- January 19, 2018
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Just because condo construction has ended doesn't mean Jorge Perez is standing still.
Perez, the legendary Miami condo builder, says he's looking for sites on which to build apartments. Perez is chairman and CEO of The Related Group, which was building 10,000 condos a year during the boom.
“We're looking at Tampa,” says Perez, who was recently in Fort Myers to promote the auction of Oasis condominiums, the waterfront towers that Related completed just as the boom ended.
The Fort Myers-Naples area remains depressed and new development there remains several years off, Perez says. “Tampa's a little better,” he notes. However, apartment rents in Tampa are lower than they are on the east coast.
“We just need to find sites,” says Perez, who got his start in Miami building affordable homes. “There is a [supply-demand] disequilibrium, particularly in Class A apartments,” Perez says.
Earlier this year, Perez and private-equity firm Lubert-Adler formed a $1 billion fund to acquire distressed properties in Florida and around the country.