{"id":31383,"date":"2018-10-31T11:49:33","date_gmt":"2018-10-31T15:49:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/?p=31383"},"modified":"2019-04-04T12:42:12","modified_gmt":"2019-04-04T16:42:12","slug":"dacra-and-the-design-district-a-miami-success-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/2018\/10\/dacra-and-the-design-district-a-miami-success-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Dacra and the Design District: a Miami success story."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By Cynthia Corzo and Ellen Forman<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-31393\" src=\"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Hollo-School-Dacra-and-the-Design-District-compressor.jpg\" alt=\"Dacra and the Design District: a Miami success story.\" width=\"1000\" height=\"517\" srcset=\"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Hollo-School-Dacra-and-the-Design-District-compressor.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Hollo-School-Dacra-and-the-Design-District-compressor-300x155.jpg 300w, https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Hollo-School-Dacra-and-the-Design-District-compressor-230x119.jpg 230w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Miami\u2019s Design District has evolved as a unique South Florida success story, with its mix of high-end retail, restaurants, residences, and cultural arts in a walkable environment. It is one of few neighborhoods that serves as both tourist destination and strong residential environment, maintaining an emphasis on curating unique experiences for both.<\/p>\n<p>What did it take to develop and execute a real estate strategy that brings these elements together?<\/p>\n<p>FIU\u2019s Hollo School of Real Estate invited leaders of Dacra, the company founded by Craig Robins that led the Design District\u2019s development, to share their experiences and insights with Hollo School students and alumni. The event, part of the school\u2019s Real Estate Leadership Speaker Series, was held September 21, 2018 at the Hotel Colonnade in Coral Gables.<\/p>\n<p>In a discussion moderated by Suzanne Hollander, an attorney and broker who is also a faculty member at the Hollo School, Dacra executives delivered a behind-the-scenes perspective on how the company got its start. They shared the vision of Robins, its founder, and explored the process of building the Design District into a high end shopping destination with a neighborhood feel. Robins and Dacra are also behind the development of South Beach, through the redevelopment of several Ocean Drive hotels and parts of Lincoln Road. Other Dacra projects include Aqua, the area around Alton Road and 63 St., which was originally a fill island built in the 1920s, once occupied by St. Francis Hospital, that Dacra redeveloped into a residential community.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" align=\"middle\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"400\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/slideShow\/index.gne?group_id=&amp;user_id=23794481@N04&amp;set_id=72157696096888190\/show\" width=\"100%\" ><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Dacra chose to develop the Design District for its potential as a walking neighborhood, functional from a street-accessible retail component. Originally designed retail, destination restaurants came in.<\/p>\n<p>In 2010,\u00a0Dacra partnered with L Catterton, an international real estate fund affiliated with LVMH, transforming its turn into luxury fashion real estate.<\/p>\n<p>Beginning with high-end retail, the district enabled the \u201cbranded fa\u00e7ade,\u201d taking the front wall as a way to incorporate brands, and providing a pedestrian walkway in the middle, with \u201csecondary alleys\u201d also serving as artistic focal points. The ability to provide space for retailing and branding of flagship stores allowed brands to develop a second location in Miami as the city grew its reputation as an international luxury goods destination.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some of thoughts shared at the event.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>\u201cOur objective is to create great neighborhoods in Miami. When we started buying in 1994, people thought we were nuts going in there. After 2010, we had to do it very quietly because property prices would quadruple.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have two goals: Be the No. 2 or No. 3 luxury shopping center in the country, and if you\u2019re going to visit Miami, coming to the Miami Design District is a must.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Steven Gretenstein &#8211; chief operating officer, Dacra<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>\u201cWe created the space and the vision for what the neighborhood was going to be. Next, we went to find tenants. Today, we have 125 tenants in the Miami Design District, and we control 70 percent of the district, unifying neighborhood streets. Common spaces are critical.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>David Holtzman \u2013 vice president, Dacra<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>\u201cThe focus at Miami Design District has been on rehabilitation through thoughtful development. Nobody else was doing that. Craig (Robins) is known for doing things out of the box. He takes risks, like giving an artist an alley and telling him to make it real.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cArt is a gathering place that activates street traffic. For example, a sculpture was inserted into the Moore building, and that\u2019s something that connects the past to the present.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tiffany Chestler \u2013<\/strong> <strong>director of cultural programing, Dacra; art curator for the Robins Collection<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re promoting it as a neighborhood not just for tourists, but for locals as well. The Miami Design District\u2019s brand identity: cultural hub. Art tours, concerts&#8211;all this brings people into the neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Teddy Shriver \u2013 marketing director, Miami Design District<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>\u201c<\/strong>Public art projects are part of the neighborhood. We\u2019re creating experiences to get you away from your computer and come in. Miami Design District is a fully integrated neighborhood \u2013 you can live, work, play, visit \u2013 cultural programming is a big part of our DNA. We\u2019re giving people reasons to come into the neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201c<\/strong>What\u2019s next? We\u2019re not going to repeat Miami Design District. We\u2019ve never replicated a neighborhood.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Steven Gretenstein<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Cynthia Corzo and Ellen Forman Miami\u2019s Design District has evolved as a unique South Florida success story, with its mix of high-end retail, restaurants, residences, and cultural arts in a walkable environment. It is one of few neighborhoods that serves as both tourist destination and strong residential environment, maintaining an emphasis on curating unique [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":31391,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2836,2531],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31383"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31383"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31397,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31383\/revisions\/31397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}