Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another SLG Meetup. Today we have a pleasure to have with us Carmen Casadella. And we are here at the Rice Beautiful Building in Brickle City Centre. She is the vice president of Fortune, one of the largest progress here in Miami.
And working on some of the most incredible projects. So thank you for having us here. Thank you for having me. First of all, where are we?
What's so beautiful about this place? So this is a project that is in the centre of Brickle, in the heart of Brickle, on top of the Brickle City Centre. It's the Rice condominiums. And here we are at the penthouse, one of our, you know, trophy properties that we are promoting and showing.
So... It was a little tour. Yes, yes, yes. I'll show you around.
So this is this beauty here. It's basically five bedrooms, gorgeous, high ceilings, incredible views of almost 360 degrees of Miami. And with a very interesting price. So it has it all.
Amazing. Well, very excited to be here definitely with you. But tell us about yourself, because you want to do my special fortune, which is a really large brokerage here. I mean, and you guys are working on some of the most incredible projects.
That is true. So, fortunately, a little bit of background with Fortune. We are a company that was established over 35 years ago. We have three lines of businesses.
We are a brokerage company. We are a development company. And we also do sales and marketing for third-party developers. So we do a little bit of everything.
I am in the development of the marketing and sales of third-party developers. And we promote and sell all these wonderful new constructions that you see around the city. Miami is one of the cities that is coming to the most. Miami is on fire right now.
Miami is experiencing something that it's hard to describe. But I think that COVID had a lot to do with it. So we were seeing some trends of states from the north that were being attracted by several reasons, lifestyle, taxation, and overall improvement of technologies that basically allows you to work from wherever you want to live. And we see now an incredible influx of domestic buyers that are moving here, that maybe they came, they tried and they loved it.
And so it's really, really booming. So let me ask you because obviously the demand has been booming tremendously. And the supply we've had a shortage. And why these new projects are so exciting because people want to have a piece of my eye.
So they don't know where to look. And these new sexy projects are, I guess, the trendiest when it comes to this new project. So we are right now experiencing the lowest inventory that Miami has ever had. Because since we started accounting for the number of available homes, we have approximately the same numbers that they had back in the 60s.
The thing is that now Miami is so much bigger. So the percentage that it's available now, it's very, very small. So yes, I agree. The developers that are in Miami have noted that the inventory is very, very low all time low and they decided to start building and they're coming with incredible offerings, right?
Because the way to sell your product when it's not there is just by creating a concept, but making it really special, making it a standout from everything else. So you do have different trends. You have that trend that is very attractive for people that are perhaps not looking to live in Miami full time. So we are accommodating them with short-term projects that you can occupy, but you can also rent what you know there.
We are also offering luxury buildings because we are offering larger apartments. Since Miami was sometimes the kind of city that didn't accommodate people that was living here full time, we had smaller apartments. The one bedroom and the two bedrooms seemed to be very popular. But now people are requesting larger spaces.
So the three bedrooms and four bedrooms that then the extra room for the office because maybe they work from home. So you do have that demand for high luxury that we really see. This is going to run out. This is going to sell really, really fast.
So from the location itself is beautiful. So that's about all these different projects because the thing about fortune is that it's like covering all the areas in Miami. It's beautiful. So from all the different neighborhoods that guys are working on, which one is your favorite?
So it's super hard to say. For me, I live in Miami Beach. I love it there. I think still that the beach has a value that it's really unique.
That is very limited supply or you can build on the beach. But I see Miami, there's a new Miami, there's an urban Miami that's emerging right here in Brickall, downtown. So that's very exciting to me too because I will say that that's a bit younger perhaps. And that is maybe somebody that doesn't want to have a car.
The one is just to walk to work and walk to restaurants and walk to stores. So that is, Miami that didn't exist before. So I'm excited to see it happening. I'm excited to see that it's really something that we are creating with these great new buildings that also offer incredible amenities.
Because I think that Miami is well known for the amenities that we have within your own property. So you have the pool, the tennis, the gym. You have sometimes you have something like a pet area. You have incredible spots.
You do have anything that really enhances your experience and that you might not necessarily have room in your apartment. So you have an incredible screening room. You have like a lounge area. You have a kitchen facility somewhere else from your home where you can have actually a bigger dinner.
So you do have a lot of things within your property that really enhances everything that you can experience without leaving your home. A little bit about what we were saying in terms of the demand. Now with the borders opening again. Yes, yes, yes.
Many other places help us this impact. So we already have, because this just happened, right? So this week, last week we got the borders open with Europe. And this week is happening with Brazil, Argentina.
We already see a lot of pent-up demand. Remember that this explosion of Miami real estate has been mostly because of domestic buyers and now the international buyers are reacting to it. And they are seeing that Miami is a city that has an incredible potential of growth and of growth to stay. Just because it's not just people coming to retire anymore.
It's people that are thinking that they want to live here and so they bring in their companies here. I love it. So what would you say for those that are coming to Miami? They want a piece of Miami.
What can they do because the process? I would say think what your usage of the apartment will be. Are you thinking of just perhaps spending some time and then not wanting that it costs you too much? So for that you want to be able to rent it the rest of the year so it offsets your expenses.
Then I would say get something that is short-term. Do you want something that makes you feel like a princess or a king or an incredible views as a man? Then buy that apartment that is gorgeous that it will appreciate in time because as we are seeing, I mean there is a great demand and inventory is just not knitting up that demand. So you have different possibilities.
The variety is great and it's not just Miami. We have also started selling North going to Brawer and for Lauda because that's where the inventory is. We just launched the Ritz-Coulton in Pompano Beach and within a month we almost reserved half of the building. So the demand is there and the possibilities are basically endless.
With Fortune the great thing is that we can really basically and shall explain you and give you options. So it might be the best opportunity for you. Because you've been working on some produce internationally. Yes, yes, yes, yes.
So because of our outreach, basically Fortune has about a thousand agents that work here in Miami as our brokers. But we also have a hundred thousand agents that work internationally through our network of brokers. So that has obviously been noticed by some of the developers especially in Spain which is where I'm from. And they have asked us for some help with the sales internationally.
So I'm very happy to say that we represent two projects in my native Barcelona. One is the Mandarin Oriental Resences, right in the St. D'Egracia and the other one is Antares which is right on the beach. So we are promoting those to the Americas and I'm very excited because the response has been incredible.
Wow, so congratulations. Thank you. Now we obviously asked this question to our guests and I want to know your answer. What is Luxury to you?
Luxury to me is... That's a very good one because many things are Luxury, right? I think it definitely has to do with style and beauty and it has to do with refinement. But it also has to do with health.
I can not enjoy my Luxury if I'm not healthy. And so an active lifestyle for me is a luxurious way to spend my day. And beauty always has to be part of it. So it's a combination.
The wellness. Yes, the wellness definitely and that's also a big important part of our offerings in our new project. So let me tell you a little bit about the projects that we have. So in Brico, we have rich and rice which is ready.
People can come and buy it. A little bit down there. It's Una which is in construction. It's going to be delivered in three, four years.
It's right on the water. Then we have another project in... we just launched in downtown. The fabulous project is called Ocan Tower.
We also have Bakara here in Brico. We have in Hwater, we have Missoni, we have a new one called Casabella. We have projects in the beach. In Miami Beach we have Monaco, residences in Hallende.
We have 2000 Ocean in a component as I mentioned, component of the skeleton. We have a few new ones that are coming. We do have more projects that are here in this area. But basically we do have a little bit for everybody.
It's a great market to be part of right now. It's just going up here. Now from a personal standpoint, you were talking about wellness and how important is for you. But do you have any specific routines in the morning that help you achieve the level of success that you have?
I mean, I work out every day. Sometimes it's just walking on the beach. I don't push it. Just to stay active, I try to dedicate an hour to working out in the morning.
I get ready for the day. I feel like that really helps and makes me focus and be able to achieve more. And then I don't know. That's about it.
I love what I do and I think that also helps. That motivates you. For sure. You want to create a business that feels your passion.
And this is a new lifestyle around that side. Yeah. And I think that one of the things I really like about what I do is that it connects me to the city that I'm at. So in order to be able to sell an apartment before I have to sell Miami.
Because I work with a lot of international clients. So you have to know that the new train is coming. You have to know that all these great things are happening to the city. And this way you can really convey the excitement.
Yeah, for sure. This is incredible. I'm very excited in all the projects that are happening here in Miami. You guys, so I want to make a list so everybody can take a look at those projects.
I hope I didn't forget any. You would go and do it as well of this beautiful penthouse. But is there anything else that you would like to share? No, buying in Miami is super easy.
We can help you from forming a company to any lending or anything like this. The person also has a lending branch. So we can make it really like a seamless transaction. We have wonderful brokers that really come to us and we have a great relationship and we can make it happen.
You know, just make sure to follow Calment, which is amazing. And besides that, all the projects are fortunate. There are spectacular. I'm a huge fan of H.P.A.Y.
value. You guys are putting out there. And I think it's important for the city of Miami to have more of these projects because we keep seeing a huge increase in the demand. And we need that supply to be along with it.
Plus, I think it's also making the city be innovative and really innovative. So it's a pleasure to get to know more about these projects, especially to show your stories. So thank you again for your time. Thank you.
And thanks again for everybody tuning in today. We hope you enjoyed it. And remember, embrace it's beautiful success in life. My name is Alvaro and I'll see you next time.