Related Group Looks to Latin America for New Luxury Condo Markets
 Doreen Hemlock - South Florida Sun-Sentinel
| | Built by The Related group of Florida, Ocean Four offers various floorplans for everyone's desire and needs. |
The Related Group, already the leading developer of luxury condos in the United States, is expanding into Latin America.
The Miami-based company led by Jorge Perez is now building in Uruguay, soon to break ground in Mexico and is mulling projects in Argentina and beyond, working with local partners on each venture, vice president Carlos Rosso said.
The expansion comes as a natural outgrowth of Related's vibrant sales in South Florida to foreign buyers.
Clients from Latin nations who have bought Related properties in South Florida as their second homes regularly suggested Perez consider building in their countries of origin. Some even offered to partner with fast-growing Related, which posted $3.2 billion in sales last year and ranks as the top-selling U.S. Hispanic-owned business.
"They'd come up for a vacation, later buy something and then, ask, `Why not do a project with us?'" Rosso said.
For Perez, expanding to Latin America represents a homecoming of sorts. The 56-year-old entrepreneur was born in Argentina, raised mainly in Colombia and moved to the United States to attend college, arriving in Miami in 1976 to work as an urban planner.
He began Related in the late 1970s with low-income rentals in Miami's Little Havana area. Later, he turned to apartment buildings and in the 1990s, to ultra-chic condo towers and mixed-use projects beyond Miami, including CityPlace in West Palm Beach.
Related is building its first luxury condo overseas - a 50-unit venture in the beach resort of Punta del Este, Uruguay.
It is soon to start on a 600,000-square foot project in the beach town of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, with design work for the building from Miami-based Arquitectonica, Rosso said.
Even more ambitious, the group is studying a massive mixed-use project in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on one of the few large parcels left near the Puerto Madera port redevelopment. The 7.5 million-square-foot project would include residences, retail, a five-star hotel, parks and more.
Plus, Related is looking into projects on the Mexican Caribbean around Playa del Carmen and near Cancún.
"We've also been approached to look into Colombia," Rosso said.
Developing large, luxury condo projects abroad differs markedly from the United States - especially in financing and marketing.
Rosso said banks in Latin America generally don't finance the bulk of construction costs the way they do in Florida. Instead, in Mexico, condo buyers plunk down a bigger down payment before construction of their unit, and then, pay off the full amount in monthly installments as their unit is being completed. The Mexican buyer ends up funding construction, he said.
Marketing is more basic, too. Rosso said few developers in the Latin nations tout high-tech designers or high-tech gadgets in condos, features that are commonly advertised for new projects in South Florida.
Doreen Hemlock can be reached at dhemlock@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5009. |
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Puerto Vallarta Real Estate | August 2006 
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