They’ve been groomed since they were children, and now the king is planning to leave his throne.
Miami’s “Condo King” Jorge Perez, who’s had a prolific decades-long career as a real estate developer, is reportedly gearing up to move aside in the hopes that his two sons will take control of the Related Group.
At 66, Perez said he wants to leave his role as head of Related in a few years so he can focus on leisures like traveling and curating his extensive art collection, Bloomberg reported. In his stead, he hopes 31-year-old Jon Paul and 28-year-old Nicholas will take over and guide the company he founded into the future. He would stay on as chairman.
But it won’t be as easy as a handshake for the two real estate scions. Perez told Bloomberg that his will sons will have to “keep on earning their place in the company.”
Jon Paul Perez, Related’s vice president, took the helm of his first condo project earlier this year: the ultra luxe Auberge Residences & Spa Miami — a sign that his responsibilities within the company were steadily growing. And as he told a crowd of 500 at one May discussion panel, his typical Saturdays as a kid were spent touring rental properties with his dad.
His younger brother Nicholas works as an associate with Stephen Ross’ Related Cos. in New York, which is a separate entity from Perez’s Related Group. (Related Cos. owns less than 20 percent of Related Group, but has no involvement with the company, Perez has said.) Nicolas Perez’s resume includes a stint at C-III Capital Partners, a company that specializes in commercial-mortgage backed securities — and also the special servicer for Related Cos. $150 million loan covering CityPlace West Palm Beach that recently went delinquent.
Jorge Perez’s plan to step down comes amid a market slowdown that’s put the squeeze on new condo developments, and has already caused several to cancel sales — including the high-profile Boulevard 57, which is not a Related project.
He already survived one real estate crash back in 2010 when buyers were more likely to walk away from a deposit than close a deal, Bloomberg reported, and powered through by restructuring $1.5 billion in debt.
Even so, his company has built a lion’s share of the high-rises that now dot downtown Miami’s skyline. And his children are already planning on what to do with his empire. Jon Paul told Bloomberg that he recently closed a deal in Miami Beach that would see Related build its most expensive condo ever with prices of more than $2,500 per square foot. [Bloomberg] — Sean Stewart-Muniz