very beginning, Robins sought to make the area his and went so far as to plaster the mysterious Dacra symbol, which sort of resembles the Eye of Sauron, all over that district. As Sauron’s disembodied voice said to Frodo when the hobbit first put on the Ring of Power: “I seeeeee you.”

And North Beachers, particularly Allison Islanders, can definitely see Aqua, an 8.5-acre project being built where St. Francis Hospital (where Robins was born) used to be.  Described as a project consisting of “zero lot line homes and low-rise apartments,” the more massive components are being built along the 63^rd Street flyover and Indian Creek, leaving some to wonder, “What low-rise developments?”

Still, nearly everyone has to admit that Robins has style, which is part of the reason the 18-block Miami Design District is taking off as sort of showroom central for designers, architects, galleries and furniture stores.

Probably no one on the 50 list believes he should be on more than Craig Robins, and he’s right. Robins is a player in the community… and on the prowl once again.

Don Soffer

Big Fish

Don Soffer doesn’t need to throw wild parties with artists or develop strange eye symbols for his company to let people know that, in Northeast Dade, he is the big fish. It’s just known instinctively amongst those who work and live in Aventura and the surrounding communities. As we have said in the past: the region now known as Aventura would have been just swamp land if he hadn’t come along and invested in the area. Now, while that may have made environmentalists who would have liked to have seen Dade County remain a part of the Everglades happy, for everyone else South Florida would have been a little bit more boring – particularly when we all have to go shopping for Mother’s Day, Christmas, Hanukah, etc. As customary during such gift giving holidays, we all gravitate toward Aventura Mall and Soffer – need we remind you – built and runs this still growing super-shopping mall.

In fact, Soffer, the founder of Turnberry Associates, built a lot of things around Aventura.  Just as Craig Robins uses his strange eye thing to mark his territory, so does Soffer with the word “Turnberry.” And there are an awful lot of places with the name “Turnberry” on it.

And soon, very soon, Soffer will be building yet again. He has bought up huge parcels of land surrounding Aventura and will soon develop it into more retail space. Was he slowed down by 199^th Street remaining closed? Maybe, but the lawyers are already looking at ways to repeal that, and he does have sympathetic ears in the county and, yes, even the local government.  (His role, if any, in the referendum election on term limits remains elusive.)

So, once again, Soffer has made the “50.”  Building a community from nothing and remaining a player does have an impact, don’t you think?

Saul Gross

Metamorphosis

When Saul talks, people listen. 

Saul Gross, the president of Streamline Development, was the darling of the local establishment when he was elected to the Miami Beach Commission in November 2001. And it seems he still is the darling now. While it was Commissioner Jose Smith who had long negotiated with inheritors of South Pointe’s Alaska Assemblage to end years of a legal stalemate, it was Saul Gross who not only put the final touches on the compromise document, but also preached its viability to skeptical and somewhat hostile residents.  And while he had been skeptical of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau slow pace at looking at office buildings in South Beach, when the Bureau made its decision to stay on Brickell, Gross supported it. Most of the people who voted to renew the lease did business on the Beach after all, including long-time political ally Tony Goldman, one of the largest property owners on Ocean Drive.

The pattern held again when the Miami establishment fully backed a light rail connection between South Beach and Downtown Miami. At first Gross was passionately against it, believing a rapid bus transit connection would be a better alternative. But when it came time for the vote, Gross went through what he described as a “metamorphosis.” Gross said he researched it, did not think that bus transit was acceptable to people around the country, and was the decisive swing vote in continuing a $1.5 million study (and later a $1.9 million study) on a Bay Link not scheduled to be completed until at least 2023. 

Hence why people now pay attention when Gross votes: you never know when he might have another metamorphosis.

In spite of the Bay Link vote, Gross is often seen as the man who can balance the needs of the residents with those of the business community, a sort of moderate, guiding voice who is sincerely interested in the betterment of Miami Beach. And so Gross’s base is still as strong as the time he was first elected to the Beach commission.

 Kathryn Abbate

The Administrator

In Miami Beach it is hard to find anything affordable nowadays. This is especially true in the area of housing. As property values continue to rise, landlords raise their rents. But there are still plenty of people and families on this billion-dollar sandbar with very low incomes and no health insurance. In many cities that means a check-up for a child requires a trip to the emergency room. 

Not so in Miami Beach, thanks to the Miami Beach Community Health Center, a full service clinic providing health care services to Beach residents “regardless of ability to pay” since 1978. Among the health services provided there are general medicine, internal medicine, family planning, podiatry, pharmacy, health education, HIV/AIDS care, pediatrics, geriatric care, dentistry and prenatal care. The facility even has accreditation from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations.

At the head of the clinic’s operations: Kathryne Abbate.

Abbate, who has lots of experience in the health administration business, was hired as the Center’s chief operating officer in 1998. Among her first tasks was to watch over the construction of a second Health Center in North Beach. (Its primary facility is located on South Beach’s Alton Road.) As the years went by, Abbate’s rank, and responsibilities, only grew.  By April 2002 she was named executive director, a title she holds to this day.  Her main job: making sure that the non-profit institution remains financially sound. That means reviewing programs, developing hiring plans, negotiating agreements with health providers, etc., etc. In other words, it is pretty much Abatte who keeps the clinic running as well as it does, a challenging task given the reduction of funds from the city and state and a still small pool of willing donors – even as the number of unemployed and uninsured in Miami Beach continues to grow.

To help fix this, Abbate and the board of directors are trying to “increase the funding base through identification with community resources.” If all goes well, the Miami Beach Health Clinic board hopes to acquire an additional 25,000 square feet of space in an effort to expand services for the community.

Eduardo Padron

El Maximo Lider

For years Florida International University supported the Miami Film Festival. In fact, two years ago, the leaders of FIU were determined to expand the festival at any cost. An early attempt failed. But when FIU hired Nicole Guillemet, the executive director of the Sundance Film Festival, local observers hailed the expanded festival as a success.

And then FIU announced it was pulling the plug.

Yet even as the news hit the local media, there was talk that Miami-Dade Community College – excuse us, Miami-Dade College – would come to the rescue. Leading the fight: Eduardo Pardon, president of Miami-Dade College.

Padron has had a controversial history since he took over leadership of all five campuses in 1995. (Prior to that, he was the longtime president of Wolfson Campus.) More recently he has been criticized for his attempt to purchase the neighboring Freedom Tower from the Mas family and a Channel 10 report detailed his contract that gives him $218,000 a year, a leased white Porsche and a taxpayer-funded house. 

However, Padron is the reason why the institution is now called Miami-Dade College: he expanded education services to include four-year degree programs.  Under Padron Miami-Dade College started a program to retrain workers given pink slips following the economic chaos causes by the September 11 terrorist attacks as well as a bilingual education program for refugees needing job training. In the area of the arts Padron has had a history of supporting the viewing of art work and films from artists in Cuba. The Miami Book Fair international?  Padron helped start it in 1984, partly as a means to get people to come downtown.

Call Padron what you like – a dictator or a hands-on guy – but if it wasn’t for the man its very likely the Film Festival would have lapsed into history and Guillemet, who gave up her gig in Utah to work at the festival, would be looking through the Help Wanted ads. 

Edgardo Defortuna

Family Man

Something about the word “Jade” appeals to Edgardo Defortuna. Is it because he likes precious minerals? Has he become subconsciously jaded after all these years in the South Florida real estate world? Is it a nice signature name to use on the various high-rises Defortuna builds here? Or is there some kind of familial bond between two high-rise projects that Defortuna, an expert in South Florida’s real estate market, can see?

Soon after getting his masters degree from the University of Miami, Defortuna leaped into the world of real estate by starting a full-service firm called Fortune International in 1983. First he focused in on the area of Brickell and Key Biscayne. Then he expanded into Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Aventura and Sunny Isles Beach. Soon Defortuna became the exclusive broker of luxury high-rises all over South Florida, freely using his company’s connections in Latin America.

It was only a matter of time before he decided to go into developing projects himself. He started with Jade Residences in Brickell Bay in 2001 and continued on with the M Resort Residences condo hotel in Sunny Isles. Then, this past September, he broke ground on a 53-story tower called Jade Beach on Sunny Isles’s oceanfront, a little something DeFortuna describes as Jade Residences’s “sister” building. 

Ahhhhh, family….

Alison Spear

The Designer

Francis Ford Copola. Katie Ford of Ford Models. Bright Lights, Big City author Jay McInerney. Miami Herald publisher Alberto Ibarguen.

What do all these people have in common? They had homes designed by Alison Spear.

Spear is sort of in a architect designer clan. Her sister is Laurinda Spear. Her brother-in-law is Bernadro Fort-Brescia. Both are principals in the firm known as Arquitectonica. After graduating with a Master of Science in Architecture and Urban Design from Columbia University, Alison Spear had also done a stint in the New York Arquitectonica office before moving on toward founding her own firm, Alison Spear AIA, with offices in both Miami and New York.

Spear could probably make the “50” list in New York City, designing landmarks such as the Mercer Hotel, the Fifth Avenue restaurant and several Upper East Side homes and downtown lofts as well as being a member of the New York Architectural League. In Miami, she has been named as the designer of such projects as the 12-story loft condo in Craig Robins’s Aqua project and the 20,000 square foot Holly Hunt showroom in the Miami Design District. Spear’s projects can also be seen in the states of New Jersey and Connecticut. Her work has also been regularly featured in the New York Times, Vogue, W and the Miami Herald (they’d better after she designed Ibarguen’s house) and she has often been a guest of cable stations such as HGTV, the Fine Living Channel, and Fox News. And when she isn’t designing buildings or interiors, Spear teaches architecture at the University of Miami School of Architecture.

As if she didn’t have enough to do, Spear has recently taken on two more projects: furniture design and writing. She’s started a furniture and product company named (what else?) Spearlines that will produce “an exclusive furniture line, textiles, and accessories for both commercial and residential use,” as described in her bio. Alison is also the contributing architecture and design editor for Flaunt Magazine.

Kobi Karp

Adaptable

Remember the ‘90s? Grunge was in. Kurt Cobain was still alive. Eddie Veder was still popular. So was South Park. And, in the late 1990s, a little thing known as “MiMo” was created in an effort to preserve buildings constructed after World War II. To let everyone know of their plight, Miami Modernist activists even held a sparkler rally in front of the low-rise Bel Aire Hotel in 1999. It was very cute. A week later the new landowner, who didn’t quite grasp the MiMo concept, sent in bulldozers to flatten the place. 

For a while there were stories that preservationists would have their revenge against the landowner. But in the end a project for an 18-story high-rise tower was approved. All went right in the world. Probably in no small part thanks to Kobi Karp. 

The key to Karp’s success is making his buildings adapt and fit in to the surrounding environment. Such design adaptability can mean the difference between a project surviving or dying before design boards or city commissions that are always influenced by politics. 

But Karp is more than just a designer: he’s a fighter. Sure, you could hire a lawyer to advocate for your project but if it’s designed by Karp he can handle the arguing and negotiations by his lonesome. In Sunny Isles, Karp is present so often they may as well reserve a seat for him. During a recent North Bay Village meeting, Karp gave a dissertation on why developers wouldn’t mind contributing toward street improvements. Karp knows the codes, knows the political atmospheres and the politicians in Miami-Dade’s diverse landscape – and that’s why this local boy is still very much a player in the architectural world.

Eric Milon

Fourth Musketeer

The Opium Group is pretty much run by four guys: Mark Lehmkul, the on-the-scene pretty boy; Frances Milon, the former fashion photographer turned DJ connoisseur; Roman Jones, the son of bass player Mick Jones of the rock band Foreigner and the designated whipping-boy for neighboring condo owners, and Eric Milon, a former GQ cover model involved with creating the Milon Brothers’ landmarks (now-gone) of the Living Room and the Strand.

The four have recently expanded their reach from the controversial roofless pavilion in South Pointe to the largest club space in South Beach, Level.  With the arrival of the New Year, Level was re-christened Mansion, and the nightlife dwellers have once again become excited about the new “it” club. 

The Four Musketeers have thus done it again – but we had to choose one for the “50.”  So we picked Eric Milon. It was Eric Milon, after all, who started it all a few years back when he told aspiring club king Shawn Lewis to take a flying leap when he didn’t like what the former computer geek had done to the Living Room. (The Milon Brothers, there were four of them, sold the club to Lewis. Eric and Frances, who signed no-compete contracts, were briefly consultants.) Both sides went to court. But the lawsuit turned up something interesting: Lewis had a criminal record and thus couldn’t have a liquor license. The revelation changed the geography of South Beach as Lewis sold off his club assets. Lewis’ end was the beginning for Eric Milon and his three partners.

Yet Milon might be in for a setback. Bending to the will of South Pointe condo owners, Miami Beach is considering an ordinance that could eliminate nightlife operations when they are harmful to neighborhoods. Prime target: Opium, which neighbors say unleashes drunken party-goers after 5 a.m. upon the harried sleeping residents. But that day still hasn’t come, and so Opium and its wildly popular lounge, Prive, continues to play host to celebrities and party people alike.

Claudio Stivelman

Thunder Taker

Claudio Stivelman killed Thunder Alley.

Well, maybe helped kill Thunder Alley is a more accurate description. Aventura’s warehouse district behind Loehmann’s Plaza was home to a thriving cigarette race boat manufacturing industry. Aventura residents, though, don’t like the roar of motorboats so they encouraged the redevelopment of the region into a sort of town center with a charter school, a community center and, of course, condominiums. The City of Excellence does like condominiums.

Enter Claudio Stivelman. A native of Rio de Janeiro, Stivelman helped the Americans develop Brazil for the company known as Morrison Knudsen before going to business for himself. And then in 1991 the Brazilian decided he would develop America, namely South Florida. In 1991 he teamed up with Coscon Homes and built Ocean Point Resort and Beach Club in Sunny Isles. In 2002 he bought two acres of land in Thunder Alley and, on a 4.66-acre site, joined forces with Gilbert Benhamou to develop Uptown Marina Lofts. 

A savvy real estate veteran, Stivelman has positioned himself in the South Florida carnival of booming land values. Look for more Stivelman projects in the future.

Esther Percal

The Hunter

A five-bedroom, five-bathroom on North Bay Road. Sold for $5.5 million.

A seven-bedroom, 8-bathroom on Key Biscayne. Sold for $5.6 million.

A six-bedroom on Pine Tree Drive Circle. Sold for $3.5 million.

A five-bedroom, 4-bathroom on Dilido. Sold for $2.1 million.

If you ever want to understand why hunters and fishermen like to stuff and mount their fallen prey in their homes, just look at Esther Percal’s website. This super Realtor from Esslinger Wooten Maxwell (EWM) showcases not just the properties she is selling but those mansions and luxury condos she has sold, with the stated caveat that this is just a small example of Percal’s trophies.

Percal has been selling homes since she was 14 years old. She sold a house next door to her best friend’s parents, according to her bio, as a way of keeping her next door. For the last 20 years she has been selling multimillion-dollar homes in South Florida, assisting people in their quest of finding their dream. And she is famous for it too. Also on her website are samplings of articles from Vogue, the Miami Herald, the Washington Post, Miami Business and Ocean Drive Magazine. “She’s the undisputed Queen of the Miami Real Estate Scene,” states one pull quote from Interview Magazine. “One of Miami’s best known real estate agents to the stars…” – Miami Business. “How this vivacious Cuban-born real estate diva made it big.” – City Family, etc.

You get the picture. Percal likes the game of real estate much like a hunter enjoys stalking game. And she’s good at it, too.

Nelson Gonzalez

Familiar Face

In the typical fashion of the super-realtors, Nelson Gonzalez, who holds the rank of senior vice president at EWM, also has his own trophy page of sold properties on his website. The cheapest property on display is a Rivo Alto property for under $500,000.  On the high end: a North Bay Road house for $7 million. (What is the reason for the sudden surge in price of North Bay Road houses?  Is it J.Lo?)

Gonzalez’s experience in luxury residential property has reached such a height that the man is even being used as an expert witness during Miami Beach Design Review Board meetings. Since 1991 Gonzalez has been winning various Top Producer, Million Dollar Club, and Award of Excellence recognitions for his ability to sell luxury properties with nearly the same ease as people breathe. An exaggeration? Well, Gonzalez is one of the .5 percent top-producing realtors in these United States of America. And he also part owner in one of the oldest realty companies in Miami Beach – that managed not to get absorbed by Coldwell Banker, the mega-assimilator of realty companies.

Chances are many of the people on this “50” list probably bought a home from Gonzalez, or used him to help sell theirs. Gonzalez is just a familiar face amongst the movers-n-shakers, and mixing with them also comes as naturally as breathing.

Jack McKeon

MVP

Oh when, oh when will the Florida Marlins ever get a brand spanking new stadium with a retractable roof and without H. Wayne Huizenga as a landlord? Even though the county still doesn’t have a complete funding package, a site for the land or the backing of the legislature gods in Tallahassee, the mayor and county manager just keep on trying. So does Marlins President Dave Samson, a seemingly likable enough guy who really doesn’t want to sell the team to another city such as Wichita as is occasionally hinted in Miami Herald sports stories. So who is it that will keep the prospects of a public-private stadium venture alive? Will it be senatorial candidate Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas? Will it be Jacob “Hank” Sopher? Will it be Miami Mayor Manuel “Manny” Diaz? Or maybe it will be an army of well-connected lobbyists?

Actually, the fate of the Florida Marlins stadium, according to many insiders, depends on the baseball season. If the Florida Marlins do well, chances are Miami-Dade residents, hypnotized by a string of dramatic victories, won’t whine too much when the public portion of funding is increased. If they do, the new stadium idea is shelved for another couple of years.

And so it’s up to Jack McKeon, the third oldest manager in Major League Baseball history and perhaps one of the most popular coaches in MLB land. McKeon took over as manager on May 11, 2003, leading the Florida Marlins to their second World Series win, confirming to Chicago Cub fans that the goat curse thing is very real and taking the wind out of the sails of obnoxious New York Yankee fans. For a time Miamians all united under one banner as they made fun of crying Cub fans dressed up in baseball uniforms. That is quite an accomplishment in itself. 

But now, with the quest for a baseball stadium stalled once again, he has to do it all over. But no pressure or anything, Jack.

Rodrigo Nino

El Nino

An economist from Colombia, Rodrigo Nino swept into South Florida like a weather pattern in the 1990s. “Nino began researching the buying trend of Colombians and recognized a significant opportunity to represent South Florida real estate in Colombia,” states his bio. He formed International Brokers in 1998, a company that catered to Colombians interested in buying property in Miami and organized seminars with immigration attorneys, mortgage brokers and financial advisors. Naturally Nino drew the attention of Eduardo Defortuna, president of Fortune International, who enlisted his services in selling projects such as Jade Residences at Brickell Bay, M Resort Residences and Uptown Marina Lofts. Eventually Nino was promoted to vice president of development sales at Fortune International.

Then, this past September, he said, “See ya” to Defortuna and started Prodigy International Development Sales a “professionally staffed, technology driven sales and marketing firm for third party developments.” He doesn’t even have a permanent office yet but already Prodigy has been getting contracts to market high-rises such as Sole on the Ocean and Groupe Pacific’s Brickell on the River.

Nino’s new company has hardly warmed up and yet he is already a man-to-watch in the real estate business. 

Al Piazza

Apprentice Seeker

You know a company is growing when it sets up an education fund.

That was the case in December of 2003 when Coscan Homes paired up with Florida International University to create the Coscan Homes Scholars Program in Construction Management and Real Estate. It works like this: two lucky College of Engineering Construction Management students and one College of Business Administration graduate are given a four-year scholarship. 

Just 11 months before, Al Piazza teamed up with Mike Neal and bought the company from Toronto-based Brookfield Homes, which was already credited with building more than 5,000 homes. The end result was that the company Piazza presides over not only is developing projects but also has a side-gig as a construction contractor, which has already been contracted to build the Sunny Isles high-rises Trump Palace and Trump Royale. 

A native of Pennsylvania, Piazza has been associated with real estate in South Florida, particularly in Northeast Dade, since 1996 when he was Coscan’s senior vice president.  In that role he was the general manager of Porto Vita. He was also the executive vice president of development and operations for Williams Island, a luxury resort community within Aventura. Now, as the president of Coscan Homes, he is leading the final stages of Atlantic One within the Point at Aventura.

Chances are Piazza could probably use three apprentices or so. At least these apprentices won’t have to compete before millions in a nationwide TV show.