Jorge Perez | $1B+
Get in touch with Jorge Perez | Jorge Pérez, founder, chairman, and CEO of The Related Group, is widely known as the “Condo King of Miami,” having shaped the modern skyline of South Florida through four decades of large-scale residential development. Since launching the firm in 1979, Pérez has built tens of thousands of luxury, mixed-income, and urban revitalization units across the region, partnering with top global architects and redefining Miami as an international hub of design, culture, and luxury real estate. A major patron of the arts, Pérez played a central role in establishing the Pérez Art Museum Miami and continues to support cultural and community development across the city. His influence spans real estate, philanthropy, and the transformation of Miami into a global destination.
Jorge M. Pérez (born October 17, 1949) is an Argentine-born American billionaire real estate developer, art collector, and philanthropist.[1] He founded The Related Group in 1979 and serves as its chairman and chief executive officer, leading the Miami-based firm in developing more than 100,000 condominium and apartment units across luxury, affordable, and workforce housing projects, with assets under development exceeding $10 billion.[2][3] Born in Buenos Aires to Cuban parents who had fled the island's revolution, Pérez grew up in Colombia, where his family operated a pharmaceutical business, before immigrating to the United States at age 19 to pursue higher education.[4][5] Pérez earned a bachelor's degree in economics summa cum laude from Long Island University and a master's degree in urban planning, which informed his early career in government housing finance before transitioning to private development focused initially on affordable multi-family housing in areas like Miami's Little Havana.[6][5] Often dubbed the "Condo King of Miami," he has driven South Florida's urban transformation over four decades, pioneering high-rise condominiums that reshaped the region's skyline and economy.[7] A prominent philanthropist, Pérez has donated tens of millions to cultural institutions, including $40 million to the Miami Art Museum—leading to its renaming as the Pérez Art Museum Miami—and supports arts initiatives through the Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation, reflecting his passion for contemporary art collection integrated into his developments.[2][8] His net worth is estimated at approximately $2.6 billion, derived primarily from real estate ventures.[5]
Early Life and Immigration
Childhood in Cuba and Exile
Jorge M. Pérez was born on October 17, 1949, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Cuban parents of Spanish descent who had relocated there prior to the Cuban Revolution.[1] His father, a chemical engineer educated in the United States, had worked in the pharmaceutical sector for Eli Lilly & Co. in Argentina.[9] The family spent summers and holidays visiting relatives in Cuba during Pérez's early childhood.[10]
In 1958, at age nine, Pérez moved permanently to Cuba with his family after his grandfather's death, settling in Havana where his father launched an independent pharmaceutical business.[11] The following year, Fidel Castro's forces overthrew Fulgencio Batista's government, establishing a communist regime that rapidly consolidated power through policies including the expropriation of private property without compensation.[9] By 1960, as the government nationalized industries—including pharmaceuticals—Pérez's family business was seized, plunging the household into economic hardship and prompting their exile to escape the regime's repressive measures against private enterprise owners.[9]
The family's departure from Cuba in 1961 was driven by these causal factors: the Castro government's ideological commitment to socialism, which systematically dismantled market-based incentives and property rights, fostering widespread emigration among the middle class and entrepreneurs who viewed the changes as irreversible threats to prosperity and personal freedom.[9] They relocated to Bogotá, Colombia, where Pérez's parents managed a modest pharmaceutical operation amid the era's guerrilla violence and political upheaval, experiences that further shaped his early awareness of instability under leftist insurgencies.[5]
Arrival in the United States
Jorge M. Pérez arrived in Miami, Florida, in 1968 at the age of 19, having traveled from Colombia where his exiled Cuban parents had relocated after fleeing the Castro regime.[12][4][13] He entered the United States possessing no financial resources, embodying the challenges faced by many immigrants seeking refuge from communist oppression.[12][8]
Devoid of familial support or capital, Pérez adapted through self-reliance, securing scholarships funded by private charities to fund his initial pursuits while taking entry-level positions to cover basic needs.[8][13] This approach allowed him to navigate early hardships in a meritocratic environment, where personal initiative determined outcomes rather than state allocation.[12]
His exile stemmed from the Cuban Revolution's implementation of collectivist policies, including the nationalization of private enterprises, which devastated entrepreneurial families like Pérez's and triggered widespread emigration of over one million Cubans by the 1980s.[5][14] In contrast, the U.S. system's emphasis on individual agency provided the empirical foundation for immigrants to build wealth through voluntary exchange, a dynamic absent in Cuba's command economy that prioritized ideological conformity over productive incentives.[12]
Education
Academic Pursuits
Pérez earned a bachelor's degree in economics from C.W. Post College of Long Island University.[2][1] This program equipped him with foundational principles in economic theory, market dynamics, and financial analysis.[5]
Following his undergraduate studies, Pérez pursued advanced education in urban development, obtaining a Master of Science in Urban Planning from the University of Michigan.[15] The curriculum at Michigan's Taubman College emphasized spatial analysis, land use policies, infrastructure planning, and sustainable urban growth strategies.[5] These academic pursuits, undertaken as a recent immigrant arriving in the United States in 1968, demonstrated his commitment to acquiring specialized knowledge in fields intersecting economics and city-building.[5]
Early Professional Training
Upon completing his master's degree in urban planning from the University of Michigan in 1976, Pérez returned to Miami and joined the City of Miami's community development department as an urban planner and economic development specialist.[5][4] In this role, he focused on neighborhood planning, advocacy, and initiatives for low-income housing, gaining hands-on experience in coordinating public-sector projects amid the economic challenges of the 1970s, including high inflation and housing shortages.[16][17] This position involved navigating federal and local regulations for subsidized housing programs, such as those under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which emphasized empirical assessment of site feasibility, zoning compliance, and community needs over theoretical models.[18]
Pérez served in this capacity for approximately three years, advancing through demonstrated competence in applying first-hand regulatory knowledge to practical urban revitalization efforts, particularly in underserved areas like Little Havana.[5][11] His work honed skills in multifamily housing analysis and government-subsidized financing mechanisms, providing a foundation for private-sector transitions without reliance on personal networks. This empirical training in causal factors of urban growth—such as demand-driven lending viability and inflationary pressures on construction costs—equipped him to identify opportunities in affordable housing development.[16]
By the late 1970s, Pérez leveraged this expertise to pivot toward hands-on development of government-subsidized low-income apartments, empirically learning the intricacies of securing FHA-insured loans and Section 8 vouchers through direct project execution rather than advisory roles.[11] This progression underscored a merit-based trajectory, where proficiency in regulatory hurdles and market realities—gained via public service—enabled scalable private ventures focused on multifamily units during a period of rising interest rates exceeding 10% annually.[17]
Business Career
Initial Roles in Finance
Pérez entered the finance sector through his early involvement in securing funding for multi-family housing projects amid the economic challenges of the late 1970s and early 1980s, including double-digit inflation and interest rates exceeding 15% in 1980-1981. His work focused on originating and structuring loans for apartment complexes, particularly in underserved Miami neighborhoods, where he assessed risks related to occupancy, rental income stability, and market volatility to ensure viable debt service coverage.[11] This hands-on experience in credit analysis and capital structuring built foundational skills in distinguishing sustainable investments from overleveraged speculations, as evidenced by his emphasis on properties with reliable cash flows over short-term price appreciation.
In the early 1980s, during the 1981-1982 recession that saw U.S. unemployment peak at 10.8% and widespread property distress, Pérez pursued opportunities in undervalued assets, rehabilitating subsidized apartment buildings in areas like Little Havana to capitalize on recovery potential while minimizing equity outlay through debt financing.[11] These leveraged transactions, often with loan-to-value ratios allowing for efficient scaling, exemplified a disciplined approach to capital deployment grounded in asset fundamentals such as location-driven demand and operational efficiencies, rather than chasing boom-cycle hype. By prioritizing conservative underwriting—factoring in worst-case vacancy scenarios and interest rate sensitivity—Pérez accumulated initial wealth without the excessive risk exposure that felled many contemporaries.[2]
Founding and Growth of The Related Group
Jorge M. Pérez co-founded The Related Group in 1979 with Stephen M. Ross, a fellow University of Michigan alumnus and New York-based developer who provided initial financing.[11][19] The company began by developing and managing affordable and low-income housing in South Florida, addressing demand in underserved urban areas through multifamily rentals.[20][21]
Under Pérez's leadership as chairman and CEO, The Related Group pivoted in the 1990s toward luxury condominiums and market-rate apartments, responding to rising preferences for high-density, amenity-rich living in Miami's core districts.[22][23] This shift capitalized on empirical urban migration trends, with developments emphasizing innovative architecture, integrated art collections, and cultural programming to differentiate in competitive markets.[3]
By the 2020s, the firm had constructed over 100,000 condominium and apartment units across luxury, affordable, and workforce segments, fundamentally reshaping Miami's skyline through vertical density in areas like Brickell and Edgewater.[2][3][24] Strategic alliances with global equity partners and design firms enabled scaling, as evidenced by annual revenues exceeding $1.4 billion by 2018 and expansion into markets beyond Miami starting around 2010.[11][4] Pérez maintained operational control throughout, acquiring Ross's remaining 25% stake in 2022 to achieve full ownership amid diverging strategic focuses.[25][26]
Navigation of Economic Crises
Prior to the 2008 financial crisis, Forbes estimated Jorge M. Pérez's net worth at $1.3 billion, reflecting the peak of The Related Group's condo development boom in South Florida.[27] The downturn severely impacted the company, with buyer defaults, restricted bank lending, and the loss of four condo projects to foreclosure, alongside an estimated $1 billion in personal and corporate losses.[28] To navigate the crisis without relying on government bailouts, Pérez implemented aggressive cost reductions, including cutting 300 of 600 employees and selling the company's Gulfstream III jet, while restructuring $1.5 billion in debt through private negotiations with lenders.[28][29]
Pérez adopted a contrarian approach by whittling down excess inventory and repositioning for recovery through opportunistic acquisitions and strategic pivots, such as repurchasing foreclosed assets like the 425-unit Oasis Fort Myers condo project originally developed by Related Group in 2008.[30] This hedging via distressed opportunities, combined with a shift toward more stable rental and affordable housing segments using mechanisms like Section 8 vouchers, allowed the firm to avoid over-dependence on volatile condo sales or public stimuli.[31] The Related Group also leveraged international capital from Latin American investors, who were less deterred by U.S. market fears, to fund rebuilding without excessive domestic leverage.[11]
Empirical evidence of resilience includes the company's post-recession portfolio expansion, with announcements or initiations of nearly 4,000 new condo units across 18 South Florida towers by 2014, often requiring 50% or more buyer equity to mitigate speculation risks.[29] Despite ongoing condo market corrections, such as inventory overhangs, Related Group's value creation manifested in sustained development output and Pérez's net worth rebounding to $2.8 billion by 2016, driven by diversified projects that capitalized on recovering demand.[14] This approach underscored a focus on private-market discipline over subsidized recovery, enabling long-term growth amid cyclical volatility.[11]
Leadership Transition and Recent Ventures
In March 2025, Jorge Pérez transitioned leadership of The Related Group by appointing his son Jon Paul Pérez as President and Chief Executive Officer, while assuming the role of Founding Chairman to focus on strategic oversight.[32] This move followed extensive preparation, with Jon Paul Pérez, aged 40 at the time, having joined the firm after earning an MBA and acquiring external experience in real estate, as insisted upon by his father to ensure merit-based succession independent of family ties.[23] Jon Paul's brother, Nicholas Pérez, concurrently holds the position of President of the Condominium Division, facilitating continued family involvement in key operational areas.[23][3]
Post-transition, The Related Group has pursued mixed-use developments integrating residential, office, retail, and cultural elements, exemplified by the $2 billion Midtown Park project in Miami, approved by the city on October 16, 2025, which includes 924 residential units, 60,000 square feet of office space, and additional amenities across 1.2 million square feet in two phases.[33] Other recent initiatives encompass the $880 million HueHub in West Little River, featuring mixed-use components, and a $148 million mixed-income residential complex in Coconut Grove filed in February 2025.[34][35] These projects reflect adaptations to post-2020 market dynamics, including Miami's population influx from remote work trends, with the firm emphasizing urban revitalization through design-forward properties that incorporate museum-quality art.[3]
As of August 2025, Forbes estimates Jorge Pérez's net worth at $2.6 billion, primarily derived from his stakes in The Related Group, which has developed over 100,000 condominium and apartment units since 1979.[2]
Real Estate Developments
Major Projects in Miami
Pérez's The Related Group spearheaded Icon Brickell, a landmark three-tower complex in Miami's Brickell district completed between 2008 and 2009, encompassing over 1,700 residential condominium units across 50- to 57-story structures designed by Arquitectonica.[36][37] The project integrated luxury residences with hotel components, including 148 hotel-condo units in the W Miami tower, totaling approximately 2,400 units when including non-residential elements, and featured amenities like a 28,000-square-foot spa and multiple pools.[38]
In 2018, the firm delivered SLS Lux Brickell, a 60-story, 450-unit condominium tower at 801 South Miami Avenue that pioneered brick-and-mortar integration by combining residential units with 86 hotel-condo spaces, retail outlets, and dining venues under the SLS brand in partnership with SBE.[11][39] Developed amid post-recession recovery, the project emphasized high-end finishes by designers like Philippe Starck and contributed to Brickell's vertical expansion with sales reflecting strong demand for hybrid-use properties.[40]
Recent Edgewater initiatives include Icon Bay, a 40-story, 300-unit bayfront condominium completed in 2015 at 460 Northeast 28th Street, offering one- to three-bedroom residences with direct Biscayne Bay views and amenities such as a resort-style pool.[41] The Paraiso district, encompassing Paraiso Bay (a 55-story tower), Gran Paraiso, and Paraiso Bayviews, added hundreds of luxury units starting in the mid-2010s, transforming the waterfront neighborhood through master-planned communities with landscaped parks and marinas designed by firms like Arquitectonica.[42][43]
Reflecting a strategic pivot, The Related Group has incorporated workforce housing into its portfolio, notably via the Liberty Square redevelopment—a 55-acre public housing overhaul in Liberty City yielding 793 mixed-income units by August 2025, including public housing, affordable rentals at 50-80% of area median income, and workforce options up to 120% AMI, with recent phases like Serenity adding 193 units without displacing legacy residents.[44][45] Overall, Pérez's developments aggregate over 17 million square feet and more than 100,000 residences, fostering urban density that correlated with Miami-Dade's taxable property values surging from $425.8 billion in 2022 to $511.8 billion by 2025, bolstering municipal revenues primarily through private-sector investment rather than equivalent public outlays.[4][46]
Broader Impact on Urban Development
Pérez's developments through The Related Group have contributed to converting formerly high-crime districts in Miami into thriving economic centers, fostering job creation and substantial private investment. By pioneering luxury and mixed-income residential projects in areas such as downtown Miami and Liberty City, the firm has facilitated the generation of thousands of construction and ancillary employment opportunities across its portfolio of over 100,000 units developed since 1979.[4][47] These initiatives have drawn billions in foreign capital, particularly from Latin American buyers, who accounted for nearly half of new construction purchases in the Miami metro area by 2025, bolstering local GDP growth that outpaced national averages at 3.5% in 2023 for Miami-Dade County.[48][49][14]
Empirical evidence underscores revitalization benefits, including reduced urban sprawl through higher-density builds and verifiable declines in crime rates following project implementations. Downtown Miami's population has doubled to approximately 100,000 residents over the past two decades, reflecting net influx rather than exodus, while citywide homicides fell 20% and property crimes dropped significantly in 2025, with targeted areas like Liberty City experiencing an 84% homicide reduction from 31 in 2020 to 5 in 2024 amid redevelopment efforts.[50][51][52] Real estate-driven economic activity, including each typical home sale generating $129,000 in local impact, has positioned Miami-Dade as 15.15% of Florida's GDP, prioritizing measurable contributions over subjective narratives.[53][54]
Critics, often emphasizing anecdotal displacement and inequality in media and academic analyses prone to selective framing, argue that such growth exacerbates gentrification by pricing out lower-income minorities; however, county-wide data reveal Hispanic homeownership rising 5.8 percentage points nationally from 2013 to 2023, aligning with Miami's demographic shifts toward sustained population expansion among immigrant communities.[55] While Black homeownership faces affordability hurdles at 18% of units viable in 2024, overall metrics favor developer-led strategies for causal uplift in safety and prosperity, as evidenced by sustained job pipelines and investment inflows outstripping displacement claims.[56][57]
Philanthropy
Art Collecting Beginnings
Jorge M. Pérez initiated his art collecting in the early stages of his career, beginning with a modest $100 lithograph by Joan Miró acquired while a student in New York, which laid the foundation for a broader focus on Latin American works.[58] By the 1990s, amid a burgeoning market for Cuban art outside the island, he shifted emphasis to Latin American and Cuban pieces, driven by his heritage as the child of Cuban parents raised in Argentina and Colombia, using acquisitions to maintain ties to his exiled cultural roots rather than purely sentimental motives.[58] [59]
This period marked the assembly of a collection exceeding 1,000 works, prioritizing post-revolutionary Cuban artists like José Bedia and Yoan Capote, whose output blended political exile themes with innovative forms, allowing Pérez to merge autobiographical resonance with calculated market positioning.[60] [61] His method emphasized empirical selection via auctions and advisor consultations, yielding substantial appreciation—as seen in the progression from initial low-cost buys to a portfolio valued at over $20 million by the early 2010s—reflecting a real estate developer's instinct for assets with verifiable upside potential over unproven altruism.[58] [61]
Key Donations and Institutional Support
Jorge M. Pérez's contributions to the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) began with a $35 million naming gift in 2011, which facilitated the institution's rebranding from the Miami Art Museum and supported its relocation and expansion into a modern facility overlooking Biscayne Bay.[62] In November 2023, Pérez and his family pledged an additional $25 million at PAMM's annual gala, earmarked for acquisitions, operations, and programming to sustain the museum's role as a hub for contemporary art with a focus on the Americas.[63] These efforts, combined with art donations valued at millions, have elevated PAMM's profile, though the naming rights have drawn occasional scrutiny for emphasizing donor visibility in public institutions over broader community-driven priorities.[64]
Pérez extended his support to community endowments through property gifts to the Miami Foundation, starting with the 2021 donation of his Coconut Grove waterfront home, which sold for $33 million—the largest single gift in the foundation's history at the time—directed toward arts, culture, education, and economic development initiatives in South Florida.[65] In 2024, he and his wife Darlene donated a Miami Beach condominium at One Ocean Avenue, yielding $10 million upon sale in June, further bolstering local arts and cultural programs managed by the foundation.[66] These real estate-based donations reflect a strategic approach to channeling personal assets into civic infrastructure, amplifying institutional capacity without direct cash outlays.
By 2025, Pérez's cumulative philanthropy in the arts surpassed $200 million, including international commitments such as the April donation to Tate Modern of Joan Mitchell's monumental 1973 triptych Iva—a six-meter abstract work valued in the multimillions—accompanied by an endowment for curatorial research on African and diasporic artists and additional pieces from his collection.[67][68] This gift, Tate's largest since 1969, underscores Pérez's influence in positioning Miami-linked collections on global stages, fostering cross-cultural exchanges while critics note that such high-profile endowments may prioritize elite artistic narratives over grassroots accessibility.[69] Overall, these donations have strategically enhanced Miami's cultural ecosystem, driving institutional growth and attracting tourism, though they highlight tensions between philanthropic leverage and equitable public benefit.[70]
Establishment of Family Foundation
The Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation was established in 2015 as a donor-advised fund managed through The Miami Foundation, enabling strategic philanthropic efforts aligned with Jorge and Darlene Pérez's vision for South Florida's development as a world-class urban center.[71][72] The foundation prioritizes targeted investments in Miami-Dade County programs, concentrating on arts and culture, education, health, and environmental initiatives to foster measurable community outcomes rather than generalized aid.[73][74]
By October 2025, the foundation had committed over $270 million across its first decade, with grants emphasizing partnerships that deliver high-impact results, such as the Pérez CreARTE program, which has allocated more than $16 million to expand arts access, education, and artist residencies in underserved areas.[70][73] In education, it has distributed $1.75 million to nonprofits addressing inequities, supporting programs that promote skill-building and opportunity access akin to pathways for economic mobility.[73] This approach leverages data-informed collaborations to maximize return on investment, avoiding inefficient broad distributions by focusing on verifiable progress in local ecosystems.[75]
Marking its 10-year milestone, the foundation hosted its inaugural Grantee Partners Summit on October 14, 2025, at the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), convening over 100 supported organizations to review outcomes and plan future scalable initiatives in education and arts.[67][76] The event highlighted quantifiable impacts, including enhanced arts education enrollment and community health metrics from funded projects, underscoring the foundation's commitment to evidence-based giving that sustains long-term urban vitality.[70][77]
Political Engagement
Campaign Contributions and Endorsements
Pérez has long been a prominent donor to Democratic candidates and causes. He served as a fundraiser for Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign and contributed to Hillary Clinton's U.S. Senate campaigns and her 2008 presidential bid, as well as Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.[78] In 2012, he bundled more than $200,000 for Obama's reelection campaign.[78]
Despite his Democratic leanings, Pérez has supported Republican candidates, particularly in Florida. During the 2012 election cycle, he donated $1 million to a super PAC backing Mitt Romney.[79] In 2015, he gave $100,000 to Right to Rise USA, a super PAC supporting Jeb Bush's presidential campaign.[78]
Pérez continued supporting Democrats nationally in the 2020s, including participation in a bipartisan group of Cuban-American leaders urging support for Joe Biden among Florida's Hispanic voters.[80] He made a direct contribution of $5,600 to Biden's campaign.[81] Earlier in his career, from 1983 to 2000, his total political contributions amounted to $411,000.[82]
At the local level in Miami, Pérez and his Related Group have donated to candidates across party lines who advance pro-development policies. Examples include a $25,000 contribution to Miami-Dade County Commissioner Raquel Regalado's 2024 reelection campaign and $100,000 from Related Group to a PAC supporting Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy, who had approved a company project.[83] [84]
Public Statements on Policy and Figures
Pérez has publicly criticized former President Donald Trump's immigration policies, particularly the proposed border wall with Mexico. In January 2017, shortly after Trump's inauguration, Pérez rejected an invitation from the president to contribute to the wall's construction, describing it as "the most idiotic thing I've ever seen or heard in my life" and deeming it "immoral."[85][86] These remarks came despite Pérez's earlier business ties to Trump, including the development of Trump-branded towers in South Florida.[87]
In December 2024, amid discussions of Trump's plans for mass deportations following his election victory, Pérez warned that such measures could lead to a "police state" by necessitating widespread enforcement that erodes civil liberties, while also driving up consumer prices through labor shortages in sectors like construction.[88] Pérez, a Cuban exile who fled communist rule in 1961 at age 12, contrasted his own successful integration as an immigrant with Trump's rhetoric, emphasizing that harsh crackdowns risk economic disruption without addressing root causes of illegal immigration.[25] He has also expressed concerns over Trump's tariff proposals, noting in 2025 that fears of trade barriers were inflating construction material costs and deterring international buyers in Miami's real estate market.[89]
On state-level policy, Pérez condemned Florida Governor Ron DeSantis's June 2024 veto of over $32 million in arts and cultural grants from the state budget, arguing that the decision undermined Miami's evolution from a "society of fun and sun" to a sophisticated cultural hub.[90][91] In response, Pérez pledged personal support through his foundation to offset some losses for affected organizations, framing the veto as shortsighted given the arts' role in attracting tourism and investment.[92]
Pérez has advocated for policies fostering urban growth and economic opportunity, crediting U.S. free-market principles for his rise from immigrant roots to real estate prominence. In interviews, he has highlighted how entrepreneurial freedoms in Miami enabled large-scale developments, implicitly endorsing deregulation that facilitates private investment over excessive government intervention.[93] Despite criticisms of specific figures, Pérez's statements often balance support for immigrant labor—vital to his industry's low-cost workforce—with calls for orderly systems that sustain business viability.[25]
Personal Life
Family and Relationships
Pérez has been married to Darlene Pérez, a registered nurse who grew up in Miami, since the early years of his career.[8] The couple has four children, including daughter Christina and sons Jon Paul, Nicholas, and a younger son.[94][8]
Pérez emphasized merit-based advancement within the family, requiring his son Jon Paul to earn an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and gain experience working at a competitor firm before considering involvement in family enterprises, rejecting direct nepotistic entry.[95][23] This approach reflected a deliberate family dynamic aimed at fostering independence and competence among heirs.[96]
The Pérez children participate actively in the family's philanthropic activities, particularly through the Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation established in 2015, which channels support to arts, education, and community initiatives in South Florida.[97][72] This involvement underscores a generational commitment to shared values of civic engagement and cultural preservation.[94]
Health and Residences
Pérez maintains primary residences in Miami, Florida, including luxury properties such as a penthouse in an OMA-designed building on Miami Beach, featuring expansive ocean views and contemporary interiors.[98] His homes integrate elements of his extensive art collection, with works by Latin American artists prominently displayed, underscoring a lifestyle aligned with his entrepreneurial origins and cultural interests.[99] [100]
In April 2024, Pérez and his wife Darlene deeded their condominium at 1 Collins Avenue, Unit 706, in Miami Beach to the Miami Foundation for a nominal $100, with the property selling on June 25, 2024, for $10 million; proceeds supported local arts and community initiatives, exemplifying his ties to the region.[66] [101]
Public information on Pérez's health remains limited, with no disclosures of chronic conditions or impairments reported in credible sources. Born October 17, 1949, he was 76 years old as of October 2025 and continued professional engagements, including a June 2025 interview discussing real estate strategies amid policy shifts.[25] [2] This sustained activity reflects robust personal vitality despite advanced age, consistent with his long-term involvement in Miami's development scene.[102]
Legacy and Recognition
Economic and Cultural Contributions
Jorge M. Pérez has significantly shaped Miami's economic landscape through The Related Group, the real estate firm he co-founded in 1979, which has constructed over 100,000 luxury and affordable residential units spanning approximately 17 million square feet across South Florida.[4] His early initiatives included rehabilitating subsidized low-income housing in neighborhoods like Little Havana during the late 1970s and 1980s, when Miami grappled with urban decay, riots, and economic stagnation.[11] These efforts contributed to the city's transition into a vibrant real estate and international business hub, with Pérez's developments enhancing infrastructure, attracting investment, and fostering urban renewal in underserved areas.[20]
Culturally, Pérez elevated Miami's arts ecosystem via substantial philanthropy to the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), including a landmark naming gift and subsequent donations exceeding $60 million in cash and artworks.[64] PAMM, established as Downtown Miami's premier contemporary art institution, has bolstered the local cultural tourism sector, part of Miami's broader arts industry valued at over $1 billion annually, by drawing visitors and generating ancillary economic activity through exhibitions and events.[103] [104] This support has positioned Miami as a key destination for global art enthusiasts, amplifying tourism revenues that reached $22 billion in direct spending in 2024.[105]
As a Cuban exile who immigrated to the U.S. in 1968 without resources and rose to build a real estate empire, Pérez embodies an immigrant trajectory of entrepreneurial self-reliance, creating substantial economic value through private initiative rather than reliance on public assistance, thereby exemplifying causal pathways from individual agency to community prosperity.[14] [13]
Awards and Criticisms
In 2006, Pérez received the Icon in Real Estate Award of Excellence at MIPIM, the international property market event in Cannes, France, becoming the first American developer honored with this recognition for his contributions to urban development.[5][6] This award highlighted his role in pioneering high-density, mixed-use projects that transformed Miami's skyline and residential landscape.[106]
Pérez has been praised by industry peers for operational efficiency and innovation in condominium construction, with Related Group credited for delivering over 100,000 units since 1979, often in underserved areas that spurred economic revitalization through increased property values and job creation.[2] Empirical data from Miami-Dade County shows that such developments correlated with a 25% rise in median household income in redeveloped neighborhoods like Edgewater between 2000 and 2018, alongside broader tax revenue growth funding public services.[107]
Criticisms of Pérez center on Related Group's practices during market expansions, including a 2017 federal probe into potential abuse and fraud in Miami-Dade's affordable housing programs, where the firm was scrutinized for profit margins on subsidized units amid allegations of industry-wide irregularities.[108] No charges were filed against Pérez personally, and the company maintained compliance with program requirements, contributing to over 10,000 affordable units completed.[3] Detractors, often from advocacy groups, have linked his luxury condo booms to exacerbating housing costs and gentrification pressures in areas like Allapattah, where rents rose 40% from 2010 to 2018; however, city metrics indicate net urban benefits, including reduced vacancy rates from 15% to under 5% and infrastructure upgrades that lowered overall poverty by attracting $15 billion in investments.[107][109]
During the 2008 housing crash, Related's pre-crisis overbuilding of speculative condos—totaling thousands of units—drew scrutiny for contributing to inventory gluts and foreclosures, with the firm halting projects and facing buyer defaults; recovery data shows Pérez-led restructurings preserved 70% of assets, aiding Miami's rebound with 20% annual construction growth post-2010.[4] Left-leaning critiques portray these dynamics as widening inequality, yet econometric analyses attribute sustained population gains and GDP per capita increases to developer-driven density over suburban sprawl alternatives.
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