South Florida real estate’s biggest players rang in the new year in fabulous style.
Brokers and developers went far and wide to celebrate the holiday, hitting the slopes in Aspen, partying in Uruguay, Dubai and Greece, lounging in St. Barts and Thailand, and hobnobbing at high-society soirees in Palm Beach and Fisher Island. After all, popping champagne and attending glamorous, star-studded, parties is de rigueur in an industry known for its flash and bling.
Gil Dezer, president of Sunny Isles Beach-based Dezer Development, partied in St. Barts on the MY Vava II megayacht. He was among celebrities who included actor Cuba Gooding Jr., rappers Drake and French Montana, and former pro boxer Mike Tyson, social media posts show.
Developer and broker Edgardo Defortuna traveled to Punta del Este, Uruguay, according to his spokesperson. Defortuna, who was still celebrating Argentina winning the World Cup, and his family were at the Fasano hotel for a “Brazilian-style” party.
“We danced (mainly [wife] Ana Cristina) until sunrise around 6 a.m. My boys had a great time and returned home at 8:45 a.m.,” Defortuna wrote in an email.
Miami Design District developer and Dacra CEO Craig Robins and his wife, Turnberry Associates CEO Jackie Soffer, rang in 2023 in Aspen.
“Jackie and I had a beautiful dinner with family,” Robins told The Real Deal. “We celebrated the Miami new year in Colorado, so we could go to bed at 10 p.m. Colorado time — and midnight Miami time.”
On New Year’s Day, Robins and four friends trekked to the Highland Bowl, a rugged backcountry ski spot considered a rite of passage for seasoned skiers, according to photos posted on his Instagram account.
To get to the Highland Bowl, skiers have to endure a 45-minute hike in good conditions. They can shave off 30 minutes by taking a snowcat that drops them off further up the ridge, an online description states.
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“Ready to drop into 2023,” Robins wrote in his Instagram post. “Happy new year to all.”
Being in nature is his favorite thing to do, Robins told TRD. “I especially love to be in the mountains when I can,” he said. “It was beautiful. It was great to be out there.”
Investor Moishe Mana took the holiday to a different extreme, partying with models and pop stars on the other side of the globe. Mana, who visited Dubai for the holiday, said supermodel Naomi Campbell invited him to a party hosted by fashion retail mogul Umar Kamani.
Kamani co-founded clothing and accessories firm PrettyLittleThing.com in 2012, which quickly became popular among celebrities. Singer Miley Cyrus and rapper Nicki Minaj have been seen wearing the designer’s clothes.
Kamani hosted the New Year’s Eve bash at his mansion in Dubai, and posted Instagram photos of the party. Other celebrities in attendance included TV host Steve Harvey and his wife, Marjorie Harvey; rapper and R&B singer Trey Songz, who performed at the party; and Kamani’s fiancée, British model and blogger Nada Adelle.
Mana, who still was in Dubai on Wednesday, is among the pioneer investors in Miami’s Wynwood, and owns the Mana Wynwood event space. In more recent years he has turned his focus to downtown Miami, ranking as the biggest property owner after amassing more than 1.3 million square feet in 70 commercial buildings.
Developer Michael Shvo took a Greek vacation to celebrate both the start of the new year and his birthday.
Instagram posts show Shvo and his wife, Seren Shvo, in Athens. He also posted a video of a concert he attended of Greek singer Antonis Remos. Shvo apparently is a big fan of Remos, who during his performance gave a special shoutout to Shvo, calling him a “very, very special friend.”
The couple appears to have a soft spot for Greece. Seren Shvo’s Instagram shows the couple spending time there with their two children in September.
Vlad Doronin’s partner, Kristina Romanova, spent the holiday in Thailand, at his luxury Amanpuri resort, according to her Instagram. Doronin, a part-time Miami Beach resident, is CEO of Aman Resorts, a group of high-end hotels, while Romanova heads Aman Essentials. He is building an Aman-branded hotel and condo project in Miami Beach.
Others attended the 100th New Year’s Eve party thrown by the Palm Beach high society group the Coconuts, the Palm Beach Daily News reported. The party was thrown at its usual venue, the historic estate of Henry Flagler, once known as Whitehall (it is now a museum). Among attendees were Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, Estee Lauder’s son Leonard Lauder, and Brown Harris Stevens broker Caldwell Colt Robinson.
Also attending the Coconuts bash was Anheuser-Busch heir Christopher Orthwein and his wife, Binkie. The beverage family dynasty has long been South Florida real estate investors. An estate designed for the late Anheuser-Busch President Adolphus Busch III in Fort Lauderdale last month sold as a teardown for $19.5 million.
As chairman of the Coconuts, sugar magnate Alex Fanjul ran the show.
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Among others who stayed closer to home, hospitality mogul David Grutman and his wife, Isabela Rangel Grutman, partied at LIV Miami, Grutman’s nightclub at Jeffrey Soffer’s Fontainebleau Miami Beach resort.
Top broker Jill Eber of Coldwell Banker’s The Jills Zeder Group attended the Fisher Island Beach Club New Year’s Eve party with her husband Seth Nachman, and held an after-party with her dog, Ziggy, according to a spokesperson for Eber.
Others kept an even lower profile. Black Lion Investment Group President Robert Rivani, the Miami-based commercial condo restaurant specialist, and his wife, Krystal, didn’t have a big celebration. According to a spokesperson, they were jet-lagged from their month-long excursion across Europe.