Jorge M. Pérez (born October 17, 1949) is an American billionaire real estate developer, art collector, philanthropist and author. He is best known as the chairman and CEO of The Related Group. He is ranked 264th on the Forbes 400 list with a net worth of $3 billion as of October, 2017. He is a longtime friend of U.S. president Donald Trump and has built Trump-branded properties.
Video Jorge M. Pérez
Early life and education
Pérez was born October 17, 1949 in Buenos Aires, Argentina to Cuban parents of Spanish origin. He lived in Colombia before moving to Miami in 1968. His father was the head of a pharmaceutical company that was nationalized by the Cuban government. He has a bachelor's degree in economics from Long Island University C.W. Post Campus, and a master's degree in urban planning from the University of Michigan.
Maps Jorge M. Pérez
Career
Pérez was an economic development director with the city of Miami before he entered the real estate business and became a developer. In 1979, he founded Related Group with New York builder Stephen M. Ross. Pérez built his fortune by building and operating low-income multifamily apartments across Miami. The firm became the largest affordable housing builder in Florida by the middle of the decade. He then branched off into rental apartments before becoming one of the most prolific high-rise condo builders in the Southern United States. Pérez has owned 50 condo towers in various stages of completion in South Florida, Fort Myers and Las Vegas. He has been called the "Donald Trump of the Tropics". During his career, Pérez has developed or managed more than 90,000 residences, most of which are located in South Florida. He has worked with many well-known designers, architects, and firms, including Philippe Starck, Cesar Pelli, Arquitectonica, David Rockwell, Rem Koolhaas and Karim Rashid.
Related Group had $2.1 billion in revenue in 2004, putting Pérez at the top of the Hispanic Business 500 during this period of time. He is an active Democratic fund raiser; he advised Bill Clinton on Cuba during his presidency and was an active fundraiser for the failed presidential campaign of Senator Hillary Clinton. In 2008, he also hosted and raised money for Barack Obama after he became the Democratic presidential nominee.
On November 18, 2007, Related Group demolished the Sheraton at Bal Harbour to make way for a new project. The Sheraton at Bal Harbour, originally called the Americana, was created by architect Morris Lapidus, who also designed the Fontainebleau Miami Beach and Eden Roc hotels. These buildings inspired Miami Modern Architecture (MiMo).
With the financial crisis of 2007-2010, many of Related Group's projects were in financial strife as buyers, many of whom were speculators, refused to settle on their apartments or banks refused to grant home or property investment loans to the buyers. As a separate business, Pérez set up a hedge fund to buy distressed real estate. Before the financial crisis of 2007, Forbes pegged his wealth at $1.3 billion. As of March 2013, his wealth stood at 1.2 billion with a steady resurgence in Florida real estate prices.
Related Group has built projects in Argentina, Brazil, Panama, Uruguay and Mexico.
In 2017, the company broke ground on a 400-unit luxury apartment project in Tampa, Florida and also plans to build more than 700 units in West Florida in coming years. The Related Group opened an office in 2017 in Dallas with plans to build apartments in Denver, Las Vegas, Phoenix and other major Texas markets.
Philanthropy and art
Peréz was the principal benefactor for the Jorge M. Pérez Architecture Center at the University of Miami, which opened in October 2004.
Pérez's personal and corporate art collection contains 1,000 pieces and includes work from Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Fernando Botero, Roberto Matta, Rubén Torres Llorca, Vhils, Jef Geys, Michael Loew, and Pablo Atchugarry.
In December 2011, Pérez donated $35 million in cash and art to the Miami Art Museum to support the construction of its Herzog & de Meuron designed building. The museum was renamed the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM). He donated $15 million more to the museum in 2016. The donation included $5 million in Cuban contemporary art. He has pledged to donate his entire collection to the museum after his death.
In addition to the Pérez Art Museum Miami he supports the Miami International Film Festival, National YoungArts Foundation, the Frost Art Museum at Florida International University and the University of Miami.
In 2012, he signed the "Giving Pledge," an international effort to address society's pressing problems by inviting the world's wealthiest individuals to commit more than half of their wealth to charitable causes either in their will or during their lifetime.
Personal life
Pérez lives in Miami, Florida, with his wife, Darlene Pérez. He has four children. He is a member of the Democratic Party and has worked closely with the presidential campaigns for Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama. He is a friend and former business partner of Donald Trump, who wrote the foreword for Pérez's 2008 book, Powerhouse Principles.
Selected works
- Powerhouse Principles: The Ultimate Blueprint for Real Estate Success in an Ever-Changing Market. New York: New American Library. 2008. ISBN 0-451-22705-0
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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