JEM and the transformation of Downtown Miami
A compact home with a luxury lifestyle downstairs
Basically the idea is to understand that Miami today can offer a very small unit, incredible per square foot under construction, but you go downstairs and you have a luxury lifestyle at your feet, because you can reach all of these things without sitting in traffic for hours.
The best Miami we have lived in
Well, Cris, I definitely feel that we have been selling Miami for so many years —more than 20 years, I would say, that we have known each other and have been living Miami— and I definitely say that the best Miami I have lived in is the one we are living in now. The city has changed completely for us: Brickell, downtown, the airport area, the port. And today we are here at JEM, in what this new Miami is, that mini Manhattan that we lived and used to see literally in books, in shows, and seeing it as a reality today is spectacular.
So there is nobody better than you, who has spent so many years living in this area, selling it and promoting it, to tell us a little about the change Brickell and Downtown have gone through, what we have today, where it is heading; and all of this is going to give us the context for why JEM.
From the downtown nobody believed in to today's city
Of course. Well, thank you very much for being here again at JEM Private Residences. When we talk about the area, which is Downtown Miami, it was a neighbourhood where, when we were selling Paramount pre-construction, we promised clients “an Apple Store is coming”, and they looked at us and said: “No, that can't happen here. This neighbourhood can't support an Apple Store, that's not true”.
And today we come to a downtown where, first, the city became more compact, because more people are living here permanently: you can live downtown without a car and we are less than five minutes from Miami's four industries, which are the port, the airport, the financial centre and the beach. When you buy something you are looking to minimise the risk of the investment, both for your own enjoyment and for the possibility of renting. Having that nearby is very important.
Parks, museums, Brightline and billions in investment
But downtown is all new: it is going through a historic moment, receiving billions of dollars between public and private developments. And today we see it: these buildings that are here surrounded by parks, by entertainment, by the opera, the ballet, the Broadway shows. We have the museums, the Art Museum, the Science Museum, the Kaseya Center, where the Miami Heat play and the most famous singers in the world perform. We have transport, we have the Brightline a few blocks away, which already reaches Orlando, which we also talked about once.
JEM is inside Miami Worldcenter
But on top of that, JEM is inside Miami Worldcenter: you are buying within the second largest urban development in the country. This means that all of these buildings that are already finished, some being finished now, others under construction, are all interconnected by pedestrian streets and retail spaces that have started to open. We say it again: Apple Store, Starbucks, Lululemon, Sephora. We have Michelin-starred restaurants, Maple & Ash, Café Laurel; we have Earls Kitchen, Serafina. There are hair salons, clothing stores, gyms.
Basically the idea is to understand that Miami today can offer a very small unit, incredible per square foot under construction, but you go downstairs and you have a luxury lifestyle at your feet, because you can reach all of these things without sitting in traffic for hours. So today we are very happy, because it is the result of many years of work, and our clients —those who have already bought from us and those who come to buy the next products, or the one we are offering today, such as JEM— are seeing that it is a reality. And that gives us a lot of joy.
Why Miami and not anywhere else in the world?
There is something you say that honestly always strikes me. Our clients, the kind of client we have, can literally invest anywhere in the world: “Why Miami, Patricia? Why do you recommend it to me? They are offering me other places”. And something very interesting happens here, very different from how it works in Latin America, and I have lived it over the almost 25 years I have spent literally selling Miami: it is how you see cities progress in complete coordination with all the parties, with the government, literally.
The Miami we are seeing today really is the result of that. When we started this new stage of what Miami is, we were seeing really very basic buildings. Miami was always very popular because it was the city of malls and bars; basically that was what we were selling.
Visionaries, government and infrastructure
What happened? And we were literally part of that. There came a moment when some visionaries said: “Hold on, we have the climate, we have the beach, we have a number of things, a strategic point for the north of the United States, for Europe”. And these developers came and joined forces with the government bodies and told them: “All right, mayor, governor, I am going to bring a multi-million dollar investment here, I am going to bring you taxes, but for this I need to work with you to have infrastructure”.
And that really is how cities grow, how property prices hold up and develop over time. And that is why today we see Formula 1, Michelin-category restaurants. About 10 years ago we weren't even thinking about having a food scene to come and eat in, concerts, Art Basel; we have culture, we have a great deal of activity, the port of Miami, the port of Fort Lauderdale.
Which is what gives us the reassurance that there really is a set direction, that there is a city developing not just around one building. Here we are in a beautiful building, which is JEM, but let's not look only at the building, but at everything we have around it: because for us as investors that is what will give us the reassurance that this investment will hold up over time, will be preserved and will grow.
Buying pre-construction: locking in today's price
Of course. And we always remind these buyers, these gentlemen on the other side, these ladies sitting at home: buying pre-construction is very interesting, because the day you buy you lock in that price, and then we hand over the unit two, three, four, five years later, depending on the product you choose. And that is where I always say: it is very simple, common sense. My grandfather paid one price, my father another, I another and my son another.
So, with all these changes we have been talking about, we wait a few years and it shows up in the price of the units we bought; also in the enjoyment, because you will be able to enjoy everything that is being renewed. All of this is new in Miami and we finally have a very beautiful, very complete city. And it is worth coming, finding out what new products are coming out and where. So I think there is still quite a way to go, we have much more to grow, but we have already shown that we are a complete city.
A building that answers today's buyer
Excellent. Well, Cris, thank you very much. I honestly love JEM. I think it is definitely answering this current buyer, who is very different from the one we had 20 years ago: what you say, being able to walk the city, not needing the car, having activities very close and easy, having apartments that are not so large but are very practical, yet in buildings with spectacular common areas, where I can go downstairs, meet a client or spend time with my friends or my children, enjoy a pool, and not have to be wrapped up in the day-to-day maintenance of all that. So, excellent, thank you very much. And we are going to carry on here with the process, we are going to show you what it is and all the benefits we can have.
Investing in Miami is easier than you think
Investing in Miami is easier than you think.