Hospitality mogul and founder of SBE Sam Nazarian is rapidly expanding his real estate presence in Miami, according to Ocean Drive.
Nazarian — the hard-partying entrepreneur with holdings across the West Coast who once had a cameo as himself on HBO’s “Entourage” — began his Miami push with the SLS Hotel South Beach, which opened last year.
“When I stood at 17th and Collins in 2009 and 2010, all I could see were empty skyscrapers with cranes on top of them,” he told Ocean Drive. “Clearly, people had written off that area.”
Late last year, Nazarian teamed up with hotelier David Edelstein to revamp Miami Beach’s Raleigh hotel, and this spring will begin developing a $300 million condominium and hotel project on South Miami Avenue with Jorge Pérez’s Related Group, to be called the SLS Brickell.
And now, Nazarian told Ocean Drive an as-yet unannounced project was in the cards, though he wasn’t yet ready to reveal details.
“It’s not just because we are smarter or better than anybody else,” he said of the pace and scale of his projects . “It’s just that we are set up to expand rapidly in markets.” [Ocean Drive] –Hiten Samtani