condo king named signage scofflaw of the year

7/27/2019 Condo King named Signage Scofflaw of the Year

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MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

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SIGNAGE SCOFFLAW OF THE YEAR

He is bulletproof

JORGE PEREZ & THE RELATED GROUP


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September 24, 2014

By David Arthur Walters

Artkritik for The Miami Mirror

Jorge M. Perez, Chairman and CEO of The Related Group, Americas foremost multi-family realestate developer, king of the condo craze that made Miami Ground Zero of the real estate crash

during the Great Recession, must believe he is bulletproof.

Not only has he not been implicated in any crimes for the role he played in leaving purchasers

and investors holding the bag in the last downturn, his personal fortune has reportedly risen

from $1.49 billion to $3.1 billion as the real estate bubble re-inflated, instead of crashing to the

$50 million that he figured would be the meaningless, worst case scenario for him.

Always keen on making a fast buck, he even created a separate vulture fund as the value of his

portfolio was crashing about his ears and he was begging lenders to give him more time to payaround $2 billion in debt. What goes down must come up, was his sage advice. After all, a fool

is born every minute, so Floridas swampy boom-bust real estate market was bound to recover

with the infusion of someone elses money.

Perez got himself a Masters in Urban Planning from the University of Michigan before becoming

an economic director with the City of Miami. He moved on to take advantage of government

largess and political contacts to build the foundation of his fortune, developing low-income

apartments before moving on to capitalize on the condo development rage. Ethnicity was an

external factor in his rise, but does not account for his inherent genius and the choices of Lady

Luck. The Tropical Trump teamed up with builder Stephen M. Ross in 1979 to form The

Related Group, based in New York, where it has over 5,000 luxury apartment units, with offices

in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami, San Francisco, Abu Dhabi, So Paulo and

Shanghai involved in involved in real estate development, real estate fund management,

advisory services, international activities, and affordable housing. Interestingly, Related is

doing the 26-acre Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project in Manhattans Chelsea and Hell's

Kitchen neighborhoods et cetera.

My personal introduction as a Man on the Street to the apparent arrogance for which Perez

became notorious when success went to his head was with his unpermitted signage around two

big projects, One Ocean and Marea, now under construction for his superrich marks in the

South Pointe Park area, the southernmost portion of South Beach, a promotional sobriquet

adopted for the southern area of Miami Beach where Perez has already developed the high-rise

towers Portofino, Murano, Murano Grande, Apogee, and Portofino Tower. The developers have

redubbed the once blighted area with the epithet, South of Fifth, i.e. below Fifth Street.


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The unlawful signs around One Ocean were rather attractive, while Mareas oversized, metallic,

bullet-hole signs could only be characterized as blatant blight. Therefore I proceeded to make

inquiries based on my Signage Scofflaw Theory that wherever signage is unlawful, there are

probably more serious violations of law behind the signs. I discovered the reason for the

scofflawry was that the citys code compliance department did not enforce the signage codeunless people risked retaliation by filing complaints; anonymous complaints could be made, but

even then the complainants were identified if known or misidentified if not and retaliated

against. People who complained about the unofficial policy were deemed mentally disturbed or

moronsand were duly ostracized. Indeed, there are a number of laws that are unenforced or

are selectively enforced on the beach, which has a long history of moral turpitude and criminal

corruption. The absurd excuse commonly given for the unspoken policy of official negligence,

laxity, and abuse of discretion is that the objective of the police power is not to punish but to

obtain compliance.

Unlicensed (in Florida) designers and unlicensed (in Florida) architect advertised at One Ocean

Unpermitted advertisements for One Ocean covering three sides of block

South of Fifth was once part of the lawless crack-hood called Seventh Heaven, meaning the

ghetto where people were getting high cheaply; that is, everything below Seventh Street. It was

legislated into a special, overly pampered redevelopment zone, allowing it to keep its taxes

within the zone. The gentrification zone would become an upscale haven for gentry who could


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afford fine wines, excellent pot and coke, gentry who had not been apprehended elsewhere or

whose crimes had been legalized, in addition to housing humble retirees who had arrived

earlier on. Lawyers created billions of dollars out of thin air for developers by legislating air

rights to build air castles near the water on the fringes, as legislators who begged for campaign

funds and hidden perquisites failed to collect sufficient money for infrastructure to amelioratethe consequences of flooding, especially the impending extremely extreme high water cum

Category Five+ hurricane event, the very apocalyptic Great Flood preached by the likes of

Girolamo Savanarola of yore, and by Florida U.S. Senator Bill Nelson today.

Savanarola warned that the power elite make their government and palaces a refuge for the

wanton and the unworthy, showing favor to artists and other climbers who pander to their

vanity with lies and flattery, and, under the influence of false counselors, they devise new

burdens and taxes to drain the blood of the people. Wherefore the righteous, he said, long for

the scourge to cleanse the earth. He meditated on the Ark of Noah, and said that the vessel was

the shelter of the righteous from the storm of judgment; its length signified faith; its breadth,

charity; its height, hope.

Regular Flooding in South Beach


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Nimrod warned people to tear down their houses and build rafts to greet the Great Flood,

Babylon (Babel), or so the ancient story goes. The original Babel is thought by some scholars to

be a place of canals,an interesting thought for the residents of Miami Beach inasmuch as old

plans for the city included a system of canals, a plan that might now be realized in the near

future. A sage of South Beach by the name of Frank Del Vecchio has noted well that thereremains a gondola manufacturer in Venice. Sadly wood is scarce in South Beach. Speaking

metaphorically, Savanarola complained that, "In the primitive Church the chalices were of

wood, the prelates of gold; in these days the Church hath chalices of gold and prelates of

wood."

Developers throughout the nation have taken advantage of lower-rent areas populated by

artists, incorporating art in their projects as if they were saving the artists, until finally, as rents

rise, artists who own properties sell out, and then artists cannot afford the rent, except for the

chosen ones, often from out of town, supported by the developers. Perez likes to use

international talent whether licensed in Florida or not. Licenses can always be rented from local

architects and designers, and even general contractors. Developers do not have to have a

license in anything to direct everything. His ladders to Heaven are elegant in comparison to the

somewhat ugly, block-like buildings local real estate titan Russell Galbut would raise. Galbut has

to envy Perez, and he wants to team up with Perez to build the highest tower on Miami Beach;

however, that aspiration is on hold due to the not in my backyard objections of affluent folks

associated with the influential South of Fifth Neighborhood Association.

Ocean One in progress

Many old folks do not understand why there should be any more development in an area thatis beautiful because it is small, relatively uncrowded with people and cars, and pedestrian

friendly if it were not for the bicycles and motorized vehicles on the sidewalks. After all, the

objective is to possess as big of an estate as possible so as to wall unwanted people out.

Barbara Streisand sang that people who need people are the luckiest people in the world; not

so much anymore, and most people today would rather not need people at all given the

qualities of people in crowds.


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Of course the answer is that more of everything is always desired because there is no end to

desire, especially for power in the form of moneyBuddhists renounce desire yet even more

material wealth piles up, just as it did for the Puritans who renounced greed in this country.

More people, more money, more demand, less space to put people who naturally swarm to

attractive places like insects. Perez and Galbut are naturally said to have the city commissionand mayor in their deep and dirty pockets to that end. Notably, billionaires Perez and Mayor

Philip Levine are tight with the Clintons, to whom their local influence is politically important.

Now The Related Groups One Ocean and Marea will be lovely, indeed, and are hardly towers of

Babel although multicultural diversity for those wealthy enough to enter the gate to the god

(babilus) in a jumble (balal) is still at play. The projects shall stand merely seven floors, quite

low compared to the high rise towers on the fringes, but rather high compared to the rest of

the two or three storied zone, and only the Chosen Few shall occupy the spacious quarters. This

is what the construction permits reveal:

ONE OCEAN: $58,000,000.00 , fee $231,841.08, PRIV PROV PLAN REV AND INSP - One Ocean

Bldg is a 7 level residential condominium comprised of two buildings (South Bldg 35 Units

/North Bldg-15 Unit subterranean 1 level garage w/parking lifts, and 3 commercial spaces (2

restaurant & 1 retail). Architect: THE SEIGER SUAREZ ARCH PARTO, Contractor: FORTUNE

CONSTRUCTION COMPANY. Owner: TRG BLOCK ONE LTD

MAREA: $21,000,000.00, fee $160,098.66, New seven level, two residential towers, garage

bldg with pool deck on top for total of thirty residential units and three commercial units,

project name is MAREA. (Original permit B0701345 was cancelled and remains active under this

new permit number B1303263) Contractor: PLAZA CONSTRUCTION GROUP FLORIDA, LLC.

Architect: THE SEIGER SUAREZ ARCH PARTO. Owner: TRG ALASKA III LLC

One Ocean Website Brochure

Press for One Ocean includes blurbs such as: Related Group Chairman and CEO Jorge Perez has

announced another new condominium tower, the One Ocean project in Miami Beach. One

Ocean, which will be located at 91 Collins Avenue in the South of Fifth neighborhood, will

include 46 residences and four villas. And, from a Related ad: Situated at the tip of South


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Beach, in the exclusive South of Fifth neighborhood, your surroundings will be a gallery of

ocean views, fluid architecture by Enrique Norten of TEN Arquitectos, extraordinary landscapes

by Enzo Enea and refined interiors by Yabu Pushelberg. Incredible works of art by Jos Bedia,

Michele Oka Doner, Cuttica and others will create an imaginative space as part of One Oceans

professionally curated collection of contemporary art.

When I arrive at the Marea, my third home in the U.S., I find my visiting bikini-clad Russian friend is at the pool

Press for the Marea informs us that Marea will comprise seven floors with thirty residences,

1,525 to 2,336 sq. ft., priced from $1,200,000, designed by the, critically acclaimed, luxury

interior designer Yabu Pushelberg, developed by the well regarded Related Group, with

landscaping by Enzo Enea, and architecture by Sieger Suarez Architects.

I buttonholed the One Ocean project superintendent Bill Suarez, a distant relative of the Marea

architect, as he passed by the One Ocean/Marea sales office building at 91 Collins Avenue.

I had been examining the structure, which was listed on the county appraisers site as an office

building, which would of course need a building permit, but was listed on the citys certificate of

proper use as a sales trailertemporary construction trailers do not need a building permit.

This structure was definitely a building inhabited by humans for long periods of times. It was

assembled from modules, with panels placed on the sides and covered with a sort of vinyl


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wallpaper. I could not find a building permit in the system. It appeared to me that the vinyl

covering was in effect a temporary real estate art sign, which would need a permit. And I

thought the colors and design of the artwork might not conform to city code for the zone I

polled some friends and they all said they loved the design and colors.

Suarez said he was not aware of what the paperwork was on the sales office. However, he was

familiar with the signage ordinance, in terms of the number of signs that can be displayed and

their size, because Code Compliance officers had visited him at One Ocean, and he had

removed several signs when instructed to do so by management. He was not aware of the

status of the signage still present around the Marea, where Plaza Construction was also the

contractor.

I told him I had been informed that sign violations on both sites has been referred to the city

magistrate called the Special Master. I said I estimated that the signs were worth thousands

of dollars in advertising fees; there was no fee, yet developers did not bother to send someone

over to the Planning Department to get a permit because the city was negligent in enforcing the

code, which gave me cause to suspect that other laws were being ignored. Furthermore, the

signage code that differentiated between temporary real estate signs and construction site

signs, and the processes adopted for enforcement, really sucked.


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I also mentioned the fact that initial signs around the One Ocean project were advertising

professionals who had no licenses to practice in Florida. He was unaware of those signs because

they were present before his time on the job, and the signs were obscured or removed when

the groundwork overreached them.

We agreed that projects developed by Perez were more attractive than his local competitor

because Perez brought in talent from all over the world who were obliged to borrow the seals

of professionals registered in Florida.

The regulations have not caughtup with the reality of the business, he said. The state should

charge a fee to check the credentials and register architects brought in by developers from

other states and countries, providing there is a local licensee responsible for reviewing the

work. That way people do what they do, the state makes more money, and everybody wins.

Good signs have iicense numbers (Left) and evil signs have none (Right)

Well, I have repeatedly pointed out the need for revision to the highest officials, offering

suggestions as to particular code revisions, yet not a single one responded, apparently because

I am not a member of the ruling claque hence constructive criticism appears to be an attack on

their privileged status.

I asked him why his firm, Plaza Construction, was on the phased permit under which the job

initially proceeded, but Fortune Construction was on the main permit now approved. He said he

had noticed that himself, and thought it odd, perhaps a clerical error. That led to a brief

discussion of phased permitting, which was introduced by the new city manager and the

building official he hired away from the City of Miami. I had caught one of Russell Galbuts

phased permit developments without the prerequisite county environmental permit; the

building official was apparently unconcerned as construction continued apace, and the city

manager, following standard operating procedure, implied I was insane for being concerned

with phased permitting given the fact it was so successful in Miami. The DERM permit was

eventually obtained due the pressure brought to bear by the county.


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He said that the city building department was not adequately staffed for the surge of work at

One Ocean, so phased permitting allowed it to proceed until it could be fully permitted. A

private company inspects the work, which would also be spot checked by government

inspectors.

So, I said, phased permitting, a sort of confession of incompetence, was adopted, first of all,

to please Perez. Studies show that the inspectors of private inspectors, who have an inherent

conflict of interest, are inferior to inspections by government officials.

You do not have the other side of the story, he said. Government inspections are of high

quality, but private inspections can be even more meticulous because private inspectors get a

fee for each inspection; the more inspections they perform, the more money they make. For

example, on a project downtown they are charging $100 each inspection, so where there are a

number of identical sections to inspect, they will be sure to scrutinize every section to run up

their fees. All in all, private inspections are as good as public inspections.

I enjoyed my brief chat with the superintendent. I like to be around construction. My father

gave up the practice of law to take it up. I was impressed especially by the missile bases under

construction. Perez originally thought he would become a writer and a professor. Maybe we

could trade places for a day. Right now it suits me to name him Signage Scofflaw of the Year

2014. No doubt he could care less. He will not even feel such a slight kick to the shins. After all,

he is bulletproof.

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condo king named signage scofflaw of the year

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