Raimundo Onetto - Principal & CEO, Alta Developers

Onetto has 35 years of development experience, bringing over 3,500 units to the South Florida market. An architect by trade, he began his career as the Founder & Partner of the Chilean architecture firm Archiplan. In 2002, he brought his family to Miami and partnered with Terra Group to introduce Archiplan USA. In 2010 he founded Alta Developers.

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We extend our sincere gratitude to Büro coworking space for generously granting us the opportunity to record all our podcasts at any of their 8 convenient locations across South Florida.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

We're rocking.

SPEAKER_02 0:00

We're rocking.

SPEAKER_00 0:02

We got Raimundo Oneto here with us. Welcome. Hey, how are you? We're really excited to have you here. Excited too. Cool. This is your first podcast? No? You've done other podcasts? Yeah, some of them. Yeah. Claude lied to me. Yeah. The AI's told you this first one. Yeah, the AI told me this is uh I was like, gay, AI.

SPEAKER_04 0:21

But this is the one special, I think.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

This is gonna be the most special. Yeah, I like that. The most important one. Well, welcome. It's it's super great to have you here. Um, I've been in Miami for uh 25 years, and uh developers always comes up. Um, so you guys have uh yeah, absolutely. You can move it a little bit. Oh, hold on, hold on.

SPEAKER_03 0:45

Let me get this so I can see you.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

That works. That works. Yeah, it doesn't matter.

unknown 0:51

All right.

SPEAKER_02 0:53

He doesn't want to talk to just the camera head.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

No, I know. I'll I'll move over over here too to make it more comfortable. Um so uh yeah, I've always heard you guys' name. You guys have done a ton of projects here, but uh I don't know how much you know about the podcast. This is uh an opportunity for us to get to know you a little bit, find out a little bit more about you, how you got started. Um and so uh that's that's where we're gonna go, right, Ben? Yeah, like we always go.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

He's uh he's drinking Fiji, but we can we can cheers him anyway. We can cheers him, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:25

We're drinking tequila. We drink shy. We drink rather regardless if our if our guests are having a little tequila. Nice. You sure you don't want any? No, no, no. No, no, no. He's thinking about it. This is he's he's chilean. We should have he's chilean, we should have brought wine, shouldn't we? No, pisco. Pisco. Oh wow, I should have known better. Do you drink pisco? No, no, well, welcome, cheers.

SPEAKER_04 1:48

Thank you guys for having me.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

So you're from Brazil? Uh my parents are both Brazilian, yes. Uh, but I was born and raised here in New York.

SPEAKER_02 2:02

Both of you? Uh no, I'm from Minnesota. Minnesota. Yeah, Minnesota, not Venezuela. You gotta be careful here how fast you say that word.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

You get you get you get picks for that as well as yeah, dude. I've got dark hair, dark skin, some Venezuelans in town. Yeah, yeah, just a couple. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh well, cool. Uh so you're from Chile. From Chile, yes. Um, what part of Chile? Santiago? Santiago, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Um, tell us a little bit about your your your parents.

SPEAKER_04 2:32

Born in Santiago.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

And how about your parents? Where are they originally from? Born in Santiago too. Born in Santiago, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:38

When did they parent when when did uh when did their parents I guess I I think I'm uh a little bit Italian, that my last name is uh I I found out that there was in uh the I found the place, the town, in Italy last year. Colonetto. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. So you got some Italian blood in uh Liguria, in the in the area of Liguria, uh next to Portofino. And so I was able to find finally uh the the town. Well now you can do the then the family town. Nobody's there, yeah. Of course. So I took so I took a picture and that's it.

SPEAKER_02 3:17

Now you can be a you can you raise your nose a little higher, like the Argentinians, right? They're all they all think they're more important because they're Italian. So there you go. Be careful, my wife is Argentina. Mine too. Mine too. Really? Yeah, that's why I get to say that.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

We got a bond here already.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

Yeah, yeah. Um Spanish?

SPEAKER_01 3:39

You have to, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:40

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

They can understand. Yeah, yeah. But uh, and so so your so your ancestry is Italian, yeah. Okay, cool. Um it's Italian, and uh, and so your grandparents were born in Chile as well, or were they born in Italy?

SPEAKER_04 3:56

Uh no, I think they were not in Chile. In Chile as well, okay. Yeah, it's uh the third generation, third generation.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

All right, and uh were your grandparents' parents involved in real estate? No, no, what did they do? Doctors, they were doctors, all doctors, all doctors, all doctors. What kind of doctor was your dad? Uh obstetric obstetric. Oh, my dad was an obstetrician gynecologist as well. Really? Yeah. Interesting.

SPEAKER_04 4:26

Yeah, so then all my uncles and everything was about medicine. Medicine. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Oh, cool. All right.

SPEAKER_04 4:33

Yeah, I was the only one, the the only architect in the family.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

So you didn't want to be a doctor when you were growing up?

SPEAKER_04 4:38

Huh?

SPEAKER_02 4:39

You didn't want to be a doctor growing up?

SPEAKER_04 4:41

No. No. To be honest, that means from so remember from day one, I want to be an architect.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

Yeah. And any you have siblings?

SPEAKER_04 4:51

Since day one.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:53

Siblings? Yeah. Doctors? One doctor, one economist from Chicago, then uh another business. Gotcha. Or six.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

Six. Yeah. Six kids. Six siblings. Six siblings. You were number which one? I was in the middle. Okay. Middle child. You were six siblings, and you have six kids too, don't you?

SPEAKER_02 5:15

Yeah. Or no. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:16

Middle child's always the hardest. No, you know. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

He's one of six and he has six kids. Yeah, I know. It's like history repeating itself here.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

Middle child's always the problem child, though, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. The middle one? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:29

It's the youngest, right? The middle one, no one cares. No one cares. Everyone forgets, yeah. And that's good, by the way.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

That's really good. Yeah. Yeah. You like being left alone. Oh, yeah. You have to take care of my yourself. So it's that's fine.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

So your dad's a doctor. Um he was a doctor.

SPEAKER_04 5:47

Yeah, both passed away. 92, 93 years old.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 5:52

Both.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

Um, and you're in Santiago. Everything good, Ben?

SPEAKER_02 5:58

Yeah, I'm trying to go.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

Um you're growing up in Santiago.

SPEAKER_04 6:04

Uh, and then you're yeah, and since day one, um, I mean, once I finished college, um we started with a couple of friends, architects also, um, our own practice.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

But when did you realize you wanted to be an architect?

SPEAKER_04 6:23

Since since I was five years old.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

Five years old.

SPEAKER_04 6:27

Did you like building a I mean doing drawings and the on the desk in the at school? Yeah. Like it's I always love art and architecture.

SPEAKER_02 6:39

And what were you what were you good at it in school? What were your favorite subjects in school growing up? Uh actually math. Yeah. Art. That's um that's kind of rare. I had it, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:52

Left brain, right brain. No biological language arts.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

Yeah. Um so you went to high school. Um, you went to any sports at all in high school?

SPEAKER_04 7:06

Uh I was kind of uh little.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:10

So I was just playing like tennis and it was an English school.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

You went to an English school.

SPEAKER_04 7:15

Yeah, it wasn't very English. So it was a British school. Caning.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:19

A British school. Caning, wow, that's hardcore. Yeah, yeah. But you don't behave.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

Yeah. Wow. That's the real deal, right there. But at that time.

SPEAKER_02 7:28

Yeah, that'll whip you into shape. Yeah. Don't fuck around.

SPEAKER_04 7:31

Shut like bridges. So it's uh so I play uh that's what they was known by great play rugby players.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

Oh, so did you play rugby as well or no? Yeah, I have to. You have to. You have to.

SPEAKER_04 7:44

Yeah. Rugby's big. Very little. I was playing like uh a hooker. Okay. That's uh that's the thing.

SPEAKER_00 7:53

Um and then uh you went to college in Santiago and you pursued an architecture degree.

SPEAKER_04 8:01

Yeah. Five years, then you do a project, you graduate, and you start practicing.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 8:08

And you can sign right away. Not like that, not like here.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

And what would you start designing?

SPEAKER_04 8:16

Um I start designing additions and bathrooms uh for families or and it was a hard time. Yeah, it was in the middle of a of a crisis in Chile. So but but we decided to have our own practice from day one, so we're like three partners, uh, two brothers, architects, and then and myself.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

What'd you guys meet? How do you how did you guys meet the brothers in school?

SPEAKER_04 8:49

Yeah. One one was uh coin the one year before, and then the other one's in the same same grade.

SPEAKER_02 8:55

Did you have any like entrepreneurial entrepreneurial tendencies in high school? Like did you have any jobs or work? What did you do before? I mean during school, during college?

SPEAKER_04 9:07

Or high school? During college? Yeah, during college I started working uh for other architects from from day one. Uh I I created also a company. Uh I mean, I remember after one of the earthquakes in Chile, when all the coast was destroyed. So I said, wow, this is an opportunity here. So I partnered with uh an older architect that has a GC that was practicing like it was on a GC license. So I asked him, okay, why don't we have the contacts we can we can uh no rebuild a lot of houses and the coast, all destroyed. So he's like, okay, that's it.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

That's why you were in college. That that was when I was in college. Okay. Like two years before I graduated.

SPEAKER_02 9:59

Graduated.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

So you had some like you didn't necessarily want to go work for somebody. You wanted to do your own thing. Were you did your parents give you a hard time about that? Because a lot of doctors are like used to paychecks.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

I told you before, I mean, I was they were ignored, they weren't paying attention. It was six.

SPEAKER_02 10:14

They were like, well, whatever, he's he's fine.

SPEAKER_04 10:16

Raimundo, nobody's Raymond, no?

SPEAKER_02 10:18

Yeah, he's fine.

SPEAKER_04 10:19

Yeah, it's fine.

SPEAKER_02 10:21

Yeah, because those those those parents that are used to doctors and you know, W-2 income getting a paycheck, it's hard to convince for them to understand entrepreneurship all the way. It's not as pragmatic. But you're right, yeah. But that's a big cause because straight out of school, that's a big that's a big risk to go straight into starting your own firm.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

Yeah. So how would you well after a couple of years we we established the firm? Uh how did you get business early on in those early days?

SPEAKER_04 10:49

It's a little by little. Were you were you sending it? Very patient, I would say. You need to pick the train. I mean uh it's um it's a cycle at the end. It's a cycle of approxim years. Do you remember how you got some of those first clients? Uh yeah, but it was and then friends, family, and then you get then referrals.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

Bigger projects.

SPEAKER_04 11:23

Yeah. So that was uh until one day I said to one of my partners, you know what? This is not growing uh enough. We're like married, three families, all married. Yeah. So we need to we need to grow. We need to do something different. Well, we can't can't keep doing like additions or a single family home, but you guys gotta be able to build, you gotta design some real shit. Right. Yeah. We need to start I mean this getting serious.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:59

So how many years in was this? That was like uh five, I said five, six years of uh and it was rough, it was it was hard. So it was so at that point I said, okay, you know what? I think we need to start uh developing something or doing that. That was so we can be our own client. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

So quick quick question about so you grew up in Santiago. I've never been to Santiago, have you been?

SPEAKER_04 12:26

No, I haven't.

SPEAKER_00 12:27

I I I hear it's a cool city. I I would love to go there. I mean, it it must be a wonderful city to grow up in.

SPEAKER_04 12:32

It's a cool city, it's a new city. Yeah. Um, not like Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires is totally different. Like it's like Italy, Spain. Um uh Santiago is uh American. Oh, really? 100%. Why do you say that? Because the culture and the the supermarkets, uh a lot of KFCs, yeah. 711s, dude.

SPEAKER_02 12:53

KFCs are everywhere in the world. I've seen like Cambodia, like in the middle of nowhere.

SPEAKER_04 12:58

You can tell the type of retail, the shopping malls, and then the the the buildings, the architecture, it's yeah. Wow, it's not like like Buenos Aires or other cities, yes.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

So it's uh it's a much newer city than Buenos Aires.

SPEAKER_04 13:12

It's a much newer city. Also where you live, it's it's not in in near downtown.

SPEAKER_00 13:18

So yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:19

It's like um it's like brickle. Yeah, that's what it yeah. It's like uh that's that's the feeling when you go to the to the office, to the offices.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

And so it's but Santiago is like it sits near the mountains, you're not so far from the coast as well, right? How far are you from the coast? It's an hour. That's it, an hour, huh?

SPEAKER_04 13:42

An hour you can be in the water in the middle sea, and in 30 minutes you can be skiing. That's amazing. Yeah, I've always wanted to go to ski. Right, you can see the the the ski centers um from Santiago.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

The the water's cold as shit, though, right?

SPEAKER_02 13:58

Yeah, that's that Pacific Ocean. That's the real ocean. It's like real ocean. That's real ocean.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

Burns your bones, yeah. Yeah, yeah. But there's surfing there too, isn't there?

SPEAKER_02 14:05

Yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 14:05

Yeah, I don't know either. I couldn't do that shit. Yeah, like dry cold surfing. Yeah, yeah. That just takes all the fun out of it. Gnarly sharks, probably. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:13

So five years into starting your own practice, you guys have been eating shit for five years. Yeah, how do you pivot to development?

SPEAKER_04 14:20

Um, just one day I decided to um put under contract that's uh a great site, a small site for eight apartments at condo. Did you have any money? Zero. So facing the I was facing uh the street and the golf course. So it was I was remember I was able to build uh the Sony was five stories. So I said uh to to one of my partners, I said, you know what? I know this lady, I think she trusts me. Um I'm gonna put the I'm gonna put the the site on the contract and we can do the project. It was just our first building. Do the project pre-sell with a nice discount uh like four units out of the eight and without money buy the land.

SPEAKER_02 15:22

That's what we did. How do you have to put any money up for deposits to put under contract? No, just put it it was like uh I mean I don't remember 45 days.

SPEAKER_04 15:32

45 days.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

Yeah, that's all that's a short time frame to pre-sell four units.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

So you pre-sold four units in 45 days?

SPEAKER_04 15:40

Yeah, yeah. We need so I sold one and one unit to my brother, one to but it was they were buying it basically at cost.

SPEAKER_00 15:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 15:48

When you do a 25% discount, basically they're they're partners.

SPEAKER_01 15:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 15:55

So it was uh it was good. So the formula worked. And were they? And I hired the same market that I was in college that did that this company to to rebuild the houses in the coast. I hired that company to build the building. So we did it. Then we thought that was the beginning.

SPEAKER_00 16:12

And it was the beginning. It was eight eight units. Eight units. How long did it take you to build that?

SPEAKER_04 16:18

It was like a year.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:20

Things like small, and so that we did like uh then the next one, the next one, next one, the next one. But also, I mean, also the practice in architecture was growing.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

Oh, so you kept the same?

SPEAKER_04 16:35

So it yeah, it was I mean separate.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_04 16:39

And now the company it's uh the it's Archipeland, the none, the name of the company. Yeah, and uh I mean you can look at it up on the web pite. Yeah, they're a big company, and that company now I think we have like 50 or 60 architects. Wow, it's a big company.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

And do you still are you still a partner in that company?

SPEAKER_04 16:59

I have one percent.

SPEAKER_00 17:00

You have one percent, but you're a founder, you can claim you are a founder, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

One percent. That's cool. I'm not gonna sell it.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 17:10

And so that more or less was the the story. So in 87, I think, no, in 97, another crisis in Chile. Um there was no work. No, I mean, very slow. How old were you? That was uh like 37.

SPEAKER_00 17:30

How many kids at this point? Three. Three yeah. Does your wife work as well or no?

SPEAKER_01 17:37

At that time? Yeah, she was an architect.

SPEAKER_04 17:40

I have three wives. Three wives? Yes. Not at the same time. Six kids, three wives. Um so yeah. So so when I'm sorry 97. Yeah, 97 the crash. Um so we decided instead of instead of uh laying out people um from the office, we decided to open uh an on a firm, that means an office in Marbella, Spain. So we created Marbella or Chip Land Spain. We moved half of the office to Marbella, Spain. And start me doing projects there.

SPEAKER_00 18:33

Did you move to Marbella?

SPEAKER_04 18:34

Yeah, a lot.

SPEAKER_00 18:35

Oh but you don't you didn't live there. No, I didn't move. You're gonna be a big one.

SPEAKER_04 18:39

One of my partners, uh Jaime went to and went back because he was I think he was uh for a couple of years in Mar in back in Marbella. So it's uh so he was running that office for 10 years after 2006-07. Wow. So that was a I mean, uh a great experience. And I think that was one of the reasons that we decided to mean explore the Miami uh or the US market. What kind of projects were you doing there? I mean residential, mainly residential, um smaller scale or like high-rise? No, no, it was big scales, yeah, big projects, big projects. Big projects, yeah. Was it a lot different than Demetri? Big projects in Africa, Marrakech, we did some uh master plans in Dubai. Uh that was no, it was nice. And where does that business come from? How do you source those deals? We have a local partner, uh very great architect in in in Marbella. So he has he has some some of the connections, and you start like like always, um, you start growing and doing good projects and they repeat clients and and uh that's how that's why I think we decided to, you know what, maybe Miami it's a good place to start um exploring.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

So you come to Miami what year?

SPEAKER_04 20:09

We start coming uh like in 2001. We c we came, we came, um the plan was like I mean we came like uh for an entire year just to know uh the market. And uh and we stay in uh I remember in Daland, we stay in Brickle, we stay in North Miami, we stay in South Beach, we stay in Aventura, we stay every in every single trip, we stay in different areas.

SPEAKER_00 20:43

We didn't know anything about when was the first time you ever were ever in Miami, your first trip to Miami. How old were you?

SPEAKER_04 20:50

I was like um 16. 16 by myself.

SPEAKER_00 20:56

By yourself. Why did you come to Miami?

SPEAKER_04 20:59

Because I was visiting instead of um uh it was the end of uh I think uh 11th grade, where you do those trips with all the I mean high school? Yeah, the high school trip.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

Yeah, so what it was like my age.

SPEAKER_04 21:15

I decided uh not to go with uh the class.

SPEAKER_00 21:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 21:20

So I came here to visit my oldest brother that was doing a master's in Chicago.

SPEAKER_00 21:26

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_04 21:27

So I decided by myself, I said, you know what? I'm gonna go to visit my my my brother, and then I went to New York by myself. Cool, and that was fun, fun.

SPEAKER_03 21:40

Yeah, scary. What year is this?

SPEAKER_04 21:42

It was scary. What year is this?

SPEAKER_02 21:45

It was like uh 78, 77. 77? Oh, I bet New York was scary in 77.

SPEAKER_00 21:53

We we had uh what's his name on the podcast last week? Don Peebles. Were you at you at Studio 54 with Don Peebles? That was the spot. That's where Don was hanging. Exactly. We got into it with Don at Studio 54. You were there, weren't you?

SPEAKER_02 22:13

So I went to he can't confirm or deny it. No, you can't. No.

SPEAKER_04 22:19

Uh so after New York, I stay in New York. Like, I don't remember, but four or five days. And then I came to Miami.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

And how how long?

SPEAKER_04 22:29

I don't remember where where in Miami I stayed.

SPEAKER_00 22:31

How long were you in Miami for?

SPEAKER_04 22:33

Like a week.

SPEAKER_00 22:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:36

Crazy.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

But Miami left an impression on you. There was something. This was in the in the 70s, Miami. Yeah, I mean, there was not much going on here. Nothing.

SPEAKER_01 22:46

Nothing.

SPEAKER_00 22:47

Nothing. No, nothing. Yeah. So what what I don't think it was a good time for Miami. No, it wasn't. No. Well, the 80s were good for some people, I think. For for the drug dealers. Yeah. They were great years. Yeah. Amazing years. The best years.

SPEAKER_04 23:04

Cocaine Cowboys. Exactly. Did you see that movie? Of course.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

Of course.

SPEAKER_04 23:09

It's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 23:09

Amazing, right? It was kind of yeah, like that. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I mean, it the 80s were pretty crazy here in Miami.

SPEAKER_04 23:19

Um, so you you you decide to come back to Miami what year to the yeah, so that was 2001, during 2001, and then um the like I said before, the first person that we met is Pedro. Pedro Martin.

SPEAKER_00 23:35

David Martin's dad.

SPEAKER_04 23:37

Yes. So at the time we became friends, very good friends, like in six months. So we became friendly because every single trip we met Pedro.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

So Pedro at the time was the the office director for Group Troy, right? Yeah. How'd you guys get connected with Pedro? Through a friend? Uh through our attorney.

SPEAKER_04 23:55

Through our attorney in Chile.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_04 23:57

Yeah, he was a reproduct.

SPEAKER_00 23:58

So Pedro, you meet Pedro, he I met Pedro and Red Carpet.

SPEAKER_04 24:03

Pedro was, yeah, I mean he was he was great because he was yeah, like text, and uh the first idea was to have an an architectural practice here.

SPEAKER_00 24:16

That was development.

SPEAKER_04 24:18

You had done that in Marbella, and now you were like, okay, we can do the same thing in my butt and after three or four months with all the liabilities and uh and it's a totally different practice. So we decided you know what? No, let's let's move on to the dark side. Development. What makes it different? Let's move to the other side of the table.

SPEAKER_02 24:39

What makes it totally different here?

SPEAKER_04 24:42

Because the here um you have architects um for like each market or each product, and they do just architecture. In in Chile, the practice is totally different. It's it's more comprehensive, it's global. You you you take you you design a project from the napkin to everything. So it's it's totally different. You're really involved in in every single aspect of a project. And here it's more segmented. Yeah. Yeah. And all, I mean, uh all of them are best friends and very good friends, but they don't go to the job site. Here.

SPEAKER_00 25:25

The uh the architects. Yeah, they design the building, they're like, that's it. I'm see you later.

SPEAKER_03 25:30

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:31

Interior design. You do in Chile, you when you're an architect, you design everything about an interior design. Lighting, everything. Oh wow. Landscape, you're involved. Got it. So that's the culture. That's that's what that's what I learned, and that's how I I see the practice of doing buildings.

SPEAKER_02 25:53

So you really are more of a developer in in Chile as an architect. You're doing everything. We're um not designing. That's what I mean. You're designing everything.

SPEAKER_04 26:02

Involving the design of every project. Every piece of it. Every piece of it. Yeah. And I think that's super important. The result of that, it's it's it's totally different. It's amazing. When you have one like one great concept for a project, more holistic. Everything is uh so that was good. So yeah, so after we came here, so you guys are checking. We decided, you know, Pedro, we're thinking, um, I think we need to partner with uh with a small developer that has mean that knows, I mean have some network. We can bring the the equity, the capital from Chile. And uh and we we would like to do uh we would like to start uh not doing projects, I remember not doing projects in and in I was totally wrong in the beach. Uh so we decided to concentrate in like um in metro areas, there like in core. But Miami growth is like that. It's that that starts growing and at the end it'll be all connected. But um, so so Pedro told me, you know what? I I'm I was thinking that I think it's it's time to to to jump ship from a law. Yeah, just to start doing something. And they uh at that time they were uh I think uh they already started with a small band in called Naurica and in Miami Beach with uh with David. I think they was finishing in uh practice in uh Gainesville. So I said, okay, Pedro. So Pedro said, okay, let's let's do a partnership. And that's how we started, and we did a 50-50 partnership. That's why we started with Terra Archie, an office at the Grimmer Toric uh building, 10 by 10.

SPEAKER_00 28:10

Do you still own one percent of Terra or no?

SPEAKER_04 28:16

No. A 10 by 10 office. Uh, we start mean building the team and and hiring people. Well, and then Pedro put on the contract. I was in Chile, 2002, put on the contract with the the first the first project, Metropolis at Daylon.

SPEAKER_00 28:33

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:35

Uh, because at that time, I think was they just finished uh the master plan for the all the Dayland um charrette, like so he found uh the site uh from uh he purchased from we purchased that from Ricardo Glass, I remember, who's the owner of the Marriott. So that was the first project. Uh so when when we got the the the site, uh we have to move to Miami. So I came here only for three years for that project because all my kids were in Chile. I was divorced, just married, came back home, they said, you know what? They won they want to move to Miami.

SPEAKER_00 29:31

So your wife's your wife said yes? Let's move to Miami.

SPEAKER_04 29:34

My wife said yes, yeah, and and yes, and I moved to Miami. How many units was that deal? Do you remember? 400 units. 400 units, 25 stories, condo.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

That's a big first deal in Miami.

SPEAKER_00 29:47

Seems like it wasn't that fun.

SPEAKER_04 29:50

It was a big, big, big project. Yeah, big project. But the market was amazing. Yeah. At that time. Yeah, we we we sold that building with uh Alicia Sr.

SPEAKER_00 30:03

Alicia Severa Senior.

SPEAKER_04 30:04

Senior. Yeah, very good friends. And no, it was crazy. Lines of people. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 30:11

What year was that? What what year did uh did the product? 2003. Oh yeah, you guys hit that time that time that perfectly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:20

Yeah. The market was crazy from 2002. Uh, I think George started with us the first one, I think it won Miami or and uh downtown. And downtown. And uh that was a non-stop until uh September 2006. In September 2006, we stopped the last project. We stopped it. How many projects did you and Pedro do together? We did Metropolis, uh, then uh we bought the site in Quantum. Okay, Quantum on the Bay. Another tiny project, another tiny project, 728, 52 stories, uh um Fachina Macon, Nichols Brosh, uh Architects. Uh it was it was that was selling that project also, and that was a frontier area back then. And that and that uh I mean when we bought the land, everyone was thinking You're crazy, you're crazy, crazy, but nothing there, yeah, nothing, but it was like of a great site uh with a park in front, not renovated at that time, amazing views. So we said this should work, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:37

And at this point, is David David David's working with you? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:40

David was uh no David, yeah, but David was part of the at the at the beginning from almost from day one.

SPEAKER_00 31:47

Is he doing a good job? You can tell us. Yeah, yeah. No, no, no. Yeah, it's um it's a machine. Yeah, okay. Just wanted to crazy. He never stopped. I know, it's incredible. It's crazy, it's crazy, right? Yeah, yeah. It's incredible how many projects. So he was like he was very young, yeah. Even at that age.

SPEAKER_04 32:04

I think we have like 15 years at the time. How old is David now? And he's in the 40s. He's probably five.

SPEAKER_00 32:15

I don't know, probably probably late 40s, early 50s, right?

SPEAKER_04 32:18

50s, it was like a 15 years old of difference. I'm 65.

SPEAKER_00 32:22

Oh, okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:24

So it was uh and different culture, and so we're like we're partners, yeah. So no, he was he's he's like he's a beast. It's a beast, yeah. From day one, from day one. So it was a good. I mean, I think we like we compliment me very well.

SPEAKER_00 32:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:44

Because I was older and you seem like you're a little more yeah, less aggressive. Uh we're bringing the money from Chile, basically a lot of money from Chile, from from friends, from partners, from clients, from so you guys had established yourselves pretty well in Chile.

SPEAKER_00 33:06

Yeah. And so after that, it that validation and yeah, we started with metropolis.

SPEAKER_04 33:12

Metro was great, and then and then we bought quantum, then 900 Biscain, another I mean little little project. Crazy. That area was all parking.

SPEAKER_00 33:26

There was nothing there.

SPEAKER_04 33:27

Homeless people, unfortunately. There was nothing there.

SPEAKER_02 33:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:33

So arena there? It was the American Airlines arena there by then?

SPEAKER_02 33:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:38

Yeah. So then we got the the Freedom Tower. We designed it, we designed the entire project, you remember, with Revuelta and Chiterio. And uh I don't think we start selling, but in sub September 2006, we saw that the market was like not going well. Softening.

SPEAKER_00 34:04

And you guys didn't have anything in the ground, you guys didn't have anything to deliver.

SPEAKER_04 34:07

No.

SPEAKER_00 34:07

That's great.

SPEAKER_04 34:08

So back then we decided to stop the project, and and that was the and then after like the year and a half, but 2008. Yeah. So 2008 we were half closing, I think half closing 900 biscayne. And the other 250, um, missing in action. We're called Mia. Like the airport? Yeah. Missing in action. Yeah, like I mean, building, great building, operations, I mean beautiful, working, and half of them. Unsold. No, no, sold. Oh, sold.

unknown 34:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:55

That building we sold it like three times. Wow. Dang. Yeah. No, it was crazy times. But uh, but uh yeah, but they didn't they didn't come to the table. Not only that, so there were those they also started to to uh claim the deposit back with attorneys. Yeah, it was hard. So how do you make it? Quantum was fine. Um just a just a little piece of of the loan remaining, so it was fine. So uh we worked out a deal with uh with the with the bank and the lenders, and and we were able to lower the prices and start selling again. And that was up to 2010. My my brand my brain was dead after after the crisis. So I we decided to just split.

SPEAKER_02 35:53

And uh I was and you guys built only condo products, right? Only for sale condo. At that time the multifamily didn't exist.

SPEAKER_03 36:02

Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:04

Didn't exist. We didn't have any like residential buildings in brickle. It was amazing. Yeah, I mean Yeah, that's that that was the time of Brickle was.

SPEAKER_00 36:17

Yeah, I mean, you really only started seeing things delivered in Brickle like 2005, right? It was the beginning. Yeah, 2005, I think. Yeah. Before anyone was moving to Brickle. And those, yeah. And most of it was condo. There was some, there was some some multifamily.

SPEAKER_04 36:34

There was there, but there was a crystal, but there were like yeah, there was you can tell that was a multifamily. I mean, there was like kind of projects that were basic, like Camden. Yeah. That was like one of the first multifamily. One of the first multi in Brickle. Yeah, yeah. Nicer. Right, right, right. Yeah. Nicer. Yeah. So yeah, but so with with Perron uh they was only uh basically um condos.

SPEAKER_02 37:03

So up until so you you got through 07 just working through everything. Uh 2010, you guys, or after that, you guys split up.

SPEAKER_04 37:11

Yeah, 2000 went to finish uh selling the last unit, reselling the last unit in the 100-based game, we decided to split. Is that when you started Alta? And that's why, yeah. So I was I remember when I was uh I was like that. So I was like, I don't know what to do. But um but uh one uh good friend told me, Raymond, why why do you think that's gonna be different? Look at your life. It's it's like a it's like a ball, like a big ball. So why do you think that's gonna change? So just relax, don't think, try to not to think. It's very difficult. Um we we we call it maquinial, like like machining. Like that that little boy that tells you what are you gonna do, what's gonna happen, the market. I mean, it was tough times. So I decided, okay, I mean I'm gonna try. So I I remember like for two or three months I was doing nothing.

SPEAKER_02 38:23

Did you still own a piece of the architecture firm in Chile at this time? So you still had income from the architecture firm?

SPEAKER_04 38:32

Yeah, it's uh but it wasn't about the income, it was it was about what are you gonna do. Right. But I didn't want to what I was clear is I didn't want to continue doing what the type of deals and the structure with a lot of investors and a lot of people, and uh yeah, when things go right, it's everything is it's fine. Um but when they don't, it's uh when when no, you have to do a lot of people. You always need to show that mean and and give the information and be transparent, and and that was been always my my rule. So that worked, and that was fine. And but yeah, but I decided okay, not to do anything until I got a call from one of the largest uh companies in Chile. I mean developers, builders, developers, huge. Who who were who are they? They were like Aconkawa, a CEO, aconkawa. Um huge, big, big, big. So the this the present CEO uh call me were like we were clients. So as an architect, yep. Um for years. So now she asked me, Raymond, what's going on, Miami? I think I think this is the right time to to start uh investing in Miami. Why don't we uh what about you? He asked me what's going on. It's a big company. So he said, okay, let's do uh a 50-50 deal and and and we start uh buying some some deals. So yeah, so that's how we started with AXA. That was the name. AXA Archipelkawa. After one month, we receive a letter from AXA. That's why we changed it to Alta, like Alta. Um so what'd you guys buy? What was your first deal? So the first deal was uh in Doral. Doral, and we partnered with Pedro and David. Oh, that's funny.

SPEAKER_02 41:00

Full circle.

SPEAKER_04 41:01

That's awesome. So in friends, we were working together, so we co-developed.

SPEAKER_00 41:07

You brought you you brought the deal to them.

SPEAKER_01 41:11

I don't remember.

SPEAKER_02 41:13

You can take credit, they're not here.

SPEAKER_00 41:14

Yeah, they're not here.

SPEAKER_01 41:15

No, no, no, but we'll give you credit.

SPEAKER_04 41:17

You guys brought the deal because one of my partners, Patricio, was uh involved. Uh I think with one of the owners of the land. I don't remember, maybe it was Pedro David. I don't know. Okay, but that was uh uh Dorold K. Uh that was a townhouse project. 140 units or was great, very successful.

SPEAKER_00 41:42

So after that we bought uh uh was it rentals or was it apartments condos? Everything was gone.

SPEAKER_01 41:48

Surface parking, surface parking. Yeah, townhouses, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:54

And then we bought another site, uh Neavita, um for uh 80 single family homes and another 140 townhouses. That one didn't go well because the Venezuelan market disappeared from the run at that time, and it goes from crazy sales to zero there. So, what happened there? So that was the last project with uh like as a as a partners with uh Pedro and David, and then we took over the project after years, and uh, we we finished the project as Alta, and that was the that that was the last story with them. And I think the first project uh was uh Le Parc in Brickle. Yep, yeah. The park, and then we did uh the Aton Hotel at that time.

SPEAKER_02 42:49

Are those connected, those those two buildings? No, they're not connected.

SPEAKER_04 42:52

But they look like they're connected, same architect. Okay, uh with Revuelta was the architect, uh, but they're not connected. Uh kind of the same partners. Got it. That owns uh the hotel and uh on the park, but no, but they're not connected.

SPEAKER_02 43:11

So what's the beginning? The park. The park. And what year was that? 2011? 12. 12. 12. And what was your with Alta, what was your your focus? I mean, what kind of sites were you looking for? Were you just could you do more condo? Because you clearly didn't weren't scared of up and coming areas with Quadro.

SPEAKER_04 43:35

We always uh I mean you always need to I mean watch the market. And and at that time uh we we I don't remember exactly, but it was like like after Le Park, um we bought the sighting um quadro that the design district was From Kobe Carp? He owned that site? Uh channel 10 was the the channel 10 was the right.

SPEAKER_02 44:08

I think Kobe did it.

SPEAKER_01 44:09

And that wife's called. I mean was his wife. Yeah, yeah. It was under her name. His wife.

SPEAKER_02 44:15

I remember being a young broker and clicking around on the property appraiser site and finding out that they own that site. I remember back then. Yeah, it was a tough negotiation. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:26

But we got it. Yeah. So we got it. Kind of at that time. Um we started exploring uh with a New York company, Greystone. Uh the multi-family side. The multi, and we didn't know anything about multi-family. So Grey Star or Greystone? Greystone. Okay. Greystone. They're there are Fanny Mailenders in New York. Got it. So they decided to start in development here in Miami, and they didn't there were no local, so we we somehow got connected. And we developed uh um the mile. That was the first one. 120 units, 115 money, uh 15 units multi. Where's that? Civic construction. It was right before uh Douglas. Okay. Coroil Douglas.

SPEAKER_02 45:20

And Quadro. Still City of Miami. But going back to Quadro, you built half of that project condo and half of it short-term rentals, right? No, that's another story. That's another story. Yeah, yeah. What where'd the short-term rentals come from? The rentals? Yeah, the short-term rentals.

SPEAKER_04 45:34

Let me tell you. Okay. So with the mind, that's why we start uh learning about the multifamily business of it. It's a it's a it's incredible in business, real estate business in the US. So it's huge. So um then we did 2500 Biscayne with the same the same group, and we learned everything about multi-family. And uh, so we're like, okay, open to keep doing multi and condos, depending on the market.

SPEAKER_02 46:12

Was that project a pain in the ass with that historic preservation thing you had to do on the corner?

SPEAKER_04 46:16

Yeah, yeah, that was a Robert Behart project, uh great friend. But yeah, that was a pain in the ass. The approval for that took forever.

SPEAKER_02 46:27

What was that building before that they made you preserve?

SPEAKER_04 46:29

I don't remember.

SPEAKER_02 46:31

It was an historic building abandoned.

SPEAKER_00 46:33

Oh, that's a that's a cool project. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah, I mean, what a pain in the ass, but it's uh it it turned out really well.

SPEAKER_04 46:40

Yeah. But just I mean, kept the the facade, yeah, and some of the red roof shapes. That's the only thing that you need to yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:48

So funny. So funny, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 46:50

That's a cool building though. But historic board.

SPEAKER_02 46:53

Oh, yeah. Biscayne Boulevard.

SPEAKER_04 46:56

Well, at least it wasn't Mimo. Yeah. So after I think after that we bought the site in uh in Fort Quadro for the 3900 Biscame. And uh we started mean designing um um uh I don't remember how hotel, hotel condo, then we did another one for I don't know, it was a big retail component and some condos. And the market wasn't clear enough to to tell you what what do you need to build there. So we started brainstorming and designing different concepts, and uh and at the end we decided, okay, you know what? We're gonna do uh that big riddle space on the ground floor and a high-end multifamily. High-end. Like at that time, we're planning to. I mean, the right the underwriting was like over three dollars.

SPEAKER_02 48:01

Crazy back then.

SPEAKER_00 48:02

This is early. What year is this 2012 or so?

SPEAKER_02 48:06

No, no, later, like 15.

SPEAKER_04 48:07

Yeah, like 15, 16. Yeah, crazy. So three dollar rents was like you're nuts. Yeah, you're nuts. Get out of here. But we did it. Yeah. And we start listing great rents higher than that. And the brother was amazing. By the way, where was the design district in in because the design district what I did there is I I hired uh uh a good friend, architect, crazy artist from Chile. Uh, so I I I said to him, okay, you know what, uh Francisco, here's a project. I want to connect with art and installations the design drift with Quadra.

SPEAKER_02 48:54

But where was it that it wasn't built yet, was it? Was it done? The design district? It was kind of like finishing. It was starting. Okay, starting.

SPEAKER_04 49:01

More than starting.

SPEAKER_02 49:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 49:03

So, but I want I want I wanted the connection for the benefit of the project. So that's why it's Quadra Design District. I got another letter from Craig Robbins.

SPEAKER_00 49:12

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_04 49:14

I bet. I bet. But the building was finished.

SPEAKER_00 49:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 49:18

Well, the building was finished, uh, we were renting, and uh I got a letter saying that you know what, you can you can use Miami Design District as part of your name. But because of the art and the what you did there, and the concept that we you did there, we're willing to incorporate the project as a part of the tool that they they at that time they did. Because of that.

SPEAKER_00 49:53

That's cool.

SPEAKER_04 49:54

So we we spent a lot of money with this artist, and we create this uh murals. The metal, the metal, yeah, the waves, yeah, the fins. Uh so it was it's crazy, and and every single floor is different, and it was also again was a concert that we put together. Uh all inspired on the in on on the on the sea, basically. So we uh we were yeah, so we were listening, and then uh Miami, city of Miami decided to like kind of regulate the short-term use that didn't exist at that time. So um so they decided to modify the code, and then um then uh they said that we can we can build a project as a short-term entire building in certain areas with some some conditions, like have a front desk and some few conditions. So I said to my partners again, you know what? But I think if we uh convert this to a condo and we offer this short-term concept that they can buy a unit and it's gonna be paid by itself. So we do the condo conversion. No, no condo hotel. But it's like that concept, right? Yeah, similar. Similar. But uh so no, we do the con we did the condo conversion, put the marketing, created the name and and quadro, we hired fortune. Uh that was in January, and we launched a project, we're just about to do a great party. Call it. Oh wow. Two weeks two weeks.

SPEAKER_00 52:12

No party.

SPEAKER_04 52:13

No party. Which actually we canceled the party.

SPEAKER_00 52:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:18

Two weeks. Perfect timing. Perfect timing. So we so we start and try me in the man start selling with with Zoom, with the what the the new selling.

SPEAKER_00 52:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:32

But it was hard. Sure. So um so at that time we said, you know what, let's uh let's furnish an entire floor so we can test the like the short-term market. So we can tell the people the and the buyers uh how much the they're gonna get uh for for for for the rental per night. Uh and we created a company, it's called Nomada, Nomada Residence, uh to manage those uh 12 units at the beginning, and to offer the clients, then to to offer the the buyers the the whole package. You buy a unit, we manage it, we charge your jets uh 20%, we take care of everything. It was a different company, so you can buy a unit, here's the mortgage. Fine.

SPEAKER_00 53:41

Who furnishes it, you guys or the buyers?

SPEAKER_04 53:43

We we uh actually my wife Karina, she she said she's an interior designer, she created all the mean the different concepts because in Airbnb, every unit is a listing. So every unit needs to be different. So you can't have the same furniture and accessories and artwork in all the 12 units. So that's how that's why she created like like six seven different packages with uh different wallpapers and concepts and names, so every every every unit looks different in in the in the Airbnb platform. So that's how uh we sold the entire I mean after after COVID we sold the entire min building with that concept.

SPEAKER_00 54:40

You keep marrying architects though, don't you?

SPEAKER_04 54:42

Huh?

SPEAKER_00 54:43

You keep marrying architects. How many architects have you been married to?

SPEAKER_04 54:48

Architects?

SPEAKER_00 54:49

Yeah. No, just one. Just one? I thought it was three. No.

SPEAKER_02 54:55

No, it's interesting. You're on that trend early. I mean, I worked for a company called Sonder. You know, like really in 2016. I was you know they had the story. They hired me to launch Florida. So I was the first employee in Florida. Wow, so I didn't win. I don't know. Maybe on the phone? Maybe. I don't know. So I know the game well, very well. Yeah, but uh you were one of the first guys to do it. I think one of the really smart things that you did that most people don't understand is how many units is quadra? 181, 182? No, it's 188. 188. You have 62 units in one tower, and then the rest, the other one. What like half and half, more or less so having the units segregated, I think, is the key because people get upset when you have short-term rentals in the same building that people live in long term, but having it in the separate tower, I think is really smart.

SPEAKER_04 55:45

Yeah, but uh we uh we learned that uh we learned that you can combine the two users. You can't, yeah. They don't want to see luggage in the lobby. That's the big complaint. We did that. Uh we we test the market in 2500 biscain. That was 180 something or 174 units, and we subbed lease um to another company uh that were like, please, then please give me 20 units. I I I'm after lease. I I we we we need to do we need to 20 units, we need to do the short term. They had all that VC money burning a hole in their pocket, yeah. Exactly. Yeah, so they said, you know what, yeah, okay. Or like in the lease up, you have half of the building empty. Yeah, that's why not. Why not? 20. Boom. Disaster. People hated it. Disaster. Yeah. So that's what we learned that you can't. So quadro, once once we decided to to sell the units as a short term with a short-term use, the entire building was like that. Yeah. Not half on half. No, there was oh, the whole building is short term. Oh, both towers. I thought it was just a one tower. No, no, both towers.

SPEAKER_02 56:58

Both towers were uh uh with the same same concept, same thing. I think the important thing is setting expectations up front that that's what you're getting into. That's where you people get pissed off. Is they think they're coming into a residential building and there's people partying at the pool and drinking and smoking, and it's like I didn't sign up to live in a hotel.

SPEAKER_04 57:15

And thanks God we're we we created this company. Now this company is a big company. It's it's Nomada? Yeah. I mean, we're I think we're managing like uh close to 500 units.

SPEAKER_00 57:28

All in Miami?

SPEAKER_04 57:30

Yeah. And none of I mean uh the only building that we owned at that time was Quadro. But we're managing 72 Park. There's a list, I mean some some uh some um buildings for related because it was uh it was we have the expertise. It's a great name, by the way. It's totally different. What do you need? Well, it's a hospitality because it's like it's like having a hotel with 200 different owners.

SPEAKER_00 58:06

Yeah. It's a lot.

SPEAKER_04 58:09

It's a lot, it's a lot. But once you learn like everything, it it it is working. It is working very good.

SPEAKER_02 58:17

And I saw you, you did you you partnered with related on Paraiso? I won Paraíso?

SPEAKER_04 58:22

Yeah, yeah, we I think at that time they already only acquired uh like uh like three pieces on that area. And we were able to to to buy the the the lot in the water. Okay. And there was a street in the middle. So we got a call from uh we got a call from George and uh saying that why don't we just partner and put the all the lots together and close the street and give the park to the city and exchange it for so it was a big deal. But uh we said, you know what, we can partner, but just on one palace. And uh so that's that's what we did. So we we were partners on that one.

SPEAKER_02 59:21

I was one of the brokers that assembled the the 20, what was it, 22 houses from the village, the drug rehab center. And we sold that to related. Yeah. I remember I think they were buying for a long time. Yeah, yeah. It was uh that area is trying trying to put together an assemble. You've been really on the front frontier of edgewater, like from day one, really. From day one, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 59:45

So yeah, that was amazing, man. Great project, great partners. Uh it was a big project for us. Uh so it's uh after that, we we partnered and we did uh the Casabela project that we're finishing now. Where's Casabella? Is that on the beach? No, Biscayne 14.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:05

Biscayne 14. Oh, okay. Is that right next to the Arch Center? Yeah, got it. That that's that old office building that you demolished. Yeah, so that's where my offices for Saunder were. It was in that old office building. Sorry. Yeah, no, it's very nice to see it go down.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:20

It was a disgusting building.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:23

But that's where our offices were for Sonder, it was in that office building. Yeah, that's Casa Vela, because it used to be called Aria, right? That project was initially. No, it was Overge. Overge, that's right. That's right. Overge. Aria is mellow, okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:37

But you guys have a shitload of stuff, things in the pro in the pipeline right now. Do you guys have what looks like seven or eight projects?

SPEAKER_04 1:00:46

We in, I mean, I think the philosophy of the company is to we don't we we like to keep uh like 10 to 12 projects at the same time, maximum. Because for me, the projects are like a childs in that are or babies, you need to take care of them. So we're when you have like 25 projects, you can't control. Right. I mean, we have a very efficient team. I think we are like 25 people, and that's it. For a long time, we have been they've but they've been there at the office for years. So it's it's uh it's we work like a family, but really take care of every single detail of each project. So that's that's the philosophy behind. And because of my architect, I'm accepted design with details, with layouts, and so that's I think that's a big difference uh uh on our company.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:51

There's something interesting, you know, it's it's building multifamily these days is really tough. It's really tough to make deals pencil, the rents aren't growing as fast, construction costs are higher. And I think you've done it with two projects where you've pivoted from multifamily to condo. Is that a strategy that you like yeah?

SPEAKER_04 1:02:06

Like I said, you always need to be watching the market, where's the market going? So sometimes you have a site like in Quadro that we you can we can decide to build a multi or a condo and uh and you need to see which one is gonna work better. So yeah, we we had a lot of of sites and pipeline uh and and build the designers of multi. But uh when the market the condo market started again, it opens a window. So some of the sites were able to, you know what, let's uh redesign it and build a condo.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:54

Do you basically start from scratch on the redesign, or what is that is it more of the finishes? No, no, no.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:59

It's uh it's more than finishes, right? It's more than finishes. I mean, you need to uh like uh in Cassia, for example, that's in Corey Gables, that was a multi, a multi-family with uh with uh more units. Oh 220 units. So you're smaller units. So I said, I don't know what uh uh core gables is uh I think they need of uh they need more like bigger units, larger twos, threes, and uh it's more of a family market. Family market, yeah. Um so we decided to reduce the number of the density on the building to 174. So that was a big redesign. Yeah. And uh cheap architect bills, yeah. And uh and of course the finishes are different. And change order here, yeah. You spent you spent um um meant to spend more money in condos, and uh and we also decided there uh to partner with uh RH. Yeah, very cool. So we contacted RH and he said, you know what, we've never done this before. So we've been working with um uh Cray Company. They're great and are they co-branding it at all, or is it just no, no, they're super difficult to oh yeah, to do that? Yeah, they're very jealous of they want some some royalties, they they they need control, they they they don't allow and now you you to do anything with have they done any branded residences?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:39

No RH. No, it's kind of surprising.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:42

We can name it, we can name it, we name it, and we we in that project. Um we're doing we're furnishing all the units with them, all the common areas, so the entire building is RH. Wow, entire building, yeah. So you really want cheap on the special division on no, not cheap. They have like a special division for this type of project. They do hotels, they do kind of similar projects, but this this was like the first one. That's cool. The first one. So it's uh and for the market, it's perfect, but all the brokers can talk about that and and and no issues. The only thing you can do, okay, Casia buy our age, like we do in Casabella by BNB Italia. I mean, it's that was the only no, like, no way. Yeah, they don't do marketing, they don't do marketing, they just print catalogs. They don't need to. How I was in I was in Milan last week at the at the design show? At the design show, at the at the inauguration of the of the palazzo, they did an incredible job. I'm sure five stories, beautiful. Gardens. The Italians are crazy. They tell you, what? No way. That's that's not funny. That's funny. 1500 people in the in the party. No, no. They don't can't can't tell you the the level of design, sophistication, details. What was the coolest thing you saw? Everything.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:29

What stood out to you?

SPEAKER_04 1:06:32

It's this the how they I think they did a great job combining the the culture, the old culture, the Italian culture, like Rome with contemporary design. So all the artwork, like like it was like incredible. Old pieces with a sofa. I mean like a brand new modern sofa, lighting, everything was perfect.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:07

Yeah. Crazy.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:09

You're you're you're you're an architect by training, so you see all these design elements. Like how involved are you?

SPEAKER_04 1:07:14

I mean, I believe in the power of design. Yeah. But the power of design in a project. It's huge. It's huge. Yeah. It's not about spending the money, it's about having intelligence. And I really care what we're building and selling. Because a building is gonna stay there forever. So you need to be responsible. You need to. I mean, we always I always say the random that you see is nothing compared to reality. I'm gonna deliver a better product than that the rental that you're seeing now as a buyer. And that's what we're doing, and that's the philosophy of the company. And they they say when they don't allow me to go to those job sites, they don't allow you, no, just restrict it.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:04

Why the project will never get finished. No, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:07

But it's it's I always try to to to to have it better. They get it, get something because materials. These are projects that last what two, three years, a year and a half in design. Yeah, uh, you put together the concept with the interior designer, the architects, and then everything changes, and you start construction another two months and two years, sorry. So it's been like three years, and now you have in totally different materials. I mean, every single detail, the exhaust, the thermostat, the hardware, everything is different now.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:50

So that's why it's uh my my constant battle with myself on the cost.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:57

Yeah, there's always that. So how involved are you in the design? Are you into everything? Like 100%. Yeah. 120. 120.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:07

I don't do, I don't do can't help himself. I don't do no, but the good thing is that they're friends. The friends, Ramuelta, Robert Behart, and MSA, José Somel, uh, all the artists that we we work with, they're very good friends and they're very open. Because we talk the same, yeah, we talk the same language. There's a certain level of respect there, too. So we don't we don't send uh comments and on on an email. I send sketches.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:41

Because we know what we want. Right. We want, we know exactly what we want, what we're selling. So layouts and for me, layouts is one of the critical pieces of a project. And because people are gonna be living there. So they need to understand how they're gonna use it. What materials, what smell, what lighting, what and so so every single project, yeah. Uh it's you go deep.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:12

Super deep. Super deep. I heard you're uh you're a cyclist. You like to ride your bike? Sometimes. Sometimes? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:21

Lately it's like hurting a little bit. Yeah, but I try to do to do some training a couple of days a week uh with a trainer that goes home. Uh we play tennis once a week with friends. No pickleball, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:10:38

No, no pickleball. What is that? He can come on anytime. He can come on anytime to the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:46

Flippy loves pickleball. Puddle.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:48

Padel too. Puddle.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:50

Puddle tennis.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:51

Yeah, that's what you play to? Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:53

That's fine.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:53

Yeah, is it?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:54

That's real.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:55

Is it? Yeah, I don't know. Try it. Not convinced. Try. Have you played beach tennis? No. Oh, that's real.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:02

That's real.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:02

I'm gonna invite you to the beach tennis sport.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:04

We're gonna have like a Bill Road Beach Tennis Club going if you can help it.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:07

Do they have women in bikinis playing Padell? They do.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:13

I I don't know. Yeah, beach tennis.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:17

Far superior. Far superior. Um, you're building in Hollywood too, right? Yes, sir. In Fort Lauderdale.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:26

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:27

Yeah. Um Gaia. Gaia in Hollywood. Uh where and that's on the beach?

SPEAKER_04 1:11:35

No, that's on the um that's right next to the circle.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:39

Okay.

unknown 1:11:40

Right.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:41

And it's it's it's in front of the great site. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:44

It's a illustration.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:45

It's in front of the just renovated golf course.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:49

Yeah, I know what you're talking about. Yeah. Like on top of the golf course. And uh that's a that's an amazing project that we're uh selling to the the target there. It was like to create let's why don't we try to create a project, a condo project for normal people?

SPEAKER_01 1:12:13

Just normal people.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:14

And who's buying? Uh they're not buying.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:18

They're not buying?

SPEAKER_04 1:12:18

No, but that's the reason why. Because of this this type of project, you need to, of course, pre-sell. And all the pre-sells are always investors. From Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, you name it.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:32

Latin Americans.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:33

Latin Americans, yeah. A lot of them. So they can uh that's how you you start creating the momentum. And once you get the construction loan and the 45 or 50 percent of sales, you can start building. But the idea then is to I mean work with the deposit structures. There's a lot of problems that they can get, so they can buy a unit, and we're selling for $800 a square feet. You see the finishes on the project, you can't believe it. That's it's an amazing, it's almost two acres of humanities. I mean, it's an incredible pool deck, water futures, facing the golf course. All the interiors are connected with the exteriors, with the nature, Gaia. So it's uh for that, it's a value. It's for that value, it's it's it's an amazing proposition.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:32

But but you you started pre-sales already.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:34

Yeah, we started pre-saling. We we did an incredible um sales gallery in the in the circle. And uh we already have like 10%. Uh and we're gonna be in doing condo and uh contracts very soon. But that's um the two phases, 238 units each phase. And uh we have we're also gonna have an EV5 program. You name it all to me altogether. But uh, but at the end, uh our goal is to to have uh local buyers because you have a lot of people uh running out of the of the old buildings where they're getting uh make big assessments that they can afford. Right. So here you have the opportunity to to buy a unit for let's say 500,000, get a mortgage, 80%, 85%, and move to a new building. Great amenities, great views. Hollywood is growing like crazy. So we're selling growth.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:49

Yeah. Also, I think the Hollywood market is great. I've always liked it.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:54

Really?

SPEAKER_00 1:14:54

Yeah, I think it's uh it's just it's so well located. You're by the beach, you're between both airports.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:00

But people don't know about Hollywood. Yeah, it's it's so it's like it's like remember when when uh like two or three years ago the the they started like they were starting building uh or pre-selling condos in Pompano. There was nothing in Pompano.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:18

Yeah, I but I would take Hollywood over Pompano any day.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:20

Yeah, but now after three years, Pompano is a great market. Yeah, I haven't been up there in a long time. Huge market for condos, luxury. So so yeah, so that's that's the main concept that we have in in Gaia. We have like 135 projects in Miami. I mean West Pound Beach down the half of them is sold. 50% the average of the 50% left is two and a half million dollars per year.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:55

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:59

So it's not for normal people.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:03

So that's what we're trying to do there. Trying to solve for that. Yeah. Yeah. And it makes sense. When was the last reasonable project built as a condo on that price range?

SPEAKER_02 1:16:23

No idea. 15 years. A lot of time. I don't think reasonable and Miami are really in the same sentence.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:35

So uh you're into cooking too, huh? And grilling.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:40

Grilling.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:41

Yeah? Yeah. What do you like? What kind of meat do you like to cook? Any meat. Any meat?

SPEAKER_04 1:16:46

Asados. Asados.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:47

Yeah. Argentinan.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:50

Argentina when Chili cook, we also do a lot of grills, like every weekend.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:56

Yeah, I love. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:58

You got a you got a nice setup at home? Yeah. You do all the grilling? Yeah. What uh what are your favorite cuts?

SPEAKER_04 1:17:06

Basil.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:08

And um the um the the scourge stick, yes. Um but uh we always do like scourge stick, like a uh a selection.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:20

A little mojejas? Do you like mojejas? Yeah, sometimes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:25

I I love mollejos, yeah. Um, sausages? Always, yeah. Churipan. Churipan. The blood sausage, too, or no? You do blood sausages? Sometimes. Yeah, I'm like uh what do they call it?

SPEAKER_02 1:17:40

Yeah, yeah, but the Argentine say mortichas. That's the problem. I'm learning with the accent, yeah. I can't help it.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:48

So you like the mortichas? No, I'll I'll eat them.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:50

Yeah, say pollo.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:53

I have to.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:55

If I don't say it, I get in trouble.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:56

We've lost him. We lost him a long time ago to the dark side.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:01

Will you ever retire? Would you ever retire? No, no, you love it.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:07

It's my passion. I can retire. I can retire.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:12

Is there a dream project that you've had on your mind that you haven't been able to build yet? I had it in when I was in Chile.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:19

I I need to build something, imagine back then. Yeah. For like more than 60 stories. We did uh 900 piece game.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:27

How tall was that one? 67. Oh wow. Are you gonna go higher now? 80. No, no, 67 is fine.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:37

You need to be very careful with large projects, yeah. Yeah, it gets expensive. And this market comes and goes. I mean, you never know. Yeah, it it's there's no explanation. You can be selling a project, stop sale for six months, and then start selling again with no reason.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:57

So you've always it's always been like that. You've always been kind of on the cutting edge of new neighborhoods. I see Hollywood, I see Fort Lauderdale. Anything else? Any other markets?

SPEAKER_04 1:19:09

Actually, for Loyler, we we bought that that piece of land like two years ago. And we're waiting, like you said, maybe it was the the the deals didn't pencil out, the underwriting wasn't look wasn't looking good. So we decided to wait. Uh the what now the market was on multifamily was like dead with the with the rates. And uh we were like waiting and waiting and waiting for the and uh they always knew that uh markets always they always the market always comes back.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:42

So you guys are building.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:44

You guys are building multi-family in Fort Lauderdale? So we're we're starting, yeah. We're starting with that project. Like uh we already have the permit, and then we're starting June, July. That's a big 400 unit, 35 stories, new river. And that's a new pocket again in Fort Lauderdale, South the River. So we're waiting uh to see how the market was in to just finish um a couple of of multi there. And the renting, crazy. Wow, all New Yorkers, of course, out of state, all out of state, and yeah, and what are the rents now?

SPEAKER_02 1:20:26

Because we talked about three dollar rents at Quadro being crazy. Those are that's gonna be 450.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:31

450 in Fort Lauderdale in Lauderdale. We haven't shit on Fort Lauderdale in a while. That's gonna be 450. Can you believe that?

SPEAKER_02 1:20:39

450 in Fort Lauderdale to live in a second-class citizen market.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:43

I know it's not even they live in America for Christ's sakes.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:48

Yeah. So that one we're gonna start now. Uh and we're building another one in Sunset. Um under construction, also. 300 units. Where? In Sunset Harbor? South South Miami. Oh, South Miami.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:03

Oh, at the Sunset Shops?

SPEAKER_04 1:21:05

Not in the Sunset Shops, okay. On on the West West US one, across the street of the city hall. Got it.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:14

Great market. Great market. Yeah. There's nothing there. No.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:17

You guys close to the Metro Rail station there too?

SPEAKER_04 1:21:20

Like 100 meters. Perfect. Yeah. Yeah. So that's gonna be a good one. And also we kind of created like a new division in Alta, uh, like to build more affordable, not they're not affordable parties. Workforce. Like, not workforce, but it's a it's more down to earth. And and uh we bought up uh a big piece uh yeah, it's like three years ago again, in Princeton.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:54

That's south.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:55

New market. That was also a new market, I think. Uh back then was like only a couple of multifamilies. There's a ton down there now.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:05

And now it's it's a lot of tax credit deals too. Huge, right? Like a lot of affordable housing projects down there.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:12

They combine. Yeah, related have some. Uh-huh. But never done uh affordable housing uh project with credits, and we always, I mean, target for market rents. I mean, that's so that's another project that's under construction. It's a new systems and new type of design, standardized. I have like those are like 600 units, two faces, only designed with one type of kitchen, one bathroom. It's it's like it's a totally different concept where we where we put together like modules. It doesn't look like modules, but if you want a one-bedroom, the the the section of uh the living kit living dining kitchen is the same for every single unit. Then the master is another module, then the three bedrooms, and you add another one. So it's uh are they prefibled? It's no, it's a different, it's uh it's all concrete. Okay. It's uh um the the forms are pre designed or built for the project. So it's like a factory. Makes it more it's super efficient, and uh and it's working really well. The cost is very efficient. Yeah, I was gonna say much rent, yeah. At the decent rent rate. So it's so that that's uh and that's another one under construction. So cool. Busy. You're staying busy. We're staying busy. It's awesome. Staying busy and looking for new deals. What kind of new deals are you looking for? Hopefully, uh uh garden style. Garden style surface parking.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:59

That's why I made the surface parking comment earlier. Surface parking. I know how that goes. I know. Uh no, you try to build a pedestal today, you need five dollar rents. It's nuts. Yeah. Well, if anybody has any surface parking deals out there, send them to Raimundo.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:14

Yeah, please. We'll take we'll take 3% on that too, right, Ben? Yeah, right for referral. Yeah, yeah, why not? We'll be generous. Yeah, no problem.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:24

Well, Raimundo, thanks for joining us today, man. It was great to hear your story. And thank you for the invitation.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:30

Yeah, thanks for Raymond. That was awesome talking to you. Have a great afternoon. Thank you so much. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:35

Cheers. See you.