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Nov 1, 2008 9:28 pm US/Eastern
Exclusive Preview With Jorge Perez: Icon Brickell
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
Imagine trying to sell nearly 2,000 condominiums in South Florida's plummeting housing market. Condo developer Jorge Perez is going to try and do just that this month, as he unveils what he's calling his crowning achievement: Icon Brickell.
CBS4's David Sutta got an exclusive first look at it and the man who hopes to sell it.
From the $10 million columns that line the entry way to the two-acre infinity pool deck, developer Jorge Perez has brought a vision to life. "I think this is the best job that's ever been done in South Florida," Perez told Sutta.
"The level of detail, this is what makes it." The developer with The Related Group is putting the finishing touches on Icon Brickell, his crowning achievement in a 30-year career spanning 200 buildings.
His 18-hundred units come with incredible views, five restaurants, a rooftop club, 148 hotel rooms and a 28-thousand square foot spa that pictures do little justice for. "You're not buying an apartment," Perez exclaimed. "You're buying one of the great pieces of art that we've ever had in South Florida." Perez's pitch is slick. Every foot of the building has meaning, from the floors to the furnishings.
"It's full of suspense, and creativity and beauty. And I think it makes me, as bad as the market is, when I go there and I look at this and I almost come in too much, because it makes me smile," Perez said.
There isn't much to smile these days, because Icon is surrounded by a condo surplus and opening in the middle of a foreclosure mess. Critics argue that Perez's upcoming attempt to sell the units could have come at a worse time.
Perez agrees his timing is off, but has a positive outlook. "Could it have come a better time for Miami, when we are creating a metropolis and where every building is going to contribute to that creation? It could have not have come a better time, because this building will now be part of it and make Miami that much better as a city."
In the last year, Forbes has estimated Perez has lost a quarter of his wealth. That's easily half a billion dollars. Perez blew in the information off. "What does it really matter if I'm worth 1.8 billion dollars or 500 million dollars? Am I going to have less steak? Am I going to fly less? It really doesn't matter."
What does matter to Perez is his legacy, and that's Icon Brickell. "My legacy is not going to be on the money I've made. My legacy is going to be on the buildings I've built and the cities that I have helped create or make better."
Perez will likely be remembered for reinventing Miami's skyline. Even still, his greatest times may be ahead of him; he begins closing on his half-million dollar units in a week. Given the economy, he's worried and is working with regulators to attempt to offer his buyers second mortgages on his masterpiece.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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