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How China’s Belt and Road Initiative is impacting LatAm, the Caribbean… and the World. The BRI has now expanded to include 147 nations.
Miami International Airport’s HighFlying Expansion. MIA is now the number one airport in the U.S. for international frieght and ranks 8th in total passengers.
For most, private aviation seems out of reach, so it’s hard to believe that the words “private aviation” and “affordable” would now appear in the same sentence.
First came agriculture, then manufacturing and next, tourism. Now, the fast-growing Dominican Republic is embarking on a new economic frontier: logistics.
With the largest multi-modal logistics network in the industry, PayCargo allows for faster release of cargo and improved daily cash flow for all types of freight payments and invoices.
There is a famous scene in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" that, to me, captures the excitement, energy, and adventure that aviation has come to define for Greater Miami: From a unique geographical location, the ability to fly to exotic destinations for business, adventure and, in many cases, fortune.
As you will remember, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is given the task of finding the Lost Ark of Antiquity. He departs, not from a major airport, but from the water on a Pan Am World Clipper. The plane is filled with businessmen, spies, and various ne’erdo-wells, all wealthy individuals because, at the time, flying (in the late 1930s and early 1940s) was not yet mainstream.
My first thought was, good Lord, this could be Dinner Key in Miami. It looked identical. I have come to think of that scene as a metaphor for what Miami was and has become due to the aviation industry: An amazing challenge filled with intrigue, danger, awe, and huge reward.
Aviation and Miami are close relatives. Those who pioneered modern-day aviation as an industry have Miami roots and displayed the same qualities we write about in each issue of Global Miami: innovators willing to take risks. Their efforts worked with the ultimate result being present-day Miami International Airport, which traces its origins back to the birth of modern-day aviation in early part of the 20th century.
Then, like now, the city fathers knew how to promote. The “A” list of famous aviation folks enlisted to champion Miami included: Glen Curtiss, The Wright Brothers, Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, and Eddie Rickenbacker, to name just a few. They would perform at “Air Meets,” the first of which was produced by Everst G. Sewell,
who was president of the Merchants Association in 1911 and later became mayor of Miami. Thousands would show up in open fields to get a glimpse of a plane, a famous pilot, an amazing woman aviator, and, of course, the brothers who created the first flying machines. Some even bought $100 tickets for a 15-minute ride.
Miami International Airport got its start a few years later, when Pan Am shifted operations from Key West (for flights to Cuba – we were international even then!) to Miami, purchasing 116 acres in Miami Springs. Pan Am Field, as it was called, started operations in 1928 with the first modern passenger airport in the U.S., complete with terminal building, two runways, and two hangers. In the early 1930s, Pan Am sold the facility to the city, and moved its operations to Dinner Key. There it used the Pan Am Clipper seaplanes featured in Indiana Jones.
Eventually Pan Am stopped flying from Dinner Key, which became Miami’s City Hall. It returned to Pan Am Field, which became Miami’s 36th Street Airport in 1932, and Miami International Airport in 1948. The rest, as they say, is history.
In this issue, we look at the current state of aviation at MIA, as well as the world of private aviation that caters to the global business community. As an economic driver, the airport remains critical, creating jobs, spurring investment, and securing our economic future. Without it, Miami would not be a global city.
PUBLISHER
Richard Roffman
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
J.P. Faber
SENIOR VP INTERNATIONAL
Manny Mencia
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
Monica Del Carpio-Raucci
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
Gail Feldman
DIRECTOR, SALES AND PARTNERSHIPS
Sherry Adams
Amy Donner
Gail Scott
MANAGING EDITOR
Kylie Wang
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Yousra Benkirane
WRITERS
Doreen Hemlock
Joe Mann
Katelin Stecz
Harriet Mays Powell
Natalia Clement
Amy Poliakoff
ART DIRECTOR
Jon Braeley
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Rodolfo Benitez
Tiege Dolly
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR
Toni Kirkland
CIRCULATION & DISTRIBUTION
CircIntel
BOARD OF ADVISORS
Ivan Barrios, World Trade Center Miami
Ralph Cutié, Miami International Airport
Gary Goldfarb, Interport
Bill Johnson, Strategic Economic Forum
David Schwartz, FIBA
Bill Talbot, Beacon Council
EDITORIAL BOARD
Alice Ancona, World Trade Center Miami
Greg Chin, Miami International Airport
Paul Griebel, World Strategic Forum
Jerry Haar, Florida International University
James Kohnstamm, Beacon Council
John Price, Americas Market Intelligence
TJ Villamil, Enterprise Florida
RICHARD ROFFMAN PUBLISHER GLOBAL MIAMI MAGAZINEGlobal Miami Magazine is published monthly by Global Cities Media, LLC. 1200 Anastasia Ave., Suite 217, Coral Gables, FL 33134. Telephone: (305) 452-0501. Copyright 2023 by Global Cities Media. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part of any text, photograph, or illustration without o\prior written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. Send address changes to subscriptions@ globalmiamimagazine.com. General mailbox email and letters to editor@globalmiamimagazine.com
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“Freedom is more important than free trade,” declared Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general of NATO. His sentiment is echoed in the modern form of globalization, now being reconfigured on the basis of new political, economic, and military alliances as a consequence of the complex fracture between Western countries and the new Russian-Chinese alliance. Today, globalization is no longer driven only by economics but by a new element: political risk.
The competing rivalry between the world’s two main economic powers, the U.S. and China, led to two reactions. First was reshoring by American companies in China, which have progressively limited or suspended expansion and investments in the Middle Kingdom and transferred their production back to the U.S. A second reaction was that of nearshoring, to diversify production as per the former China+1 model, which concentrates investments in markets where, in the face of reduced production costs, one could count on a strong local consumer market as well.
Today, with a redesigned pro-Western marketplace, we see an Atlantic alliance led by the U.S. with the UK and European Union, strengthened under NATO and expanded to include countries considered “pro-Western friends” (those that agreed to economic sanctions on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine). Now, new alliances are being forged between blocks of countries united by common interests and principles.
In 2022, President Biden launched the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework in Tokyo, a strategic partnership between the U.S. and 13 countries that together represent 40 percent of the world’s GDP. Its first purpose is to diversify supply sources, reducing dependence on China, and make use of resources from ASEAN countries like Brunei and Indonesia. Above all, the IPEF
redefines the rules of the new 21st century global economy based on fair and resilient trade, laying the foundation for regulating the security interests of the U.S. and its allies.
After the IPEF, President Biden launched I2U2, a new cooperation of investments and initiatives between India, Israel, the UAE, and the U.S., which collectively tackles issues like energy, transportation, space, health, and water conservation. The IPEF and I2U2 respond to the needs of the new globalization by including rules of conduct, a sense of responsibility, the need to reduce and contain waste, a change toward renewable energies, and the application of a long-term perspective policy in managing trade and business relations between partner countries. While free trade agreements remain, they are no longer a priority due to this need for responsibility and sustainability.
We can call this new phase “Responsible Globalization.” In it, the West must confront Russian unpredictability and Chinese economic colonialism. Western economies must redesign the global map of alliances so that the Atlantic alliance is strengthened, the U.S. focus is oriented toward ASEAN markets, and India can play a strategic role in balancing the weight of China. Then, trade can become a driving factor for change, where Western countries can achieve political shifts in authoritarian countries by modifying trade relations to reduce dependence from, for instance, an economic superpower like China.
Florida, meanwhile, should be an independent country. It would be the 15th-largest global economy, with a GDP in line with that of Indonesia or Spain, and its geographic proximity to Latin America and the Caribbean give Miami unparalleled access to those markets.
Florida is reinforcing its position as a leading economy (the fourth-largest in the U.S. after California, Texas, and New York) capable of attracting foreign investors. The state’s economy has received a huge boost from its educated and diverse talent pool, global connectivity, and favorable business climate, all advantages that make Miami a global hub and the preferred gateway for U.S. market entry. l
Viamericas Corporation, an international remittance company focusing on immigrants sending money home, has moved its global headquarters from Maryland to Coral Gables, Florida. The company relocated to the Miami area because of its connectivity to the Americas.
The Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau announced that 26.5 million people traveled to Miami-Dade County last year. At 4.7 million visits, foreign tourists comprised 25 percent of the overnight market and 29 percent of tourism-related spending. Most international visitors came from South America, Central America, and the Caribbean, with Colombia leading, followed by Brazil, Canada, and Mexico.
Hong Kong-based Swire Properties is partnering with New York’s Related Companies on a joint venture to develop One Brickell City Centre, a commercial building, 1,000 feet tall, at 700 Brickell Avenue and 799 Brickell Plaza in Miami. When finished, One Brickell City Centre would become Florida’s tallest office building, joining Brickell’s 830 building – the first new standalone office tower in over a decade, now more than 90 percent leased. Swire Properties also released details of One Island Drive, a new residential addition to Brickell Key. The new residences will feature two towers at 800 and 400 feet.
Miami-based Fuel Venture Capital is introducing its Flagship Fund II after investing $100 million in South Florida startups with its first Flagship Fund. The international early-stage investment firm aims to raise $300 million. The fund will concentrate on fintech, enterprise SaaS, consumer technology, and sports and entertainment technology. In 2021, Fuel Venture Capital also raised $63.6 million to invest in 60 UK tech startups.
Financial exchange platform
Miami International Holdings, Inc. has announced the acquisition of LedgerX, a Miami-based crypto derivatives platform, for $50 million. LedgerX was previously a subsidiary of FTX, the now bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange and hedge fund whose collapse sent cryptocurrency values plummeting worldwide.
Miami-based GlobalX will increase its fleet from 11 to 16 aircraft, authorized by the U.S. Department of Transportation. This announcement is on track with the airline’s 2023 business plan to add more passenger and freighter aircraft. Joining the fleet will be two Airbus A320 passenger jets and two Airbus A321 cargo jets.
Blink Mobility LLC, an electric car-sharing service, announced the acquisition of Envoy Technologies, Inc., a Miami-based electric car-sharing service that offers e-vehicles as an amenity to hotels and residences. Blink Mobility is a subsidiary of Miami-based Blink Charging, one of the world’s leading electric-vehicle charging companies, with operations in 19 countries and plans for a 500-worker factory. Blink Charging also announced a new CEO, Brendan S. Jones, replacing Michael D. Farkas, the company founder, who will continue to serve on the board.
UK-based Quadrum Global has sold the Art Deco, beachfront Nautilus hotel to Service Properties Trust, a Massachusetts-based REIT (real estate investment trust), for $164.5 million. Quadrum
acquired the Nautilus for $61 million in 2011. The property will be operated by Sonesta, which oversees all 262 Service Properties hotels in the United States and Canada. The property has been renamed Nautilus Sonesta Miami Beach.
Casino operator Genting Malaysia has sold a 15.5-acre development site in Downtown Miami for $1.225 billion. The bayfront property was purchased by SmartCity Miami LLC, an investment group led by Miami-based Terra and its CEO David Martin. The property is the biggest undeveloped waterfront site in the city and the highest price ever paid for a property in Miami. Genting originally bought the site for $236 million in 2011 hoping to turn it into a casino. The sale was brokered by an Avison Young team led by Michael T. Fay.
Gebrüder Weiss has opened an air and sea freight office in Miami, furthering the company’s U.S. presence. Six employees now work for the company in Miami. The site is slated to become a center for shipments to Latin American markets.
European merchants. Its free app allows vendors to accept payments via smartphones and provides analytics to help sales and marketing.
Interval International, a worldwide provider of vacation services based in Miami, recently affiliated with ALMA, a high-end resort in Vietnam owned and operated by Paradise Bay Resort Company Limited. Paradise Bay Resort Company Limited is based in Vietnam and owned by Israeli-born investor Igal Ahouvi.
Bird Global, Inc., a leader in green electric transportation, has announced that it will begin offering service in eight new metropolitan markets in the U.S., Canada, and Australia. The company’s e-scooters and e-bikes are projected to launch in the added markets over the spring and summer.
The Miami Marlins reached an agreement with Ironhack, a Spainbased company that provides nine-week bootcamp training in web development, data analytics, and UX/UI design, to make LoanDepot Park the new site of its flagship U.S. campus. The new deal will help develop local tech talent.
Miami-based ACI Worldwide, a payments systems company, has appointed Thomas Warsop as the new CEO, replacing Odilon Almeida. Warsop joined the ACI Board of Directors in June 2015. ACI also announced the addition of Swift Go to its cross-border payment offerings. Swift Go lets consumers and corporate clients send cross-border payments directly from their bank accounts.
Southern Companies, a trucking and logistics company headquartered in Medley, Florida, has been acquired by French company Geodis, a global logistics provider with over 150 warehouses in the U.S. alone. The absorption of Southern Companies will enhance Geodis’ supply chain capabilities in the U.S. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Miami-based Global PayTech Ventures, a venture capital firm that focuses on payment technologies, has invested $2.24M in Amsterdam-based Klearly, a firm that provides wireless payment solutions to
Zim Shipping Company announced that its new Colibri Xpress line will now operate from PortMiami. With a fleet of more than 80 vessels and service to more than 180 ports globally, Zim is one of the top container shipping firms in the world. The new service will connect PortMiami to ports in Jamaica, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Chile.
Miami-based Revolution Brands International has expanded its manufacturing capabilities by acquiring California-based MEKA Inc. MEKA designs and manufactures micro-mobility products, focusing on hardware and software platforms for personal electric vehicles. Revolution Brands International distributes recreational e-vehicles globally. l
In recent years, Japanese businesses have begun looking to Miami as an area for trade and investment. With a presence in Miami for the past 30 years, the Consulate General of Japan in Miami has played an important role in facilitating increased collaboration between the two regions. A career diplomat, Consul General Kazuhiro Nakai took his post in September
The economic and business ties are very strong and sound, but I’m convinced that we can further develop it. This is what I’m now working on. Japan is the second-largest import source for Florida, and we always have been a very substantial investor [here]. Japan has also been the largest foreign direct investor in the United States, so why not in Miami?
Three years ago, the largest Florida export to Japan was grapefruit. But this year, they were aerospace, pharmaceuticals, life science, and IT. By focusing on those areas, I’m convinced that we have more chances to further enhance trade and investment. These are the issues that we introduce to Japanese business leaders as an area of development for trade and investment.
In November last year, in Orlando, we organized a large business conference, inviting leaders from Japanese industries and businesses. Before the opening of this conference, we organized the Japan Florida Business Tour 2022, through which we introduced the top-tier investment and emerging business opportunities in Miami to Japanese leaders in the industries I mentioned. On that tour, [I invited] the participants to the University of Miami to introduce them to the university’s cutting-edge technologies. I also took them to PortMiami to show them that Miami is an important logistics hub and the gateway to trade and investment in Latin America. [And we went] to Hitachi Rail, a Japanese manufacturing company, to introduce them to infrastructure.
We invited Governor [DeSantis] toJapan on April 24 ad 25. \ Mayor Francis Suarez also visited in February this year. Both leaders have successfully impressed Japanese business leaders with the
2021. Prior to that, he was the Deputy Ambassador for the International Conference on Security and Disarmament in Geneva, Switzerland, which included being Chair of the International Convention of Biological Weapons for two years. We sat down with the consul general to discuss his priorities and the relationship between Miami and Japan.
excellent investment environment in Miami and Florida. We expect two trade missions to Japan. Florida is coming to Japan in October [and] Miami-Dade is sending a mission to Japan in November with Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.
One of the potential areas [of investment] is the space industry. In Florida, we have seen the emerging space business, and Japan has one of the most developed space programs. We’re working with Space Florida to promote business matching between aerospace companies [in Miami] and Japan. When Governor DeSantis came to Japan, he had a very productive meeting with the president of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA.
This is indeed a priority that I am pursuing. Many people [think] the direct flight between Japan and Miami can be a game changer for investment and trade. It will further enhance our business ties with Miami and give strong momentum to our investments in Latin America and the Caribbean.
I have worked with Japan Airlines, which has shown a strong interest. And when I was in Tokyo, I invited Governor DeSantis to visit the chair of Japan Airlines and the governor did an excellent job of elaborating on the huge business potential this direct flight could establish. Mayor Suarez [also] met with them.
Japan Airlines is fully aware of the business potential and that people have been very much looking forward to it. The problem is time. Just like other airlines in the world, they are still struggling from the enormous financial loss caused by COVID. So, we have to wait for them to be ready to start something new. l
In the early stages of Miami’s development, the region heavily relied on agriculture as a primary economic driver. Consequently, agricultural products constituted a significant portion of what Miami produced, and what it sold as a trade city. These goods were primarily sold domestically or shipped to other parts of the United States.
Over the course of the 20th century, the city’s trade profile slowly became more global, especially following the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914. After the Cuban diaspora of the early 1960s, when half a million Spanish-speaking residents moved to Miami, the city became a major center for importing and exporting goods between the United States and Latin America. Initially, these goods included a diverse range of products such as textiles, consumer goods, and manufactured items.
In recent times, especially over the last decade, Miami has experienced significant growth in its high-tech sector. The emergence of technology-focused industries, such as information technology, telecommunications, and biotechnology, has reshaped the city’s trade landscape. According to Enterprise Florida, in 2022, Florida was the third-largest exporter of information technology products in the U.S. (after Texas and California) with shipments of $14.4 billion –a 3.9 percent increase from 2021, surpassing pre-COVID numbers. Specifically, computers, integrated circuits, and smartphones have seen a huge increase in their export to Latin America and the Caribbean. “How trade has changed from agriculture exports to hightech exports is remarkable,” says TJ Villamil, SVP of Enterprise Florida’s International Trade & Development unit.
Four of the top 10 exports from the Miami Customs District are high-tech products, making up more than 30 percent
of the dollar value of all exports from the region. Among the most significant technology products moving through Miami are computer and electronics equipment, including smartphones, tablets, and laptops. In 2022, the United States Census Bureau reported that Miami’s computer and electronics product exports totaled over $10 billion. Top 2022 exports include telephones ($4.82B), mostly to Paraguay (21% or $1.01B) and Brazil (13.5% or $649M); computers ($3.91B), mostly to Argentina (16.7% or $652M) and Brazil (15.7% or $613M); and integrated circuits ($1.92B), mostly to Brazil (57.4% or $1.1B).
On the imports side, Asia remains the most important source for tech products to be redistributed into Latin America and the Caribbean. Most telephones ($2.8B) are imported from China (64.9%) and Vietnam (19%), while goods like integrated circuits ($1.58B) are mostly sourced from Vietnam (35.3%) and Malaysia (26%). The import
volume of these products is tied to demand in Latin America.
Miami’s role is more of a middleman regarding the global tech supply chain. According to Alice Ancona, vice president of World Trade Center Miami, Miami companies are not manufacturing or assembling any physical goods themselves, but mostly re-distributing them. “Some are responsible for part of the development of software/ technology but are nowhere near the level of Silicon Valley,” which does most of the manufacturing and assembly in the States, says Ancona.
Miami’s tech trade is expected to continue in an upward trajectory, driven by ongoing investments, collaborations, and the city’s growing reputation as an attractive destination for tech companies. The expansion of high-speed connectivity, the development of smart infrastructure, and the nurturing of a robust talent pool may even encourage companies to start manufacturing in the city. l
You’re on your way to work, walking down the street. You stop at a crosswalk waiting to go. You look over and there’s a knee-high, pink box on three wheels. The crosswalk indicates you can go, and the box rolls on. There's no need to be concerned. It’s just Geoffrey, the friendly neighborhood robot, making its rounds.
If you live or work in the Downtown Miami area, you’ve probably noticed the newest additions to the bustling neighborhood. For the past few months, a fleet of 20 small pink robots with digitized hearts for eyes has been cruising the area, offering free delivery services to anyone interested. Why this branding? “It’s helpful to humanize them a little bit and make them more approachable,” says Brendan McGonigle, head of revenue at Tiny Mile, the Canadian company providing the robots.
Headquartered in Toronto, Tiny Mile was founded by two exUber engineers who developed remotely-controlled delivery robots. With 12 hours of battery life, the bots – all anthropomorphically nicknamed Geoffrey – travel at a speed of 3.7 miles per hour and are equipped with cameras and GPS for navigation. The robots can carry up to 20 pounds, covering a one-mile radius, and they operate with a 5G connection, enabling high-definition video data processing for improved safety and real-time decision-making.
Initially, Tiny Mile operated in Toronto, but it was brought to a
halt in February 2022 after the city council essentially banned sidewalk robots. So, the company pivoted. After raising $10 million in a seed round in February 2022, it entered the U.S. market two months later. As of January 2023, its robots were available for on-demand deliveries in Miami and Charlotte, North Carolina.
In Miami’s Downtown/Brickell area, the company is introducing its services for personal errands. Through the Tiny Mile app, users can request Geoffrey to make deliveries of things like documents or food, tracking its progress through the city. Tiny Mile provides the service for free and earns revenue from companies that advertise on the bots. “We look at it as a free public utility.... We hope to keep the cost at zero for the public by partnering with a community-invested business for full-fleet sponsorship,” explains McGonigle. “So, analogous to a bike program that is corporately sponsored, we’ll brand the robots with the sponsor’s logo, but protect users from any cost.”
Miami is no stranger to the robotics industry. UberEats launched a robot delivery service in the Dadeland area in December 2022. A separate pilot program, funded with $5.25 million from the Miami-based John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, tested Kiwibot delivery robots. And a fleet of driverless vehicles, from Pittsburgh-based Argo AI, was launched last summer in Miami for pilot delivery and ride-share programs.
“Miami is so much fun for us – the vibrancy of the community and all this activity – but that’s also what makes it challenging,” says McGonigle. “Because when you’re building robots, you’re trying to program predictability, but Miami is anything but predictable.”
The latest addition to Miami’s neighborhoods has been entertaining to watch. Passersby approach Geoffrey with curiosity, dogs investigate, and Good Samaritans help the pink bots back up if they fall over coming off a sidewalk. “I think we’ll succeed as a robot company when the robots become part of the fabric of the community,” McGonigle says. “When it just becomes like, ‘Oh, there’s just a pink robot in Miami. It’s just another day.’ That’s when we’ve found success.”l
Miami is so much fun for us – the vibrancy of the community and all this activity – but that’s also what makes it challenging...
BRENDAN MCGONIGLE, TINY MILE
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Studies show that organizations with diverse leadership produce better financial results, more innovation, and greater engagement, motivating staff and reducing employee turnover. So, what can companies do to champion women and reduce the obstacles that limit their advancement?
That was the focus of the 8th annual Women’s Hemispheric Network Conference held this past April at the Miami offices of law firm Greenberg Traurig and featuring, among others, Carolina Mejia, the first female mayor of Santo Domingo, the 524-year-old city that is the capital of the Dominican Republic. (See report, pg. 61)
Panelists stressed the need for women to help one another, not only as mentors but more importantly as sponsors, speaking out to decisionmakers when their mentees are not present. “Sorority. Be there for other women,” advised Mejia, who has named women to head up 60 percent of departments in her city government, from planning to solid waste management. “And give men the opportunity to support you. Encourage them,” she added, naming her father and husband as some of her biggest allies. Her father, Hipolito Mejia, was the president of the Dominican Republic from 2000 to 2004.
With women in business also handling most responsibilities at home, panelists recognized work/life balance as a major challenge. They suggested women be as organized as possible, build networks to help with family, and ultimately accept that it’s messy. “You’re on a conference call and preparing lunch. You have to get comfortable with that,” said Cuba-born Ileana Musa, managing director and head of international banking and lending for financial services giant Morgan Stanley in Miami.
Men have a crucial role to play too, educating other men about unconscious bias, microaggressions, and other forms of discrimination against women, said Andrew Martin, president of Latin American for New York-based pharmaceutical maker Pfizer. He leads a group at Pfizer called Men as Allies, which trains men across Pfizer, helping them see, for example, that when they rush into a meeting and quickly sit down, they often literally leave women “with no seat at the table.” The group has helped ensure that women are included as candidates for all job posts and on all panels interviewing jobseekers.
Still, that’s not enough, said Martin. Even when women get to top corporate posts their path typically takes longer and involves more criticism than men’s paths,leaving women experiencing burnout at a higher rate than men. “We have to reset the dashboard” to measure not only female numbers in leadership but also the route to get there, said Martin.
Under-representation of women clearly hurts business, exacerbating shortages of tech workers, for instance. That’s why a group of Latin American founders recently launched Laboratoria, a venture piloted in Peru that trains women for tech careers, mainly from low-income areas. The group has an 85 percent job placement rate for its 3,000-plus female graduates, said Gabriela Rocha, its chief operating officer who lives in Mexico. Laboratoria now aims to expand into the U.S., thanks partly to funding from MacKenzie
Sorority. Be there for other women, and give men the opportunity to support you. Encourage them.
Scott, the philanthropist ex-wife of Amazon’s founder. Said Rocha: “There’s so much talent we’re not tapping into.”
The half-day conference was organized by the New York-based Americas Society, an education group, and Council of the Americas, which represents major corporations active in the hemisphere. Together they are called AS/COA, with their Miami area office in Coral Gables. Visit www.as-coa.org and click on past events for the live broadcast. l
BY J.P. FABER
In February, multinational software developer Kaseya announced it would add 3,400 jobs to its Miami offices over the next three years. The news came as another affirmation of Miami’s growing importance as a global hub for innovation and commerce, coming on top of a slew of relocations to the city by tech, legal, and finance firms over the previous few years.
But the announcement also begged a critical question: With so many tech startups and relocations in the works, where would the talent come from? The city is certainly witnessing an influx of entrepreneurs and techies from not just U.S. cities like New York, Chicago, and San Jose, but from across the Americas. That may not be enough, however. Ready to fill the gap between need and supply is Miami-Dade College (MDC), rushing to expand its tech-related curriculum to meet the demand.
“The tech work force is a major priority for us, and for us to continue to help our students be part of the future,” says Pamela Fuertes, dean of MDC’s Miguel B. Fernandez Family School of Global Business, Trade & Transportation. “We are making data driven decisions that closely follow the needs of the community.”
The school, named after one of Miami’s billionaire healthcare entrepreneurs, was founded nine years ago, and has since seen its role expand as part of what Fuertes calls “the innovation corridor” at MDC: its co-located Business Innovation Technology (BIT) Center, Cybersecurity Center of the Americas, and recently opened AI Center. “We are looking at how technology and innovation are essential for our future, and how we can connect the dots between our curriculum and the business community, looking at the opportunities,” says Fuertes.
Currently the School of Global Business, Trade & Transportation with 11,000 students, has programs that include trade and logistics, supply chain management and leadership, and international business, banking, and finance. It also encompasses the Ed Watson School of Aviation and the Miami Culinary Institute, with an eye toward training students in the high-tech aspects of professional administration.
“When you think about Miami and the tech workforce, you have to realize that technology is horizontal,” says MDC President Madeline Pumariega. “Digital skills are going to be critical for the work force in every sector because there is no sector that technology is not modernizing. Every sector right now is responding to that demand, and we are going to see those tech skills [needed] across every industry sector.”
MDC is consequently offering courses in everything from cloud computing and cybersecurity to artificial intelligence and data analytics. That was one reason why 21-year-old student Selene Ulloa decided to enroll in a two-year Associate's degree in business administration. “You still have to understand the basic principles for managing businesses, but we are evolving into a more technological world,” she says, requiring fluency in data and software analytics. Ulloa is currently part of a Student Managed Investment Fund team at the BIT Center that is investing in both traditional stocks and cryptocurrencies. “And I am now doing a summer camp on the
TOP: PAMELA FUERTES, SHOWN CENTER WITH STUDENTS, IS DEAN OF MDC’S MIGUEL B. FERNANDEZ FAMILY SCHOOL OF GLOBAL BUSINESS, TRADE & TRANSPORTATION.
ABOVE: SELENE ULLOA, CENTER, WITH OTHER STUDENTS IN THE BUSINESS INNOVATION TECHNOLOGY CLASSROOM
use of AI in business,” she says.
The impact of MDC’s programs is not lost on potential investors who want to relocate to, or launch from, Miami, says Pumariega. “When you are starting to scale up and grow your business, you are always thinking about human capital. Do you have the capacity to take on this big contract? You can import the talent from another state, but CEOs need to know they have the talent here to expand.” In 2023, some 12,000 students will graduate with an AA or BA degree from MDC, “a significant number” of which have taken courses in advanced technologies. l
The tech work force is a major priority for us, and for us to continue to help our students be part of the future...Photos by Tiege Dolly
In 2003, Jenny Betancourt was sitting in her family’s kitchen helping her mother, Esperanza Lopez, translate legal documents. Every day after Betancourt finished her homework, she riffled through an ever-growing stack of visa applications, travel permits, and records. Twenty years later and Betancourt is still helping her mother. However, instead of the kitchen table, they now have an office and a company called DocuRapid.
DocuRapid was born out of an idea Lopez had when she was working at the consulate of Colombia. Day after day, she’d see members of the community come to the consulate and request services it couldn’t provide. So, she decided to leave her job and fulfill the demand. From kitchen table to cubicle, DocuRapid has grown from translating documents to offering a variety of services.
Today, DocuRapid is Miami’s one-stop shop for pretty much anything related to official documents. Even though the company does offer translation services, it’s hard to classify it as just a translation agency. For instance, instead of just translating a corporate document, DocuRapid will translate that document, interpret it, and verify that it is legal according to the laws of a given country.
The company also provides notarial procedures, legalization, authentication, and apostille (the authentication of a legal signature) of public and private documents. If you need a travel permit for a minor, a rush on your passport, or a power of attorney, you can go to DocuRapid.
“Usually, we end up being the last place a person stops at for help. You know, maybe they tried A, B, and C, and we’re their last hope,” says Betancourt. “Our goal is to get
that document legalized, or whatever else they need, and do it fast.”
Betancourt says requests range from preparing a letter of invitation for a visa application to translating large-scale corporate bids. They can even help clients move the body of a loved one from one country to another, providing proper documentation from both departing and receiving locales. “For us, it’s not just about the business, because, in this scenario, there’s a family panicking that they can’t bury their loved one. So, we have to be empathetic and find a solution as quickly as possible,” she says.
Betancourt says that the company’s client-focused approach reflects its humble beginnings and family-oriented atmosphere. She shares the duty of company president with her father Jose, while her mother Espe-
ranza remains CEO. Beyond the family, the company now has up to 30 people working for it at any time, the majority as freelancers; last year, DocuRapid handled more than 80,000 documents.
DocuRapid works with documents in Spanish, Traditional Chinese, French, Creole, Portuguese, German, and, of course, English, translating between any two languages. They legalize documents for embassies as disparate as those of Cuba, Kuwait, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and the Philippines. And as Miami grows, Betancourt expects DocuRapid to grow with it - soon offering Hindi translations.
“With so many changes that Miami is going through, we are expected to adapt to meet those needs,” says Betancourt. “There is a possibility for huge growth.” l
Holland & Knight, one of Florida’s oldest and largest law firms, helps set the pace in Miami. Our attorneys have extensive experience across key industries that drive the South Florida marketplace, including technology, financial services, healthcare, real estate and transportation.
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For decades, scientists at the University of Miami’s Barbados Atmospheric Chemistry Observatory (BACO) have analyzed dust concentrations captured in clear mesh filters mounted atop a 55-foot tower on a Barbados bluff. The goal is to understand how these tiny particles affect clouds, climate, and air quality.
A major source of the dust is sand, which emanates from the North African Sahara Desert, driven by strong winds across the Atlantic and onward to Barbados – the first land mass in the Caribbean Basin – and from there to the Americas. Understanding how these particles are produced and transported serves as a critical indicator and predictor of climate change.
Despite the import of these observations, researchers who have worked at and relied upon data generated by BACO have long believed the observatory was underutilized. Now, a $1 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant will unlock a much fuller potential.
“This funding is much more than an upgrade,” says Cassandra Gaston, an atmospheric chemist at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science who has operated BACO for the past three years, and who spearheaded the grant proposal to refurbish the site. “It’s really a rebirth, a reimagining,” she says. “We’ll still deploy filters to look at African dust transport, but the new instruments we’re getting will allow us to take measurements we’ve never been able to do before.”
The expected suite of new instrumentation – from a trace metal monitor to an aerosol chemical speciation device – will allow researchers to improve climate models in real-time by measuring indicators of pollution, smoke, black carbon, and ocean emissions. An upgraded BACO facility, including a replacement for its 3.5-story tower, should help attract researchers from the university and around the world to conduct their own research, as well as fuel
additional collaborations with the Rosenstiel School.
Paquita Zuidema, professor and chair of UM’s Department of Atmospheric Sciences – who partnered with Gaston on the NSF grant proposal and whose research focuses on the relationship of warm, shallow clouds to the large-scale environment – says an upgraded BACO will allow her to “puzzle out” how dust and smoke affect trade wind cumulus clouds. A revamped Barbados facility will also directly impact research to be conducted at UM’s Center for Aerosol Science and Technology, which officially launches early next year. The center will prompt multiple interdisciplinary collaborations in the study of how aerosols affect the environment, climate, and human health.
Pratim Biswas, a renowned aerosol scientist and dean of UM’s College of Engineering, envisions using smaller aerosol-monitoring sensors from his lab in concert with newly installed instruments at the Barbados site to conduct air-quality studies of all kinds. “BACO has generated a tremendous volume of data,” says Biswas, who also partnered with Gaston on the NSF grant proposal. “With the improvements, it’ll only get better.”
For Joseph Prospero, the legendary atmospheric scientist and Rosenstiel School emeritus professor who established the observatory at Ragged Point on the easternmost edge of Barbados in 1971, the impending upgrades are a dream come true. Back in the 1960s, it was Prospero and his colleague, Toby Carlson, who discovered the phenomenon of Saharan dust transport and the Saharan air layer, reporting their findings in leading scientific journals. Today, reporting by meteorologists about Saharan dust has become part of routine weather forecasts.
“Now, the work that we’re continuing to do, looking at the relationship of Saharan dust to weather and climate, is all the more important,” says Prospero. l
In 2020, Tiffany and Co. became the first global luxury jeweler to provide shoppers with certificates that show their diamond’s journey from mine to store. That same year, Levi’s and The R Collective joined together to create a 100 percent traceable denim collection. And last year, Unilever partnered with SAP to pilot a blockchain-based technology that traces the company’s palm oil supply.
Over the last few years, traceability and transparency have become increasingly important to consumers. Now, more than ever, shoppers want to know where a company’s product was made, how it was made, and what it’s made of. But going transparent can be a difficult undertaking. Most companies don’t know their suppliers past tier one, and mapping supply chains can be like trying to unravel the Gordian knot.
Enter Product DNA.
Product DNA is a supply chain management and traceability advisory firm based out of Switzerland with an office in Miami. The company sells software that allows clients to “do the detective work” and map their supply chains.
Product DNA opened its North American operations in Canada in September 2022 and its Miami office at the beginning of this year. It’s also in the process of opening offices in Paris and Amsterdam. According to Managing Director of North American Operations Stephan Morin, Product DNA also has plans to expand to Germany and Italy.
The global company currently has 32 employees throughout its offices. The North American division alone has had revenues of around $20 million since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Morin says most of Product DNA’s clients are European, but the company hopes to gain more North American clients in the coming year. Currently, they have over 50, some of them household names like Hennessey and the perfume company Guerlain.
Like other traceability firms, Product DNA uses blockchain technology to trace a company’s product from raw materials to distribution. However, it also analyzes a company’s supply chains for risks to brand reputation and potential problems that could cause an unforeseen shortage.
After completing a comprehensive report, Product DNA supplies the transparency data for internal use by the client. That traceability data can then be published on Product DNA’s public platform, respect-code.org, at the client’s discretion.
Morin says companies should be investing in traceability and transparency, not only because it’s a great marketing tactic, but also because it makes sense. “Having better control over your data, your supply chain, the practices within your supply chain, and so on, just naturally makes a better-managed company because you know what’s going on,” he says.
As for marketing, Morin says transparency can draw customers to a company, especially Millennial and Gen Z consumers, but warns of greenwashing and cutting corners. Greenwashing is a tactic some companies use to make their practices seem more environmentally friendly than they actually are. In 2018, Starbucks was exposed for greenwashing when it launched its straw-less lid. Critics quickly pointed out that the new lid contained more plastic than the old straw and lid combination.
Product DNA assures that this doesn’t happen with their clients. “We’re helping companies connect with younger generations because they haven’t adjusted their marketing yet,” says David Corriveau, Product DNA’s vice president of engineering. “These younger generations have access to so much data, and they have the ability to call out greenwashing very quickly. That’s where we come in.” l
Having better control over your data, your supply chain, the practices within your supply chain makes a better managed company
STEPHAN MORIN, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF NORTH AMERICAN OPERATIONS
Tourism shines among the world’s largest industries, with international travelers forecast to spend $2 trillion this year alone. That strength glows at FITUR, now the biggest tourism industry fair in the world.
In January, Madrid-based FITUR attracted some 136,000 tourism professionals from 145 countries for three days of industry-only sessions, plus 86,000 more people for weekend activities open to the public. Those 222,000 attendees were the most ever at the show since kickoff in 1981, FITUR leaders announced at a recent breakfast presentation in Miami.
“And we expect a new record in 2024,” says Director Maria Valcarce, predicting 250,000 attendees next year. “Our aim will be [more] growth from the United States,” she says, inviting additional Florida and U.S. groups to attend next year’s show, set for Jan. 24-28 and featuring Ecuador as its travel partner.
Just how much tourism touches these days is clear in the range of tracks offered at FITUR. The show now has sessions about: cruises, dubbed “blue tourism;” LGBTQ+ travelers, who tend to spend more than average and travel year-round; language learners, who can stay months overseas and often return for classes; sports enthusiasts, who attend events sometimes in unusual locations; and film enthusiasts, who not only frequent festivals but also visit locales where movies were filmed.
FITUR is also increasing its focus on technology, as hotels, restaurants, airlines, and other industry players now use software for everything from reservations to inventory management and HR.
Launched 42 years ago to tout travel to the Madrid area, the Feria Internacional de Turismo (FITUR) first expanded to promote all of Spain, and later found a niche in tourism to Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. In the mid-1990s, groups from the United States began taking part. This year, more than 1,300 U.S. tourism professionals attended, representing such brands as American Airlines and hotel giant Hilton. “The United States has enormous potential for us,” says Jose Vicente de los Mozos, a leader of the Ifema group that organizes FITUR and other Madrid trade shows, during FITUR’s first presentation in Miami.
Set to attend from South Florida in 2024 is the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. The organization has been taking part in FITUR for years, and operated a booth within the U.S. pavilion in 2023, where representatives hosted meetings with tour operators from Spain, Portugal, and other nations who send groups to Greater Miami. “It’s the first travel show of the year and gives everyone a change to engage,” says Joe Docal, the Bureau’s director of travel industry sales for Europe. Engagement is especially key now, because Spain became the No. 2 source of European visitors to Miami-Dade in 2022, surpassing Germany and trailing only after the United Kingdom.
Around the world, tourism’s reach dazzles. In the five years before the pandemic, travel and tourism accounted for one in five new jobs (including direct, indirect, and induced impacts) and 10 percent of economic output globally, according to the London-based World Travel & Tourism Council. COVID hit hard, but the number of international travelers should top pre-COVID levels in 2024.
FITUR was one of the few global trade shows that continued during COVID. Organizers pushed back the 2021 fair from its usual January dates to May, but the event continued in-person. In contrast, Berlin’s ITB, another leading tourism industry show, was cancelled in 2020 and held virtually in 2021 and 2022. This March, ITB Berlin reportedly drew 90,000 attendees from 180 countries over three days. l
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BY JOSEPH A. MANN JR.
In 2022, Inc. Magazine rated Totalynk as one of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. The firm, a B2B distributor of mobile phones, computers, and other electronic equipment to Latin America and the Caribbean, is based in the Miami suburb of Doral – and could not have grown as rapidly without help from local bank Amerant.
Andres Rodriguez, co-founder and CEO of Totalynk, says that Amerant’s trade financing last year was “essential” for the company’s expansion. “Since we were growing very fast, we needed access to more capital to buy inventory that customers were requesting, and to finance invoices for network operators and big retail chains in the Latin market,” says Rodriguez, whose 10-employee firm supplies more than 500 companies in the region.
Totalynk is just one of dozens of small exporters that Amerant helped finance, earning the community bank the prestigious 2023 Export Lender of the Year Award from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The award honors lenders who excel in promoting international finance programs to small businesses, helping them develop new markets and finance exports.
Amerant extended over $20 million in financing support to small business exporters under SBA’s Export Working Capital Program during SBA’s fiscal year 2022, representing a major share of its small business lending. The SBA provides government guarantees for approved loans made by private banks, lowering the bank’s credit risk.
During the SBA’s FY2022, Amerant was the third-largest lender in the country under the program that provides working
capital for exports. “Export loans originated by Amerant supported more the $131 million in export sales,” says Daniel J. Pische, national director of trade finance at the SBA’s Office of International Trade.
Headed by chairman and CEO Jerry Plush, Amerant is Florida’s largest community bank and has steadily built its small business credit portfolio. Community banks focus on serving people and businesses living in their geographical area, obtain most deposits from these communities, provide loans to local businesses, and have less than $10 billion in assets. Amerant is based in the Miami suburb of Coral Cables.
Yvonne Boucugnani, first vice president at Amerant and head of the bank’s SBA lending program, says that Amerant has been working on export loans with small businesses for more than 10 years. “We are committed to helping provide access to capital to small businesses exporters in our markets,” she says. “Our team members are experts at understanding local exporters’ needs, including purchase order financing, asset-based facilities, and international trade.”
In addition to its loans to Totalynk, for
example, Amerant also finances small businesses that export wholesale chemicals and are manufacturers of high-quality animal by-products and animal proteins, among others.
As of year-end 2022, Amerant Bank had over 690 employees, assets of almost $9.13 billion, loans of $6.92 billion, and deposits of $7 billion. It is the main subsidiary of Amerant Bancorp Inc., also headquartered in Coral Gables. The bank has 16 banking centers in South Florida, seven in Houston, Texas, and a loan production office in Tampa. Amerant Bancorp is traded on the NASDAQ under AMTB.
The SBA offers three export loan programs for small businesses: the Export Working Capital Program (EWCP); a credit line covering purchase orders and receivable financing; and an International Trade Loan that finances the building of export capacity and production reshoring. Amerant worked with Totalynk to find the right SBA financing plan, explained the procedures, and secured the credit they needed. “Without access to that SBA program with Amerant, we would not be where we are now,” says Totalynk’s Rodriguez. l
We are committed to helping provide access to capital to small businesses exporters in our markets…YVONNE BOUCUGNANI, FIRST VICE PRESIDENT AT AMERANT, WITH JERRY PLUSH, CHAIRMAN AND CEO
Our personal injury law firm has obtained in excess of a billion dollars in verdicts and recoveries for clients and is recognized as a leader in plaintiffs’ personal injury and wrongful death, class actions, mass torts, and other areas of litigation
Colson Hicks Eidson, one of Miami’s oldest and most accomplished law firms, is considered among the top trial firms in the United States, having won hundreds of multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements for its clients.
Our personal injury lawyers have a long history of serving individuals, groups of individuals and businesses in a wide range of lawsuits. Our trial attorneys are highly regarded for their depth of legal experience, responsiveness to client concerns and ethical tactics, both inside and outside of the courtroom. Our law firm receives respect throughout the legal community, which recognizes Colson Hicks Eidson for its various distinguished achievements.
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When banker Roberto Muñoz accepted the role of Chairman of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce last year, he was already “the product of full internationalization, as a result of being in Miami,” he says. Of the 43 years he has lived in the city, 32 years were spent in international banking, with a focus on Latin America.
Among Muñoz’s various stints were two years at Barclays Capital (owned by London-based Barclay Bank), 12 years with Fuji Bank Limited (owned by Tokyo-based Mizuho Bank Limited), eight years with Israel Discount Bank (owned by Tel Aviv-based Israel Discount Bank Ltd.) and most recently, seven years with BBVA Compass (owned by Madrid-based BBVA). All of these, he says, prepared him perfectly for his year with the Chamber.
“The Chamber understands that 50 percent of our economy is internationally driven,” says Muñoz. While the global movement of people, goods and services is technically in second place to real estate as an economic driver for Greater Miami, even real estate is significantly propelled by buyers and investors from overseas.
Part of Muñoz’s roll as Chair of the Chamber is boosterism, and nobody sells the global advantages of Miami like Muñoz. “Washington is where the embassies are, so we don’t compare to that, but there are 82 consul generals in Miami, which is second only to New York City. This gives us a huge advantage for doing business in their foreign countries. We also have the second largest contingent of international banks [after New York].”
While Miami has undergone dramatic growth in recent years, thanks in no small measure to the COVID pandemic driving residents and businesses from New York, Chicago, and California, the city’s multicultural, professional infrastructure facilitated that transfer of wealth and population. “Our technology, our workforce, our strong legal industry, our international accounting firms, all were able to accommodate this domestic influx,” he says. “And we did
have the NAP [Network Access Point] of the Americas, and cables to Latin America, and proximity to Latin America, for a market these companies may not have fully explored.”
But while access to Latam has always been a Miami selling point, says Muñoz, what is different now is that Miami is also seen as a reverse gateway to North American markets, especially for European companies.
Alfred Sanchez, the President and CEO of the Chamber, notes that a large part of the organization’s mission has always been to attract foreign companies. One of its key tools has been trade missions sent abroad to foster trade ties. Last April, for example, the Chamber – along with Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and the Beacon Council – took 50 South Florida companies to Israel to establish business links. The result has been at least four Israeli companies moving operations to Miami, including DEI, a desalinization firm that turns seawater into drinking water, and Electrion, now working with PortMiami to upgrade its power grid. In November, the Chamber will lead a mission to Japan, “focusing on technology in its broadest sense, from waste management to urban mobility,” says Sanchez.
What has recently changed, says Sanchez, is the number of foreign trade missions coming to Miami. “It’s now almost two or three a month,” he says. “We’ve always had a flow from Latin America, but recently we’ve had a lot more companies come from Europe.” One example: two trips from the Association of British Health Tech Industries, which has brought some 80 health tech companies to Miami in the last year. “Already four or five have opened offices here,” he says.
And, adding to the core of consulates that Muñoz sees as critical, Ireland recently set up a consular office in Miami. “That is huge,” says Sanchez, “because they see Miami as a growing tech hub, and they want to be in the mix of technology here in the U.S.” l
The Chamber understands that 50 percent of our economy is internationally driven ROBERTO MUÑOZ, CHAIRMAN OF THE GREATER MIAMI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
BY JOSEPH A. MANN JR.
If location, location, location is the mantra of real estate, then Alirio Torrealba is exemplary of that adage, in more ways than one. With an uncanny knack for timing, the Venezuelan-born entrepreneur left his home country just before President Nicolas Maduro began a dictatorial reign that demolished the nation’s economy and its personal freedoms. He then tapped into – and helped uncork – a new wave of luxury condominium developments in the posh Miami suburban city of Coral Gables. That transition is the stuff of immigrant dreams and speaks volumes about the opportunities for foreign nationals in multi-cultural Miami.
Torrealba, who earned a law degree in Venezuela, launched his business career in Caracas in the early 1990s by starting a company that became a leader in used car sales. He later acquired new car dealerships for Kia and Ford in Venezuela, and in 2010, expanded to Puerto Rico, investing in Kia dealerships there.
During visits to Miami, Torrealba began looking at the residential real estate market. “Around this time, we started buying, selling, and renovating individual apartments,” says Torrealba, now 50 years old. He and Fernando Pinto – a friend and business partner from Venezuela – began working together on real estate sales. “But this seemed very risky – real estate was not the original plan.”
Aware of the shifting economic and political landscape of Venezuela in 2013, the year that Maduro came to power, Torrealba, his wife, and two children moved to Miami. There, he and Pinto opened a real estate office to handle luxury apartments. Business was good, and the two made a wide range of contacts and gained insights into the local residential market. One of those insights was Torrealba’s observation that families in the affluent suburb of Coral Gables were often interested in selling their large homes after their children were grown and would be interested in downsizing to condos in the same area.
With not enough high-end product to satisfy demand, Torrealba decided the Coral Gables luxury condo market offered possibilities. So, in 2014, he established MG Developer. In the ensuing decade, his company became a leader in developing new luxury properties in Coral Gables, while respecting the legacy of Mediterranean and Spanish colonial architectural in which the city takes great pride. He also earned local acclaim by becoming involved with the city’s civic organizations, joining its museum board, its community foundation, and funding art in public places.
“The quality of our products and our architectural styles make a big difference,” Torrealba says. “When we began, I was innocent.
You start off with lot of enthusiasm and passion, and as you advance along the road, you see all the problems. But you’re already on the way, so you have to keep working and moving ahead.”
MG Developer’s first big project, started in 2015, was a five-story building with 32 luxury units called Biltmore Parc, a few blocks from the city’s downtown. “That’s where we launched our adventure,” Torrealba says. But it was not an easy launch, at a time when new construction was at a low point in Coral Gables.
What Torrealba found was that “financing was really tight. Banks were still worried about real estate loans following the 2008 recession, and we were foreigners and didn’t have a record of building in the area.” So Torrealba and some Venezuelan friends became partners and joined forces to supply part of the financing. “It was a Venezuelan version of crowd financing,” he says. After they paid $10 million for the land, they were able to obtain bank financing for construction.
A Mediterranean-inspired design by the local architecture firm Bellin & Pratt, the building was completed in 2017 and sold out
by 2019. “It’s interesting that nobody was building condos in Coral Gables after 2008. We woke up the city,” says Torrealba.
As Biltmore Parc was under construction, MG Developer started another project that was to be the cornerstone of its future projects: a townhouse community called 444 Valencia. “We just happened to start 444 Valencia while we were doing Biltmore Parc,” Torrealba says. “We knew the area, walked around, and talked to people in the neighborhood, and we were offered the land. It was an opportunity.”
Made up of three-story townhomes, it was finished and sold out before Torrealba’s nearby Biltmore Parc was completed. The demand for elegant townhouses, inspired as much by Georgian town houses in London as the Mediterranean look that endeared locals, exceeded all expectations.
Realizing he had hit on something, Torrealba went on to create a grouping he dubbed Biltmore Square, which added the townhome projects Beatrice Row (completed 2018), Althea Row (completed 2021), and Biltmore Row (completed 2022). Along the way, MG Developer also completed some single-home projects, including The Ponce and Villa Blanc (both completed 2021). In conjunction with the city’s Art in Public Places program, he commissioned Argentine artists Roberto and Rosario Bejar to create a massive stone bench at the edge of Biltmore Square, called “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Such contributions have earned Torrealba kudos from local leaders, including Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago. “Alirio Torrealba and his company have built first-class developments in our city, all in the spirit of our founder George Merrick,” Lago says. “Additionally, he is an involved and committed citizen supporting many worthy civic and philanthropic causes.”
It’s interesting that nobody was building condos in Coral Gables after 2008.We woke up the city… ALIRIO TORREALBA, FOUNDER AND CEO, MG DEVELOPER, SHOWN WITH A MODEL OF THE VILLAGE AT CORAL GABLES. TOP RIGHT: BEATRICE ROW BOTTOM RIGHT: ALTHEA ROW Photo by Rodolfo Benitez
With his townhome projects wrapping up, Torrealba is now embarking on his most ambitious projects to date. The first is the “jewel” of his work in the city, The Village at Coral Gables, a $50 million residential complex with 48 new units occupying an entire 2.6-acre city block. Inspired by the same Spanish architecture that Coral Gables is famous for, and scheduled for completion in 2024, it consists of four three-story buildings, 16 town houses, four villas, and four lofts, with prices ranging from $2 to $4 million.
Torrealba’s award-winning architects, Coral Gables-based De La Guardia Victoria Architects & Urbanists, see the project as an extension of city founder George Merrick’s vision for Coral Gables in the 1920s, when he commissioned the construction of seven “villages” – among them French city and country villages, a Dutch South African village, and Italian and Chinese villages.
“I do see it as a continuing of the American tradition of building villages,” says partner Maria de la Guardia. “And whereas in [Merrick’s] tradition of building villages, each really referred to an architectural style, either French, Chinese, Norman, or Dutch South African, the Village at Coral Gables is referring not to a style of architecture from other places, but back to Coral Gables itself,” and its signature Mediteranean-inspired look.
“We make sure that the communities we build have a unique sense of style and design, and that they reflect George Merrick’s vision for the city,” Torrealba says. With impressive Seville-inspired architecture, The Village will offer lush common garden spaces, fountains, and walkways. It will also have indoor and outdoor terrace lounges, a wellness club and fitness wing, plunge pool, library, and conference center.
MG Developer is also moving into more vertical projects. The firm plans next to develop Alhambra Parc, an eight-story, mixed-use building with 62 luxury condo units and retail space on the ground floor. MG is partnering on this project with VYV, a Peru-based real estate development firm, with financing provided by Knighthead Funding LLC, a New York-based private mortgage lender. Still another project is Merrick Parc, a luxury residential rental complex. The $204 million mixed-use project – just outside Coral Gables’ city limits – will have two towers, 450 apartments (including studios and one and two-bedroom units), retail spaces, and parking. MG Developer is partnering with the Baron Property Group of New York and Colliers International for initial financing.
In a final shift in emphasis outside Coral Gables, Torrealba is also developing two 10-story multifamily towers with rental units in Hialeah, a large working-class city northwest of Miami, which is suffering from an acute housing shortage. Metro Parc and Metro
Parc North will be the city’s first 10-story buildings and will add more than 1,200 units to Hialeah's housing stock.
“Our origin was in luxury properties, but we see rentals as an attractive business and we have diversified. These projects offer more attractive properties to Hialeah residents, especially for younger people. People who left Hialeah to live in other places will have alternatives, and can now live close to their families,” Torrealba says, in a way echoing his first realization for condos in Coral Gables. It’s all about staying close to home, wherever that home happens to be. l
We make sure that the communities we build have a unique sense of style and design, and that they reflect George Merrick’s vision for the city.RIGHT: ALIRIO TORREALBA BELOW: THE VILLAGE AT CORAL GABLES COURTYARD AND SHARED POOL AREA
Cruise Partners
COUNTRIES SHOWN IN RED IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN ARE PART OF CHINA'S BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE (BRI)
After three years of a pandemic that revealed the vulnerability of global supply chains and a year of war in Ukraine that upended global food and energy markets, analysts say that globalization is at a turning point. Again. In a Foreign Affairs report, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva warned of looming “geo-economic fragmentation.” Countries and companies are “re-evaluating global supply chains and undoing decades of integration,” she said at the World Economic Forum in Davos last year.
Predictions of dying globalization are not new, coming after the 2008 global financial crisis, the 2016 Brexit vote and Donald Trump’s election, and the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in 2020. Yet, none of these led to the end of global economic integration. Instead of pointing to deglobalization,
BY YOUSRA BENKIRANEperhaps Western analysts should look at China’s massive expansion of global links.
THE INITIATIVE
In 2014, China proposed a massive infrastructure project to connect China with Europe, Asia, and Africa through a network of roads, railroads, ports, and other infrastructure investments. Launched by President Xi Jinping, the initiative includes two key elements: the development of a new Silk Road Economic Belt linking China by land with Central and South Asia, Russia, and Europe, and the development of a 21st century Maritime Silk Road, linking China by sea with South and Southeast Asia, the South Pacific, the Middle East, East Africa, and now Latin America and the Caribbean. Originally known as the One Belt,
One Road initiative, there were initially about 60 participating countries. The renamed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has since expanded to include 147 nations – accounting for two-thirds of the world’s population and 40 percent of the global GDP – including many in Latin America and the Caribbean who were formally invited to join the initiative in 2018.
According to Dr. Enrique Dussel Peters, a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s Graduate School of Economics and director of the Center for Chinese Mexican Studies, this program is “an explicit alternative to the globalization process we’ve been witnessing in the last 170 years,” alluding to a possible shift in leadership from Western hands. The professor also notes that China’s BRI is a well-publicized attempt to “improve the quality of living for
the 99 percent of the population, not of the 1 percent.” President Xi himself claims the BRI is a “win-win” for both China and participating countries, an extension of China’s goal to eradicate absolute poverty.
For Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), China’s investments could provide an opportunity for developing countries to fill the infrastructure gap that has historically led to economic underperformance. Even before the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs formally invited LAC countries to participate in the initiative in 2018, some were already informal participants. Panama became the first country to officially sign a BRI Memorandum of Understanding with China after breaking diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 2017. Since then, 20 of the 33 LAC countries have joined the BRI, with a few notable exceptions: Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico have received millions of investments in infrastructure projects from China but have yet to officially sign on.
There are, of course, concerns about how the BRI may affect Latin America and the Caribbean. Some analysts fear that increased Chinese investment could put some nations in a “debt trap,” where they become excessively dependent on Chinese loans with little hope of repaying them. In the West, many view the BRI as a “Trojan horse;” a way to subvert Western hegemony and spread China’s development model, threatening U.S. interests in BRI-participating countries. Concerns have also been raised regarding the environmental effects of several planned infrastructure projects.
Since the program’s launch, China has invested billions of dollars in infrastructure projects throughout the LAC region, including developing roads in Costa Rica, railways in Argentina, and a port in Trinidad and Tobago. Figures from the World Economic Forum show that as of 2021, infrastructure investments accounted for $26 billion in foreign investment from China.
Some notable works include: the second-longest bridge in Latin America, a $1.4 billion project in Brazil that generated 7,000 jobs; China National Nuclear Corporation’s $7.9 billion nuclear powerplant in Argentina, which generated 9,000 jobs; the $1.4 billion Puente sobre el Canal de Panamá, the fourth bridge over the Panama Canal, generating 4,500 jobs; $1.8 billion in the manufacturing of Mexico City metros; and the construction of 5G networks across the region by Chi-
na-based tech company Huawei.
In terms of trade, figures from the World Economic Forum reveal that China is now LAC’s second-largest trading partner after the United States. In the early 2000s, trade between China and LAC was relatively modest, with the Chinese market accounting for less than two percent of LAC exports (totaling $12 billion). By 2021, trade with China reached a whopping $450 billion, accounting for 18 percent of LAC exports, and experts predict that it could exceed $700 billion by 2035. “Even in the cases where countries do not have diplomatic ties with China, the presence of China is growing in terms of trade, investment, infrastructure, and financing,” says Dussel Peters. In Miami, China is the largest source of imports, valued at $7 billion in 2022.
In addition to the infrastructure buildouts, Chinese loans and overseas foreign direct investment (OFDI) have ballooned in the region. Between 2005 and 2020, the Export-Import Bank of China and the state-owned China Development Bank collectively lent Latin American governments $137 billion, mostly to finance infrastructure and energy projects. According to the World Economic Forum, China’s largest borrower, Venezuela, has taken out loans from China totaling $62 billion since 2007. China is
Even in the cases where countries do not have diplomatic ties with China, the presence of China is growing in terms of trade, investment, infrastructure, and financing.
DR. ENRIQUE DUSSEL PETERS, PROFESSOR AT THE NATIONAL AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITY OF MEXICO’S GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS
also a voting member of the Caribbean Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.
Both critics and supporters view the BRI as an extreme shift in China’s international strategy – though Dussel Peters notes that, “This has been going on for 20-plus years, from trade to financing to investments to infrastructure projects… this is an ongoing process and – note the irony – this has been going on in the United States’ backyard.”
Indeed, records show that China has been heavily investing in infrastructure projects in LAC since the early 2000s. From 2005 to 2022, China invested in 192 infrastructure projects, creating 673,608 jobs. Its momentum has actually been recently declining as global disruptions continue to impact China’s economy. Nonetheless, relations with China have played an important part in the economic growth of LAC.
In the case of Peru, economic ties with China have been significant. The relationship has historically been centered around the mining sector, and Peru has been the top location for Chinese mineral investment in Latin America. Chinese firms hold around 30 percent of the country’s total mining
investment portfolio.
The downside has been concern by Peruvians over the exploitation of the country’s natural resources and the environmental impact of these projects. One example is the Marcona Mine project, the first Chinese mine in South America and the largest iron ore producer in Peru, developed by Chinese company Shougang Hierro Perú SAA. It’s one of the most divisive projects in the country, with stacks of lawsuits alleging labor and environmental law violations, and the use of unethical practices to meet demand.
With its BRI program, China is moving away from investing in fossil fuels and mining, however, and more into transportation. From 2015 to 2019, China invested in some 29 energy projects in the LAC region. From 2020 to 2021, that number had dropped to 13.
As for the “debt trap” concerns, LAC’s foreign debt is mainly with the U.S., Europe, Japan, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank. According to Dussel Peters’ research, debt to China has yet to become a huge concern in LAC, and because loan conditions have made it difficult for LAC countries to increase debt from the IMF or World Bank, these nations are welcoming Chinese investments.
Will LAC countries be forced to
choose between the U.S. and China? Doubtful. The presence of both countries is important for trade and investment. “The United States is still an unquestionable point of reference, culturally, politically, financially, and economically. But again, the reemergence of China has to be acknowledged,” says Dussel Peters.
As for Miami, the impact of China’s BRI on the city is likely to be mixed. On the one hand, increased Chinese investment in Latin America could lead to more trade and business opportunities for Miami-based companies. On the other hand, as China continues to expand its presence in Latin America, it could potentially dent Miami’s influence as a hub for trade and finance in the region. Overall, the impact of China’s BRI on Miami is difficult to predict, but the project is likely to have significant implications for U.S. relations with the LAC region. l
MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’S HIGH-FLYING EXPANSION
RALPH CUTIÉ, MIA DIRECTOR AND CEO
Photo by Rodolfo Benitez
BY KYLIE WANG
In early February, a group of about 30 people gathered at Miami International Airport (MIA) for a press conference. They were herded through an expedited security line and up a short escalator to a small platform between floors. As passengers headed to and from the Skytrain on the floor above, the entourage assembled to watch Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and a band of county and airport VIPs announce MIA’s latest success – in 2022, Miami’s airport had surpassed 50 million passengers for the first time in its history.
“Two years after the pandemic devastated the travel industry, your hometown airport is now leading the state of Florida and the United States in multiple travel categories,” Levine Cava announced to a round of applause. She was followed by Ralph Cutié, the airport’s director and CEO, County Commissioner Roberto J. Gonzalez, and J.C. Liscano, the vice president of American Airlines’ Miami hub, among others. The band of observers, members of the press among them, then ate slices of the “50 Million” cake and went home.
It was a relatively small event for a such a large accomplishment. With 50.6 million passengers last year, MIA cemented its position as Florida’s largest economic generator, surpassing Orlando’s airport by half a million passengers for the first time in six years and shattering the previous pre-pandemic record set in 2019 by 10 percent.
“Those 50.6 million passengers represent far more than just another number,” Levine Cava said. “These are millions of guests in our community who are supporting our hotels, our restaurants, our shopping centers, and other businesses – and, most importantly, creating jobs right here in Miami-Dade County.”
Somehow, some way, MIA figured out the formula for post-pandemic success. Much of that credit lies in the hands of Ralph Cutié, who took the reins in 2021 and helped steer the airport out of one of the most challenging periods in its history. MIA came out the other side with an ongoing 15-year, $7 billion-plus capital improvement program that includes over 150 projects, a planned vertically integrated cargo facility (negotiations are ongoing), a VIP terminal (expected in 2026), and 15 new carriers (12 passenger and three cargo) since 2020.
MIA is now the number two airport in the U.S. for international passengers and ranks eighth in total passengers. It’s within the top 25 for both of those categories worldwide. So how did it reach 50.6 million passengers in only a year of post-pandemic recovery? Two words: Low-cost carriers.
“[During the pandemic], many carriers either stopped operating or reduced their flights considerably, which opened up an enormous opportunity for low-cost carriers,” says MIA’s Director of Marketing and Air Service Development Emir Pineda. Historically, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport has been the premier low-cost carrier destination airport in South Florida, but Pineda says MIA’s new business model, implemented right before the pandemic, turned the tide in its favor. “Before COVID, low-cost carriers represented about 2.5 percent [of carriers at MIA],” Pineda says. “Today, they represent between 13 and 15 percent.”
The agent of change was simple: The airport began using preferential gates over common ones. Preferential gates are used exclusively by a single carrier, meaning that large carriers like American Airlines, which runs multiple flights per day, don’t have to move their planes around a full terminal, but
can just cruise right up to their established gates. This allows them to turn around flights much quicker – “a great advantage,” according to Pineda.
Low-cost carriers, which often do a lot of turnovers per day, were intrigued. “All of a sudden, we had the interest of Southwest, JetBlue, Spirit, and low-cost carriers in Latin America that looked at Miami as a new destination point,” Pineda says. “We saw a huge growth in the domestic travel market.” Frontier Airlines, another budget airline which had already been in service at MIA, increased their flights as well.
Preferential gates are usually reserved for domestic airlines, since they have the most flights; to be a candidate for one, you have to run five or more per day. It’s a much better business plan than using “slots,” Pineda says, where carriers are given a specific time to get to the airport and missing that time can mean there is no room left for the aircraft.
The system also helps manage capacity issues like how many ticket counters are available at a given time, and what Pineda calls the TSA checkpoint “bottleneck.” The expanded facilities, as well as the software to monitor and expedite the flow of passengers,
All of a sudden we had the interest of Southwest, JetBlue, Spirit, and low-cost carriers in Latin America that looked at Miami as a new destination point. We saw a huge growth in the domestic travel market.
EMIR PINEDA, DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AND AIR SERVICE DEVELOPMENT, ON THE DECISION TO GIVE CARRIERS THEIR OWN PREFERENTIAL GATES.
are part of MIA’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP), which is estimated to be fully completed in 2038, 15 years from now.
The CIP is wide-ranging, with some projects bigger than others. Many of the larger ones have multiple phases. But, says Director and CEO Cutié, the three most important are the South Terminal expansion, the extension of the D60 section within the North Terminal, and the redevelopment of the Central Terminal.
The South Terminal expansion, or Concourse K, will add another six international gates, more space for concessions, and larger lounge spaces, the latter of which are in “big demand in the industry right now,” according to Cutié. The new international gates are a necessity considering MIA’s projected growth of 77 million passengers by 2040, a good percentage of which will come from overseas. The South Terminal expansion includes 11 distinct projects, the last of which should be completed by the end of 2029.
The extension of D60 includes expanding both the building and the ramp area of the North Terminal, which is where
most regional traffic flies from. “Many of the flights to our national and state capitals of Washington [D.C.] and Tallahassee go out of the D60 area,” Cutié says. “It’s an older section of the terminal. The ceilings are low, and you have to go outside for all the flights.” Currently in D60, there are no “contact gates,” the bridges passengers use to board planes, which means travelers have to board the plane outside via a staircase, exposed to the elements. “The new version of D60, which is currently in conceptual design, would potentially include approximately 17 contact gates,” Cutié says. “It’s [going to be] a much nicer facility; two or three stories, glass-enclosed, really beautiful.”
The third major project in the CIP is the two-phase redevelopment of the Central Terminal which, at 60-plus years, is the oldest in the airport. “I compare it to ‘The Wizard of Oz,’” Cutié says. “You’re Dorothy, and you go back to Kansas, and everything becomes black and white. That’s Central Terminal. If you go from North or South Terminal into Central, you can tell there’s a difference. That’s the part that needs the most tender loving care.” Currently, the project is moving into the design solicitation phase and is expected to cost over $700 million alone.
Other ventures are what Cutié refers to as “enabling projects” that help with the operation of improvements to come. In total, the 150 or so projects of the CIP will cover everything from new gates to upgraded parking facilities to the modernization of bathrooms and more. There will be demolitions, relocations, and construction galore. All of this to manage that magic number of 77 million projected passengers by 2040.
With more passengers comes a need for more amenities as well, which is why the airport is also planning to build two new hotels as part of the CIP. One, a publicprivate partnership between the airport and a hotel operator, is set to be awarded within the next few months, likely to FDR Miami Hotel LLC. It will include stateof-the-art facilities with 451 rooms, an 18,000-square-foot business and conference center, a four-star restaurant, and a rooftop swimming pool. The other, a slightly more economical option, will be built later in the CIP schedule. In addition, the current hotel on the airport’s property will also be given its own renovations, bringing MIA’s total to three on-site hotels.
At the apex of the airport’s amenity upgrades is a project outside of the Capital
The new version of D60, which is currently in conceptual design, would potentially include approximately 17 contact gates. It’s going to be a much nicer facility; two or three stories, glass-enclosed, really beautiful.RALPH CUTIÉ, MIA DIRECTOR AND CEO, TALKING ABOUT THE D60 IMPROVEMENTS. TOP PHOTO: THE AMERICAN AIRLINES HUB AT MIA
WORLD U.S.
INTERNATIONAL PASSENGERS...... #2 #24
TOTAL PASSENGERS..................... #8 #14
INTERNATIONAL FREIGHT............. #1 #7
TOTAL FREIGHT............................ #3 #7
TOTAL CARGO (FREIGHT + MAIL)... #3 #7
TOTAL OPERATIONS...................... #8 #8
9TH BUSIEST AIRPORT WORLDWIDE (CARGO & PASSENGER OPERATIONS)
Improvement Program: the new VIP suites. Developed by Private Suite, the company which already operates such VIP comforts at LAX, the new service will streamline travel for those willing to pay the $4,850 price tag for membership. “It’s somewhere between regular commercial travel and flying a private jet,” Cutié says. “You show up, they valet park your car, and then you go inside where you’ll be treated like royalty. You’ll have whatever food and drinks you want, you can lay out and relax, take a nap, take a shower, go to the spa. Most importantly, you can clear TSA and Customs there. And if you have checked bags, they’ll get them to the plane. When it comes time for you to go, they’ll drive you in a limousine on the tarmac to the door of your plane. It takes away all the headaches.”
The suites will be in the old Pan Am headquarters building on 36th Street, which Private Suite is going to renovate on its own dime. The project, which will cost the county nothing, is projected to bring in at least $16 million to the airport from rent and revenues over the course of Private Suite’s 20-year lease, and up to $60 million if all goes well. “It’s a cool project because it’s in a building that wasn’t occupied,” says Cutié. “Nobody was there, and we weren’t making any money on it.”
The plans were approved by the airport’s board about a month and a half ago and the project is now in the design phase, expected to break ground within a year. Private Suite is further incentivized to complete construction quickly by a clause in its contract with the airport that penalizes the company if they take longer than three years to finish.
In the midst of all of this are the ongoing negotiations on the Vertically Integrated Cargo Community (VICC), a project that was proposed to the county by a privately held company in 2020. Once those plans are finalized and approved by the Board of County Commissioners, the project can move forward. When completed, MIA will have the United States’ first vertically integrated cargo facility, which will potentially double its cargo capacity and satisfy cargo demand for the next 25 years. MIA is already No. 1 in the U.S. and No. 7 in
the world for international freight but is rapidly outgrowing its facilities, despite $70 million-plus expansions from both DHL and FedEx in the last few years.
Cargo has been an important part of MIA’s post-pandemic recovery, in large part due to the airport’s unique ability to handle medicinal perishables. In 2015, MIA was named a “pharma hub” by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), only the second airport in the world to receive the certification due to its extensive “cold-chain” network. “Cargo has always been very valuable, but it really delivered tremendous value during the pandemic,” says Lars Pottgiesser,
IATA’s head of business development for the Americas. “First, it was transporting supplies and medical equipment, then medical workers and vaccines. Miami having excellent cargo facilities, that obviously played a key role in its recovery.”
The VICC will propel MIA even further in the international cargo realm. During Cutié’s State of the Ports address in late 2022, when he announced the project, he noted that the airport’s current cargo infrastructure would be approaching its capacity this decade.
Pottgiesser further posits cargo as the reason for most airport recoveries worldwide, adding that “Miami did particularly well,” partly because it has so much connectivity with Latin America. “Latin America was one of the first regions to recover from COVID, so I think that positioned Miami well,” he explains. Also helpful was Miami’s proximity to Mexico, where restrictions on international flights were never imposed during the pandemic.
In comparison to other airports, Pottgiesser says the growth from MIA in recent years is highly impressive, certainly “not to be expected.” Miami is taking full advantage of its geographic location, he says, similar to
hubs like Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) or Panama City’s Tocumen International Airport (PTY), which are also positioned, similarly to Miami, in a way that encourages connectivity between regions.
In the U.S., though Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, and Chicago continue to handle more passengers on a yearly basis, Miami’s growth is arguably more impressive due to its lack of space. “You can’t expand runways, you can’t go anywhere, so it needs to be as efficient as possible,” Pottgiesser says. “Other airports’ growth potential is limitless due to their large geographic footprints. But the advantage that MIA has is that, even with traffic today, it takes around 30 or 35 minutes to get there from Downtown Miami. To get from Downtown Atlanta [to the airport], for instance, takes you more than an hour. So, MIA is really making the best out of the landlock it has, which is quite impressive. In the end, both the passenger and MIA win.”
The other advantage Miami has is the sheer number of unique airlines that operate out of MIA. Currently, there are 99 passenger and cargo airlines going through Miami, just one shy of where the airport was pre-pandemic in February 2020. At that time, 100 was the most among all U.S. airports.
If Miami has one obvious weakness it’s the airport’s lack of connectivity to Asia,
due to the enormous distance. But, with the advent of new aircraft like the Airbus A319, some airlines are now launching longer flights. Jetblue, which flies nine flights out of MIA every day, can now make it all the way to Paris or Amsterdam without having to stop for a layover in London, for instance. And Japan Airlines is already considering a direct route to Tokyo from MIA. “It’s just a matter of time,” according to Pottgiesser.
Could that sentiment also be applied to MIA overtaking Atlanta as the busiest airport in the world? With each year, it becomes likelier. l
First, it was transporting supplies and medical equipment, then medical workers and vaccines. Miami having excellent cargo facilities, that obviously played a key role in its recovery.LARS POTTGIESSER (SECOND FROM THE RIGHT), IATA’S HEAD OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT FOR THE AMERICAS, ON THE RECOVERY AFTER COVID
Over 350 people representing the legal, business and civic community joined us on Thursday, May 18, 2023 at the magnificent Rubell Museum for the Fourteenth Annual Heart of Giving Celebration and Judicial Reception. The 2023 Equal Justice Leadership Award was presented to Alan Greer, Esq., former Miami partner at Day Pitney LLP and the 2023 Equal Justice Humanitarian Leadership Award was presented to Dr. Pedro “Joe” Greer, Dean of the Roseman University College of Medicine for their pursuit of justice.
Thank you to all our amazing sponsors and supporters for making our celebration such a great success and for their continuing efforts to Build a Community of Equal Justice!
BY KATELIN STECZ
When former NBA player Baron Davis, pictured above, stepped out of his car and strolled into the Santa Monica Municipal Airport, he was greeted with a bottle of water and a comfortable place to sit. After relaxing in the lobby for 15 minutes, he boarded one of Verijet’s Cirrus Vision Jets and then took a two-hour nap. When Davis woke up, he was in Salt Lake City, his car service waiting to take him to All-Star Weekend.
If Davis had decided to fly commercially, he would’ve had to arrive at LAX two hours before his flight and deal with airport crowds, potential flight delays, and the possibility of lost luggage. For the NBA record-holder and entrepreneur,
convenience, time savings, flexibility, and comfort are just a few of the reasons he chooses to fly private.
Before COVID hit, many travelers thought private aviation was something reserved for NBA players, celebrities, and the Jeff Bezoses of the world. When commercial airports turned into breeding grounds for the virus, however, a wider swath of travelers looked to private aviation for an escape.
Kevin Diemar, CEO of Unity Jets, says the pandemic drove many first-class passengers to reevaluate how they flew. “COVID introduced a lot of people to private aviation,” says Diemar. “I think there were a lot of people who had the financial means to fly privately but couldn’t justify the cost in the past.”
For most, private aviation seems out of reach, so it’s hard to believe that the words “private aviation” and “affordable” would appear in the same sentence. But, depending on what flavor of private aviation you choose, the price point might be more affordable than previously thought.
For the traveler looking for the best value, Unity Jets, one of the largest self-proclaimed wholesale brokerages in the country, prides itself on affordability. Unity leverages its relationships with operators to get clients the best prices. In terms of value, Diemar says his company is your best bet.
“Obviously, it’s still expensive to fly privately. I can’t eliminate the cost. But if you’re looking for value and experts in the business, there’s no team like ours,” the CEO says.
As a brokerage, Unity essentially does all the shopping for its clients. Need a plane for an impromptu golf trip this weekend?
Want your jet moved to a different departure airport? Bringing the family dog? Unity takes all of this into consideration and helps find the best jet for the client’s needs.
Diemar points out that his company differs from other large brokerages in that Unity doesn’t require the same long-term contracts or hefty financial obligations that many others do. There are no upfront membership costs and no peak day restrictions. And Diemar and his team’s collective knowledge of the aviation industry is an invaluable resource. Before founding Unity, Diemar was a sales executive at NetJets and worked with Marquis Jets.
“What I think is most important is we know who to do the shopping with and who to stay away from,” says Diemar. “We can do whatever you need. So, whether you take two trips a year or you take two trips a month, we’re still a good resource for you.”
Assuming it’s affordable, what about some of the other negatives, namely the huge carbon footprint private aircraft create? Richard Kane, the founder and CEO of Verijet, has a solution for that. He aims to show the industry that private aviation can be done in a way that’s less harmful to the environment, and he plans on doing this with smaller, better-designed aircraft.
Kane’s air taxi service exclusively offers the Cirrus Vision Jet for charter. This single-engine, single-pilot jet is lightweight (made from carbon fiber) and uses significantly less fuel than its twin-engine counterparts. According to Kane, on a flight from Santa Mon-
ica to Las Vegas, a Cirrus Vision Jet only uses 60 gallons of fuel – a Challenger uses 300.
Not only does Kane think the Cirrus Vision Jet will make private aviation more sustainable, he also believes that it makes it more accessible. Thanks to its ability to use short runways, the Cirrus can land at significantly more airports than commercial aircraft – about 5,400 airports across the country compared to roughly 500 for commercial aircraft. Additionally, the larger airports are where commercial jetliners land often get backed up and face “traffic jams,” so access to smaller airports also saves time.
Verijet currently has 23 jets for charter, and it recently expanded service to Central America, northern South America, and more of the Caribbean. The fixed rate is $4,000 an hour with a minimum of one hour, and Verijet’s jet card starts at $3,500 an hour.
Even being able to utilize all of the small airports around the nation, passengers can still face ground traffic. So, instead of sitting in traffic for hours and feeling your blood pressure rise, imagine soaring over lines of cars and landing in your backyard in the ultimate UberX of
If you type “private aviation Miami” in the Google search bar, you’re inundated with ad after ad for the “best company in private aviation.” When you finally click on a site, the barrage continues: fractional ownership, Part 91, Part 135, on-demand private charters, discounted empty-leg flight, etc., etc. Oftentimes, companies don’t disclose all their terms and pricing online. So, where does that leave consumers? How do they know which company is best for them?
It could take months to call every business in the industry and figure out which is best for each individual's needs. Luckily, private aviation expert Doug Gollan already has. His website, privatejetcardcomparisons.com, compares the raw data between aviation companies, sans marketing tactics. For an access fee of $250, that information can save customers from making an expensive mistake.
Most people are getting in our helicopters to save time, and you know for a lot of clients time is money...
ELI FLINT, PRESIDENT, FLEXJET (ABOVE)DOUG GOLLAN, PRIVATE AVIATION EXPERT ABOVE: PRIVATE JET LANDING IN MAIMI
the sky, a Flexjet helicopter.
Eli Flint, Flexjet’s private helicopter president, says that Flexjet’s new helicopter operation provides passengers the last mile transport from landing strip to backyard. And, depending on where you’re located, that last mile can be quite long.
“Most people are getting in our helicopters to save time, and for a lot of clients, time is money, so the fact that we have the flexibility to land in someone’s backyard is huge,” says Flint. While some of Flexjet’s clients use its helicopters for that last stretch home, some of them also take advantage of the helicopter’s 300 nautical mile range. “We’re breaking a lot of the stereotypes that come with helicopters. After people ride in one of our Sikorsky S76s, they realize how comfortable it can be,” says Flint, referring to its premium leather seats, teakwood and chrome accents, and sound-reducing blades. Flint says his helicopters are the same model used by the former Queen of England.
Flexjet currently offers its helicopter operation out of Miami, New York, and London. Helicopters can be chartered at about $9,500 an hour, or clients can invest in fractional ownership.
A large part of the private aviation industry revolves around chartering aircraft for business meetings and weekend jaunts, but frequent fliers might consider buying. However, navigating the market can be a herculean task. Enter Sam Lechtner, broker for L&L International Ltd.
As a broker, Lechtner’s job is to do the shopping for his clients. He spends his days searching for the best planes to buy as well as finding buyers that might be interested in his clients’ planes. On any given day, he’ll be on the phone for over eight hours and take close to 50 calls. For Lechtner, that’s just a part of L&L’s commitment to its clients. “When you think about it, we’re kind of like real estate agents. We help our clients sell planes when they’re ready to move on, and if they’re in the market for one, we help them find what they’re looking for at the best deal,” says Lechtner.
Like a home or any other major investment, of course, there are added responsibilities that come with ownership as opposed to renting or chartering, but those looking for convenience might find buying their own plane worth it. “With owning, of course, you have the headaches that come with ownership, but you’re not at the whim of a charter company. Your plane is always available,” says Lechtner. “It’s there when you need it, and it can go when you need to go.”
Lechtner also mentions that for passengers doing a lot of flying – over 150 hours a year for a ballpark estimate – owning a plane could be more cost-effective in the long run. And with ownership comes the added benefit of deducting the plane’s depreciation from taxable income.
When it comes to owning, there are a few things buyers should consider – particularly, how do they plan on operating their plane? Under the Federal Aviation Administration’s safety protocols, the private aviation industry is divided into two parts, Part 91 and Part 135.
Under Part 91, you’re operating your private plane for your own business or personal use. Your pilot and aircraft do not have to adhere to the more stringent rest requirements as in Part 135, which applies to charters. If buyers plan to offset some of the aircraft’s cost with charters, then Part 135 requires the aircraft to be better maintained and that pilot and crew have longer rest requirements.
Part 91 and Part 135 aside, buying an aircraft is a decision with a multitude of factors to consider. To avoid getting lost in the nuances of the industry, many buyers consult a brokerage company like L&L International.
Since 2019, the private aviation industry has seen massive growth, but Miami especially has witnessed the industry’s takeoff. Fabio Alexander Vasquez, the CEO of Executive Air Services, started his firm two decades ago at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport. At that time, the airport had a much different reputation than it does now. Vasquez references the Netflix documentary “Cocaine Cowboys” and says that after the Drug Enforcement Agency began to crack down at Opa-Locka, the airport began to see more legitimate business. “Opa-Locka was not what it is now. When I started, no one wanted to be there. It took a while before it started to be a location,” says Vasquez.
He notes that Miami’s “avenues of fun,” as well as its post-
With owning, of course, you have the headaches that come with ownership, but you’re not at the whim of a charter company. Your plane is always available...
SAM LECHTNER, (ABOVE) BROKER FOR L&L INTERNATIONAL LTD.
COVID boom and welcoming attitude toward business and corporate executives relocating here has boded well for the private aviation industry. “Miami has a lot going for it right now: Formula 1, the NBA Finals, our hockey team doing well, and now, in four years, we’re going to get the World Cup. All of this just brings more attention to Miami, which brings more high-net-worth individuals, and those individuals bring more airplanes.”
Vasquez is also quick to mention that Miami’s proximity to Latin America and its growing tech sector are huge draws for companies looking to tap into a new market. “Before, we were a destination. Now, we’re a place to do business,” says Vasquez.
Canada’s Bombardier, one of the largest producers of corporate aircraft in the world, is a testament to just how far private aviation has grown in Miami. Last year, the Montreal-based firm invested $100 million in a new 300,000-square-foot facility at the Opa-Locka airport. According to the company, its new facility will quadruple Bombardier’s maintenance footprint in Florida.
Bombardier will continue offering maintenance services at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, but its new location in Miami has expanded capabilities for quick and efficient maintenance, repair, and overhaul, including a paint shop. The facility can service more than 24 aircraft of various models, including some of Bombardier’s well-known business jets like the Learjet, Challenger, and Global aircraft.
“The U.S. is an important market for Bombardier, with close to 3,000 aircraft in our fleet, and this highly-efficient facility provides
This highly-efficient facility provides a key focal point for customers based in the area, and those who will visit from as far as Latin America...
a key focal point for customers based in the area and those who will visit from as far as Latin America,” said Éric Martel, president and CEO. Opa-Locka was chosen for Bombardier’s expansion because, “the city of Miami is a vibrant, international hub of business and commerce,” says Martel. The facility is set to provide around 300 jobs to Miami in the next five to seven years.
As private aviation continues to grow and thrive in Miami, it’s places like Opa-Locka and the convenience they provide (there is also Miami Executive Airport and Homestead General Aviation Airport) that will attract a slew of new corporate users, bring hundreds of high-paying jobs, further facilitate international commerce in Miami, and solidify its position as a truly international city. As Verijet’s Kane puts it, “A small airport close to the origin, a small airport close to the destination, no traffic jams. It’s that simple.” l
In today’s fast-paced market, the only way to close the gap with your trading partners is to improve the supply chain. To do this, you will need a group of dedicated, hardworking professionals with 40 years of experience in logistics and ocean transportation. You will need more than just excellent customer service. You will want to work with a company striving to be better and more innovative. At Seaboard Marine, your customers are closer because our customers are at the center of everything we do.
www.seaboardmarine.com
NORTH AMERICA CARIBBEAN CENTRAL AMERICA SOUTH AMERICA
PUNTA CANA FREE TRADE ZONE MASTER PLAN
As we all know, a key goal of both our public and private sectors is to position the Dominican Republic as the logistics hub of the Caribbean. We all agree that the concept of “nearshoring” and the attraction of foreign investment, is paramount for future economic success on a global level. We believe that the Dominican Republic is uniquely positioned to allow investors to efficiently produce products and ship their goods in a timely and less costly manner. This allows them to lower prices, create better supply streams, and restore the ability for companies to increase depth of product availability and delivery of services –which will be vital for multinationals to remain competitive on the global stage in the future.
There are a host of factors that are driving transnational corporations to reevaluate their supply chains: geopolitical risk, mitigation of risk through diversification of supply chains, the need for speed to market, lowering transportation and logistic costs, reduction of carbon footprint, and more. The Dominican Republic is well positioned to benefit from these trends. For companies that are interested in a stable, resilient, and reliable platform close to the United States, the Dominican Republic has much to offer:
• A dynamic and diversified economy with the fastest growth in all of Latin America over the last 50 years.
• Over 50 years of uninterrupted democratically elected governments.
• An open economy with free trade agreements providing duty free access to the United States, European Union, and Central America.
• Legal security with effective and binding protections for investors.
• World-class maritime ports with frequent connections to major destinations – four days sailing to Florida and the Southeastern United States
• Modern airports with the highest level of connectivity in the region, moving both people and cargo.
• Geographic proximity to the largest market in the world, the U.S.A.
• Public-private partnership and alignment with National Nearshore and Logistics Hub strategies.
• Significant fiscal incentives for investment in Free Trade Zones (nearshore) and Logistics Centers with un-rivaled connectivity throughout the region
As you will see in this special report, the Dominican Republic is a vibrant, diverse, and fast-growing economy, with modern infrastructure and a legal framework that provides transparency and certainty to foreign investors. If your company is considering restructuring your supply chains and logistical requirements, you should give the DR a closer look, and AMCHAMDR is here to help you in that process.
William Malamud Executive Vice President AMCHAMDRwmalamud@amcham.org.do
PUBLISHER
Richard Roffman
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
J.P. Faber
SENIOR VP INTERNATIONAL
Manny Mencia
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
Monica Del Carpio-Raucci
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
THE FUTURE OF THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Long a mecca for tourism in the Caribbean, the Dominican Republic is now poised to become the logistics hub for the region, as nearshoring takes off.
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ECONOMIC OUTLOOK: THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
With unparallel economic growth for decades, the Dominican Republic now strives to become the logistics center for the Caribbean, and a “nearshoring” powerhouse of the Americas.
Gail Feldman
DIRECTOR, SALES AND PARTNERSHIPS
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ART DIRECTOR
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The Dominican bank, Banreservas, is setting up in Miami, and the DR's largest cocoa producer, Rizek Cacao, has opened a store in New York.
GOING GLOBAL LIGHTS.. CAMERA.. ACTION!
The latest Jennifer Lopez movie was shot in the Dominican Republic, now one of the world’s hottest locations for filming, thanks to generous tax breaks.
64 84 86 90
Forget cigars and medical devices. For lovers of baseball, the most important export from the Dominican Republic is its baseball players.
CIRCULATION & DISTRIBUTION
CircIntel
BOARD OF ADVISORS
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EDITORIAL BOARD
Alice Ancona, World Trade Center Miami
Greg Chin, Miami International Airport
Paul Griebel, World Strategic Forum
Jerry Haar, Florida International University
James Kohnstamm, Beacon Council
John Price, Americas Market Intelligence
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Global Miami Magazine is published monthly by Global Cities Media, LLC. 1200 Anastasia Ave., Suite 217, Coral Gables, FL 33134. Telephone: (305) 452-0501. Copyright 2023 by Global Cities Media. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part of any text, photograph, or illustration without o\prior written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. Send address changes to subscriptions@ globalmiamimagazine.com. General mailbox email and letters to editor@globalmiamimagazine.com
BY CAROLINE O’CONNOR President of Business Operations @ The Miami Marlins
As the World Baseball Classic 2023 came to end, I looked back on a monumental tournament that put an international spotlight on Miami. I marveled over the on-field excitement, from Japan’s Shohei Ohtani and USA’s Mike Trout facing off for the first time to the life-changing inning for Nicaragua’s Duque Hebbert that landed him a deal with a Major League Baseball team.
Throughout the entire WBC, fans filled the ballpark with unmeasurable energy and passion for each of the respective countries competing. The World Baseball Classic scored record-breaking attendance in Miami, with more than 475,000 fans checking out the action in Miami alone, setting records overall and round-by-round in the United States. Game after game was sold out from start to finish - culminating with our largest crowd of the tournament for the finale.
The World Baseball Classic was a success for Miami. The numbers confirm this. All eyes were on Miami and this year’s WBC shattered tournament viewership, attendance, and merchandise records. More than 150,000 hotdogs were consumed at loanDepot park and championship gear sold out in an hour after the final game ended. We also saw the rising popularity of the Brightline Home Runner with nearly 5,000 riders taking advantage of the free shuttle from MiamiCentral to loanDepot park. The demand was so great we added shuttles for fans Opening Day to accommodate the West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, and Ft. Lauderdale riders. Those who couldn’t make the game were incredibly active on social media and watching on TV. And there was baseball-fever not just in Miami but throughout all participating 20 nations, with nearly 30% of fans attending coming from outside South Florida.
The stars also came out to show support for their home teams. WBC ambassador and international music icon Daddy Yankee was spotted around loanDepot park from the first pitch to the last out. Everyone wanted to check out the action - from Marc Anthony and Luis Fonsi cheering on Puerto Rico, along with South Florida pro athlete stars from the Miami Heat, Miami Marlins, Miami Dolphins, Inter Miami CF and more. It was amazing to see Marlins legends like Edgar Renteria, Livan Hernandez, Ivan Rodriguez with Miami legends like Dwyane Wade. Miami
I was fortunate to be inside loanDepot park for all 15 WBC games and experienced firsthand how impactful this tournament was for our city of Miami. Even if you only made it to one game, worked at the stadium, were a vendor who brought an aspect of the game to life, or a hotel or business that served thousands of visitors from outside South Florida, you know what I’m talking about. The WBC has set the tone for the beginning of baseball season and for years to come. A sixth WBC will come around again in 2026, and I think this year Miami more than put its best foot forward to again be a host city.
With the Miami Marlins season now in full gear, let’s keep the party going at loanDepot park. Whether it’s a family outing, a team building event for work or just a good old fashioned day out at the ballpark, we’re excited to see the South Florida community cheering on their very own Miami Marlins as we celebrate the team’s 30th anniversary. www.mlb.com/marlins/tickets
The World Baseball Classic scored record-breaking attendance in Miami, with more than 475,000 fans checking out the action in Miami alone, setting records overall and round-by-round in the United States.
First came agriculture, then manufacturing and next, tourism. Now, the fast-growing Dominican Republic, the Caribbean nation known for quality cigars, medical device exports, and all-inclusive resorts, is embarking on a new economic frontier: logistics.
Building on strong international air and sea links, the well-connected country has set a goal of becoming a regional logistics hub – to produce, store, and trans-ship goods for the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America, and even Europe. Key to the effort: A $200 million-plus investment at its busiest airport in Punta Cana, aimed to send more cargo in the belly of passenger planes.
This new frontier may sound ambitious, but the Dominican Republic has a remarkable track record. It’s the country with the strongest economic performance in Latin America and the Caribbean over the past 50 years,
With unparallel economic growth for decades, the DR now strives to become the logistics center for the Caribbean, and a “nearshoring” powerhouse of the Americas
according to the World Bank. Growth has been averaging about 5 percent yearly for decades, as the nation has become a manufacturing center and the No. 1 tourist destination in the Caribbean. Foreign investment keeps flowing in, thanks to stability, tax incentives, and a capable workforce.
The timing is ideal for a logistics hub now, says Dominican warehouse and transport expert Alexander Schad. As tensions mount between the U.S. and China, more companies selling to U.S. consumers have been shifting production out of Asia and into the Americas in a trend called “nearshoring.” Manufacturing has grown so much in the Dominican Republic in recent years that many producers now keep their supplies and finished goods in local warehouses instead of U.S. facilities. Some even ship direct from Dominican factories to U.S. customers these days, using a “just-intime” program, says Schad.
“The response time to the U.S. is shorter here, so you can make those shoes you need in size 8, in red, and get them within days, instead of the weeks it would take to ship from Asia,” says Schad, CEO of Frederic Schad, the largest Dominican logistics firm, employing 1,300 full and part-time staff – up about 40 percent in the past decade. “With quicker response times, you don’t lose sales.”
What’s more, tourism to the Dominican Republic keeps rising – hitting yet another record so far this year. That means more passenger planes are available to carry out exports like tropical fruits and electronics and to bring imports needed for new hotels, homes, offices, and industrial parks.
“The COVID-19 pandemic proved that you need logistics. The world is integrated and globalized, and people want things now, no matter what,” says Francesca Rainieri, chief financial officer at private Grupo Puntacana, which owns Punta Cana International Airport and is teaming up with Dubai’s DP World on the $200
million-plus investment. “And connectivity that’s close and direct reduces costs and time.”
The government and business community are united in the logistics push. President Luis Abinader, a data-driven economist and millionaire businessman who’s developed hotels and other ventures, is focused on modernization and efficiency to spur investment and grow the economy. His administration already has shifted customs documents online for 24/7 access, signed a new customs law to replace a decades-old one, and streamlined paperwork for investors, among other measures to help trade.
Customs Director Eduardo Sanz Lovaton, a business lawyer who left a top private law firm to join the administration in 2020, is working with ports to get cargo dispatched within 24 hours. He’s confident that as nearshoring and air freight grow, “we’ll be talking about logistics in the Dominican Republic next decade in the same way we talked about tourism 20 or 30 years back, as an important
The response time to the U.S. is shorter here, so you can make those shoes you need in size 8, in red, and get them within days, instead of the weeks it would take to ship from AsiaFREDERIC SCHAD, ABOVE, CEO OF FREDERIC SCHAD, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC'S LARGEST LOGISTICS FIRM PHOTO LEFT: PUNTA CANA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
The Bahamas
AREA: 18,704 square miles, about the size of Vermont and New Hampshire combined.
POPULATION: 11 million, similar to the population of Cuba.
ECONOMY: Total output (GDP) about $100 billion in 2022. Growth has averaged 5 percent yearly since 2000, the fastest in Latin America.
TOURISM: Top destination in the Caribbean, with 7.2 million air arrivals and 1.3 million cruise arrivals in 2022, a record. US is the top source of visitors. More than 86,000 hotel rooms.
FOREIGN INVESTMENT: $4 billion in 2022, a record, with the U.S. the biggest investor.
TRADE: The U.S. is the No. 1 trade partner and Florida the top partner within the U.S. The U.S. has had a free trade agreement with the Dominican Republic and Central America (DR-CAFTA) since 2007.
economic driver.”
Here’s a look at how this nation of 11 million people in the heart of the Caribbean became Latin America’s top economic performer, and at the economic pillars that support its plans to become a regional logistics hub, including connectivity, free-zone manufacturing, tourism, agriculture, and energy.
Ask executives how the Dominican Republic managed to outpace regional peers in economic growth over the past half-century, and most start with two words: democracy and stability. The country boasts uninterrupted democracy since the 1960s, with continuity in policy to attract foreign investment and increase exports. Protections for investors have been rising, says Bill Malamud, long-time executive vice president of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Dominican Republic, known as AmCham DR, one of the country’s largest and most respected business associations.
“There’s no political party radically left or right,” so government works consistently with business to build the economy long-term, says Boston-raised Malamud, who’s married to a Dominican. “And with the U.S. as the top trade partner and more than two million Dominicans in the U.S., it’s probably the most pro-U.S. country in Latin America.”
Government embraces business, partly because the Dominican state doesn’t control oil or mining resources that could give it outsized weight in the economy, says Maximo Vidal, the Dominican banker who has lead Citibank for the Dominican Republic and Haiti since 2005. The country imports its fuel, and even its large gold mine is being developed not by the state but by a private company, Canada’s Barrick Gold. “Here in the Dominican Republic, 80
Here in the Dominican Republic, 80 to 85 percent of wealth is held by the private sector...MAXIMO VIDAL, DOMINICAN BANKER, HEAD OF CITIBANK IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
CARNIVAL CORP.
$70 MILLION-PLUS
Cruise port Amber Cove near Puerto Plata
Opened: 2015
MIAMI MARLINS
$15 MILLION-PLUS
Baseball academy in Boca Chica
Opened: 2022
CISNEROS GROUP
$250 MILLION-PLUS
Tropicalia resort, luxury real-estate in Miches
Opened: In Progress
KARISMA HOTELS
$130 MILLION-PLUS
Nickelodeon Hotels & Resorts
Punta Cana
Opened: 2016/20
Cabo Rojo (Cruise Port)
Puerto Plata (Cruise & Cargo Port)
*HIT Rio Haina Port
Capacity: 800,000 TEUs
Volume 2022: 500,000 TEUs
Loose Cargo: 8 million tons
Punta Cana International Airport
DP World Caucedo
Capacity: 2.5 million TEUs
Volume 2022: 1.6 million TEUs
Transits: 860,000 TEUs
to 85 percent of wealth is held by the private sector. We don’t have a PDVSA, Petrobras or Pemex,” says Vidal, referring to the state oil companies in Venezuela, Brazil, and Mexico that influence politics there. The Central Bank also acts independently, adding stability.
“I believe the Dominican Republic has the opportunity to double the size of our economy again in the next decade or so,” based on the strengths and new opportunities in logistics, tech, and other emerging sectors, says the veteran banker. “If we really want to do it, we can.”
The Dominican Republic is well-located for trade. It’s a two-hour flight to Miami and many cities in Central America and northern South America, three or four days by ship to Miami and regional Latin American cities, and near the Panama Canal, allowing goods shipped from Asia to be unloaded and sent on to other ports.
But location is not enough to build a logistics hub. What’s needed are frequent flights and sailings, so shippers have options to get cargo in and out regularly and travelers have lots of transport options as well, according to Erik Alma, CEO and chairman of Haina International Terminals, known as HIT or Rio Haina Port. HIT is the country’s busiest multi-purpose seaport for cargo, from electronics and grains to heavy equipment and containerized freight.
Alma says the Dominican Republic has built up the necessary frequency in recent years, both at seaports and airports. “We have at least 30 shipping lines that call at HIT. Sixteen sailing options leave the port every week for the U.S., so you have this tremendous level of frequency and connectivity,” he says Alma, whose port next to Santo Domingo handles much of the freight for the nation’s
We have at least 30 shipping lines that call at HIT. Sixteen sailing options leave the port every week for the U.S...
ERIK ALMA, CHAIRMAN OF HAINA INTERNATIONAL TERMINALS, KNOWN AS HIT.Santo Domingo
industrial free-zones.
Punta Cana International Airport has so many flights – more than 500 per week – that it now ranks as the second busiest tourist airport in the greater Caribbean, trailing only Mexico’s Cancun. Last year, Punta Cana handled eight million-plus passengers in and out, with direct flights to 90 destinations across the Americas, Europe, and beyond.
In all, the Dominican Republic has eight international airports and 12 cargo seaports that together handle $30 billion-plus in trade annually. The two busiest seaports, Rio Haina Port and DP World Caucedo, have invested more than $400 million in recent years to expand and modernize, adding new cranes and inspection machines, for instance. While HIT focuses more on shorter routes, Caucedo mostly handles containers for longer-hauls, often trans-shipping freight arriving from Asia onto Europe.
Seaports developed their strong connectivity partly because of the boom in manufacturing for export in free zones, which offer exporters exemptions from import duties and taxes. The zones took off in the 1980s when their job count reached 100,000. Back then, most parks sewed clothes for U.S. sale, from Dockers to T-shirts.
Today, nearly 200,000 people work in 80-plus free zones nationwide, sending more than $7 billion in goods overseas yearly and providing such export services as modern call centers. Medical devices are the top export product, and even apparel makers in freezones have become more sophisticated.
HanesBrands, which started sewing operations in free zones in the 1980s, for example, built the largest textile mill in the Domini-
It’s not just big global airlines developing tourism, cargo, and logistics in the Dominican Republic. There’s a new local player that’s rapidly expanding routes in Latin America and aims to enter the U.S. market to serve Puerto Rico, New York, and Miami.
In the making for 10 years, low-cost carrier Arajet began operations in September. The Santo Domingo-based airline has already flown more than 180,000 passengers to 17 destinations in Central and South America, Mexico, and the Caribbean, says founder and CEO Victor M. Pacheco Mendez, formerly with charter operator Dominican Wings.
Arajet has funding from heavyweights Bain Capital, Griffin Asset Management, and others for “around $3 billion to guarantee a fleet of more than 40 aircraft in five years,” Pacheco says. It now operates five new, leased Boeing 737 MAX-8 aircraft, equipped with more fuel-efficient and quieter CFM LEAP-1B engines. Plans call for doubling the fleet to 10 aircraft by the end of this year.
So far, about 60 percent of Arajet passengers are Dominicans at homeland and abroad, with Colombia and Mexico the busiest routes. “Our main goal is to operate 17 destinations in the U.S.,” Pacheco says. “We are waiting for the Dominican Republic and U.S. governments to sign an Open Skies treaty that will provide Arajet with a series of conditions that we need as an ultra-low-fare airline.” With Florida a top spot for Dominicans and for tourists to the Caribbean, it hopes to start up in Miami later this year.
Pacheco says his biggest challenge is managing costs to keep fares low, a practice that requires his team monitor seasonal demand and juggle both point-to-point service and connecting flights. “We are working tirelessly to evolve,” says Pacheco, “and turn the Dominican Republic in the new lowcost, connecting hub in the region.” l
Medtronic. Eaton. Timberland. Fruit of the Loom. Baxter. Rockwell Automation. The list of manufacturers in the Dominican Republic’s 70-plus “free-zones” reads like a who’s who of global brands, and many are expanding now to provide “nearshoring” for buyers in the Americas.
Consider Medtronic, the world’s largest medical device maker. The Minneapolis-based company reported revenues topping $31 billion worldwide in 2022. Medtronic started in the San Isidro Free Zone in 1998 to produce sutures. Today, it employs some 4,300 people at four Dominican plants –roughly half of them, women – making varied items. Its total investment in those plants: more than $160 million, with $46 million for the latest one that opened in 2018.
“We chose the Dominican Republic for two important factors: a highly skilled workforce … and the political-economic stability of the country,” country manager Manuela Uribe told a recent investment conference in Santo Domingo.
Eaton, the American-Irish electric equipment maker with sales topping $20 billion worldwide, has been operating in Dominican free zones since the 1980s and now employs more than 5,000 people in those plants. In 2022, Eaton opened an industry design and development center near its plants and the Technological Institute of Santo Domingo, aiming to serve Eaton customers across the Americas. The company has partnerships and internship programs with the Tech Institute and other local schools.
“We’re proud to be the first electrical manufacturer in the Dominican Republic with a dedicated hub for design innovation,” said Eaton’s engineering manager Luis Valeiron. The design center supports product development for Eaton’s key products lines, including industrial control equipment.
From Florida's Tampa Bay area, Oscor, a maker of medical diagnostic devices, is investing $10 million, aiming to boost employment at its Dominican plants to reach 1,500 people in 2024. l
can Republic to produce some of its own fabric locally. It also dyes, cuts, and sews cloth to make garments, employing thousands of workers. Today, its fabric mill runs partly on biomass, such as coconut shells and wood remnants, reducing the need for fuel imports, says Jerry Cook, vice president of government and trade relations for the North Carolina-based apparel powerhouse which has global sales topping $7 billion a year.
“The Dominican Republic has done so many things right,” Cook says. “They’ve built out apparel and textiles as they developed other industries [rather than] phase out apparel as some countries have. And they’ve been very purposeful to work with industry to provide what we need, administration after administration… There’s an idea of growth for the long-term, built on government, business, and people as partner. And everyone is focused on the future.”
That evolution is clear at Zona Franca de las Americas, located near Santo Domingo’s international airport and the sprawling DP World Caucedo seaport. Las Americas launched in 1986 and initially produced mostly clothes and shoes for export. It now hosts 35 factories employing 21,000 workers, with many companies making medical supplies such as dialysis and intravenous kits. The Dominican Republic produces so many medical goods that it’s now set up a facility to sterilize those items locally. “We no longer need to send those medical devices overseas for sterilization, saving time and money,” says Las Americas Free Zone project manager Luis Manuel Pellerano.
Bela G. Szabo, the new CEO at Las Americas Free Zone, sees future opportunities in attracting both more suppliers of current manufacturers and expanding into new industries, especially in automotive parts like Mexico has. At least one Japanese auto supplier is now considering the Dominican Republic to make auto parts for U.S. sale, government officials said after a recent trip to Japan and South Korea that promoted nearshoring. The Las Americas Free Zone also is diversifying revenues by welcoming more tenants that
World Trade Center Miami, the largest and oldest trade association in Miami, is part of the World Trade Center Association global business network of 315 World Trade Centers in 92 countries with over two million members.
Whether your business is looking to find your next customer, expand to international markets or make global connections we have the resources, services and decades of expertise to successfully grow your bottom line.
• The annual Americas Food and Beverage Show now in its 27th year – the ideal meeting place for decision makers and buyers from all sectors of the global food and beverage industry.
• The Air Cargo Americas Show, now in its 17th year, held bi-annually, brings together top executives from all sectors of the aviation and logistics industry.
• The Supply Chain Americas Conference is held annually and in conjunction with the Air Cargo Americas Show is one of the leading events focused on innovation and resiliency in the global supply chain.
• Americas Food & Beverage Show: September 18-20, 2023 Miami Beach Convention Center
• Air Cargo Americas/Supply Chain Americas Show & Conference: October 31-November 2, 2023
• State of the Ports: November 2023
A giant in all-inclusive resorts, the Dominican Republic was hardly a player in cruising a decade ago. But that all changed when Miami-based Carnival Corp. joined with the country’s Rannik Group to develop Amber Cove, the cruise port in Puerto Plata on the nation’s north coast that opened in 2015.
Carnival Corp. invested more than $70 million in the cruise port, lured by easy access from Miami, links to existing cruise routes, beautiful landscapes nearby, and “the people: some of the nicest you can meet,” says Juan Fernandez, vice president of operations strategy for global port and destination development.
Last year, Amber Cove welcomed more than 700,000 cruise passengers (plus 300,000 crew), making up more than half of all cruise arrivals in the country. “A lot of our guests spend the entire day at our port,” which offers restaurants, shops, a swim-up bar, over-the-water caban as, and a zipline, he says. The 25-acre facility employs 120 people directly and 800 more indirectly, from restaurant servers to taxi drivers.
Carnival Corp. now is adding solar panels to produce the bulk of energy used at Amber Cove, and it’s bullish on the Dominican Republic. “We feel the government is very pro-business,” says Fernandez. “And that’s a huge benefit.”
The government is building a new cruise port in the country’s southwest: a $100 million-plus venture at Ped ernales-Cabo Rojo. Designed to handle 1 million visitors a year, it will be run by the Dominican Port Authority with Mexico’s ITM Group, which also manages cruise ports at Mexico’s Costa Maya in the Yucatan and Dominican Republic’s Taino Bay in Puerto Plata. Among companies planning to call at Pedernales starting 2024: Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line. DR President Luis Abinader says the new port will help his nation become “the cruise hub of the Caribbean.” l
(US$ million)
(US$ million)
Source: ProDominicana market data, Central Bank data
Also expanding is Miami-based Karisma Hotels & Resorts, which operates three of its 23 properties worldwide in the Dominican Republic. Karisma owns Nickelodeon Hotels & Resorts Punta Cana, a luxury, all-inclusive complex for families, with 460 suites and a villa called the Pineapple, inspired by SpongeBob Square Pants’ home. It also runs Margaritaville Island Reserve Cap Cana’s two luxury, all-inclusives: Hammock for families and Waves for adults-only, together offering 500-plus rooms and 40 villas.
Karisma plans two more Dominican hotels, though details have not been released. “The biggest surprise of doing business in the Dominican Republic has been how friendly the government is to the hospitality industry. They have some fantastic programs that encourage investment and fuel the industry,” says Frank Maduro, president of Miami-based Premier Worldwide Marketing, the sales and marketing representative for Karisma. He suggests investors “lean on” government incentives to grow.
All those hotel rooms need air lift for guests, and that’s where the private Punta Cana International Airport comes in. About 15 years ago amid global recession, Grupo Puntacana began suggesting that passenger airlines add cargo to boost their revenues, taking out tropical fruits and flowers and bringing in needed hotel supplies. “It started because we wanted to make sure the airlines didn’t take away routes” in tough times for tourism, says CFO Rainieri.
Now, the group is taking that idea further by partnering with DP World to launch Punta Cana Free Trade Zone and Logistics
Hub at the airport, an area that will provide space for warehouses, manufacturing, call centers, tech ventures, and even a maintenance operation for commercial jets. The plan is to handle not just cargo made in, or bound for, the Dominican Republic, but also to offer the airport’s connectivity to regional neighbors, likely flying out fruit and flowers from Colombia and Ecuador to the U.S. or Europe.
“We want to make this hub the most efficient, with the highest standards,” teaming with seaports for those shippers who want to combine more expensive, faster air links with slower, more affordable sea routes, says Rainieri. “We’re building on our business foundation step by step.”
Grupo Puntacana is stoking demand for freight too. It just bought land in Miches for two major resorts and plans several, ultra-luxury boutique hotels on its original property. For local workers, it’s building a community with 20,000 units of affordable housing “that we don’t make a penny on, in a social-responsibility project to ensure the area is sustainable and improves quality of life,” says Rainieri.
At airports and seaports nationwide, perishables are central to logistics. Long before tourism took off, agriculture sustained the economy, especially its “dessert” exports of sugar, coffee, tobacco, and cacao. The country remains one of the world’s top exporters of premium cigars ($1 billion-plus yearly), but agriculture has shifted
more toward non-traditional fruits for export, such as avocados and papayas sold in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and beyond.
“Non-traditional agriculture really expanded with the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DRCAFTA) with the United States,” says Malamud of the AmChamDR. That accord that took effect in 2007 and eliminated most duties on Dominican sales to the U.S. market. “Avocados, tomatoes, cucumbers, mangoes – anything you can grow in a greenhouse – the country now produces for export,” he says. Dominican sales got an indirect boost too, when the U.S. government provided technical assistance to help develop refrigerated capabilities known as “coldchain” to facilitate farm exports to U.S. consumers.
The Dominican Republic has trade accords similar to DRCAFTA with some 50 nations, including in the European Union, the United Kingdom, and in the Caribbean Community, easing sales of local goods abroad, says ProDominicana, the government’s organization to promote exports and investments. Under President Abinader, the agency is looking beyond helping individual companies and instead promoting a broader portfolio at trade shows.
“With our new strategic approach, we center our efforts on understanding how we can improve services that the country offers investors. We’re looking to expedite processes, avoid duplicate procedures, and offer greater security in regulatory matters,” says ProDominicana Director Biviana Riveiro, a business attorney. That approach helped launch the new One-Stop Investment Window and online registration for investments, among other initiatives for agriculture and industry, she says. The country also touts improving infrastructure, from solar energy parks and high-speed internet to new highways and Santo Domingo’s expanding subway network.
To be sure, there are hurdles to becoming a regional logistics hub, such as staffing. Business leaders see weakness in Dominican public education, including English-language skills. There’s already a need for more logistics specialists, sparking this year’s launch of a National Institute of Port and Logistics Training, says HIT chief Alma.
As the logistic hubs evolve and more Dominican factories enter e-commerce chains with the U.S., “the challenge is to do quick-turn business and build out the logistics model,” enhancing digital links and information flows, adds HanesBrands’ Cook.
Regional competition also abounds. Yet logistics specialist Schad sees a clear advantage for the Dominican Republic over its neighbors: market size. No other Caribbean or Central American neighbor has the critical mass of 11 million residents, 8 million-plus tourists yearly, and 80-plus free-zones producing exports. “And what’s behind our strong, growing market is Dominican joy,” says Schad, “a positive attitude and smiles that attract not only tourists but investors.”
Grupo Puntacana’s Rainieri points to the COVID-19 pandemic as an example of how the country meets challenges. Thanks to aggressive vaccinations, safety protocols, and strong public-private cooperation, the Dominican Republic was among the first to reopen to tourism in 2020 and quickly set new records for passenger arrivals, earning recognition from the World Tourism Organization. “The Dominican people are resilient. We’re looking for solutions,” says Rainieri. “And we’re in our best moment now, because everyone is aligned and working together to help grow and develop the country,” with logistics as the latest international frontier. l
Foreign investment is a two-way street, and these days, top Dominican companies are setting up overseas as well. Among them: the country’s largest commercial bank and its biggest producer of cocoa.
Banco de Reservas, the 82-year-old bank known as Banreservas, is setting up in Miami, part of an effort to facilitate links with the Caribbean nation, especially money sent back by Dominicans living abroad.
The state-owned bank opened its first overseas office in January in Spain, the center of the Dominican diaspora in Europe. It now awaits U.S. government approvals to open in New York and Miami, home to the largest Dominican communities in the U.S., says Banreservas administrator Samuel Pereyra.
Dominicans overseas play a significant role in their homeland’s success, sending back billions of dollars a year to family and friends and often buying second-homes or investment properties in the country. Their remittances often come when Dominican families need them most, for example, during the COVID-19 pandemic when tourism halted briefly and then took months more to recover. Remittances in 2021 topped $8 billion and rose to $10 billion last year, according to government data.
In Miami, Banreservas plans to open a representative office on Brickell Avenue near the long-time Dominican consulate. Besides remittances, the office will help with mortgages on Dominican properties and payments to Dominican exporters, among other services – often saving folks a trip back to the Caribbean for paperwork. The actual banking behind the services will be done in Dominican Republic.
In New York, the Banreservas office is slated for Washington Heights, an area in upper Manhattan where many Dominicans live. In all, the U.S. is home to more than 2 million people born in the Dominican Re-
public or of Dominican heritage, making the group the fifth largest among U.S. Latinos.
New York is home to the first overseas locale for Rizek Cacao, the largest Dominican producer and exporter of cocoa, or cacao in Spanish, the main ingredient in chocolate. The family business opened a shop in Brooklyn to sell its certified organic chocolates, and keeps a warehouse to offer beans, cocoa butter, and other cacao ingredients to fellow artisanal chocolate makers.
The family’s story parallels how the Dominican economy has progressed – from farming to manufacturing, tourism, and logistics. It began in the early 1900s when two brothers from Palestine moved to the Dominican Republic, seeking opportunity.
Banco de Reservas, known as Banreservas, is setting up in Miami in an effort to facilitate links with the Caribbean nation. The state owned bank is awaiting U.S. government approval to open.
They started out buying and selling rice, cocoa, and other farm products domestically, and later began farming the trees that produce cacao. Back then, exports of cocoa were reserved for strongman Rafael Trujillo, who ruled the nation from 1930 until 1961.
In the 1970s, Rizek Cacao became the country’s largest cocoa producer and top exporter of dried cocoa beans, selling to large chocolate makers globally. But the family saw potential in fermenting the beans to offer a product with greater value-added. In the 1990s, they built a sophisticated center to centralize fermentation and processing for their own beans and for other farmers. The facility now serves as a cocoa research center and attracts doctoral students from Florida, Italy, and beyond, says Massimiliano Wax, an international cacao expert who now works with the Rizeks.
Like varieties of grapes in wine,
fermentation brings out distinct profiles of different types of cacao. Cocoa is not native to Dominican Republic, so the nation grows trees that came from Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and other nations, producing a wide palette of flavors and mixing “a fantastic cocktail” of chocolate, says Wax.
In the 2000s, the Rizeks began making their own artisanal chocolates from those blends, creating the brand Kahkow. Then, tapping surging tourism, they launched the Chocolate Museum in Santo Domingo’s colonial zone to help educate tourists and locals alike. In 2015, they added the Kahkow Experience at the museum, offering cocoa-related activities that include a film on cocoa history, a mini-factory to customize your own chocolate bars, and a studio to make soap from cocoa butter.
Fourth-generation Nadia Rizek, after finishing college in New York, started the
U.S. division to supply artisanal “bean-tobar” producers on the U.S. east coast. She launched the Brooklyn shop in 2019. The company has just added an outlet in Spain to supply “bean-to-bar” makers in Europe too.
“We want to accompany the evolution of the chocolate market,” says Wax, vice president of Rizek Cacao, which now employs more than 500 people. “Until some 10 years ago, chocolate was almost exclusively produced by big multinational companies. Now, smaller artisanal chocolate producers are proliferating worldwide.” Serving those customers surely will require lots of logistics, the next Dominican frontier. l
If you’ve seen the latest Jennifer Lopez and Sandra Bullock movies, you’ve been looking at the Dominican Republic, now one of the world’s hottest locations for filming, thanks to generous new tax breaks.
Since 2018, the Dominican government has boosted incentives for film projects in the country, ushering in a rush of new productions including the upcoming action movie remake “Road House” starring Jake Gyllenhaal and the much-awaited bio-drama “Nyad” starring Annette Bening and Jodie Foster.
Many of the movies use the country’s state-of-the-art facilities opened in 2014 in a joint venture with the UK’s Pinewood Studios, known for James Bond and Harry Potter films. The Dominican complex hosts the only horizon water tank in the Americas, an enormous above-ground pool set next to the sea where “through the lens, it looks like you’re right in the middle of the ocean,” says Maria Valentina Avellaneda, marketing manager at Lantica Media, which runs Pinewood DR Studios. Filming in the tank is easier than in
open sea because of machines to control waves, storms, and other conditions in water that’s not salty.
The Dominican Republic long has welcomed film productions, with Santo Domingo’s Spanish colonial zone sometimes standing in for Cuba, as in “The Godfather II” released in 1974 and “Havana” in 1990. (Communist-led Cuba is largely off-limits for U.S. filming because of the U.S. embargo on the island.)
But production really took off after the Dominican government passed an incentives law in 2010 that basically offers a 25 percent rebate on most filming expenses. The law helped motivate the nation’s Vicini Group, which made its fortune in sugar, to partner with Pinewood and invest more than $50 million to build Pinewood DR Studios on 43-acres of its land in Juan Dolio, about 40 miles east of Santo Domingo. Besides the horizon water tank, the complex now hosts three sound stages, with a fourth planned. Jennifer Lopez worked on “Shotgun Wedding” there.
“The plan is to host a film industry hub and later an entire city on
the lands around Pinewood DR Studios,” says Avellaneda, envisioning workshops, residences and other facilities for crews and families.
The initial film incentives law catapulted the number of film productions in the country in the 2010s to 195, about twice the number produced in the century before. The tally exploded in the 2020s, with added incentives and a speedy re-opening after COVID. More than 100 productions were filmed in the Dominican Republic in 2021 alone, with their spending topping $260 million, industry reports show.
“We were the first film destination to open after COVID, and we proved you can make a production safely and affordably here. It’s been a snowball of growth since, with not just more films, but bigger ones,” says Avellaneda. She estimates the “The Lost City of D” with Sandra Bullock had a $60 million-plus budget and used 600 local crew and 200 crew from the UK and US.
SHOTGUN WEDDING, a romantic comedy starring Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel; locations include Monkeyland near Punta Cana and ANI Private Resorts, released 2023.
THE LOST CITY OF D, a romantic comedy starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, and Daniel Radcliffe; Samana province and Pinewood DR Studios, released 2022.
OLD, a horror thriller starring Gael Garcia Bernal and Vicky Krieps; Playa Del Valle beach on Samana peninsula and Pinewood DR Studios, released 2021.
FAST AND FURIOUS #3.5/4 AND #7, action films starring Vin Diesel; beaches in Montecristi and Santo Domingo’s seaside Malecon, released 2009 and 2015.
JURASSIC PARK, science fiction action film starring Sam Neill and Laura Dern; Amber Museum in Puerto Plata, released 1993.
HAVANA, drama starring Robert Redford and Lena Olin; Santo Domingo’s colonial zone, released 1990.
APOCALYPSE NOW, war film starring Marlon Brando and Robert Duvall; La Romana near the Chavon River, released 1979.
THE GODFATHER II, starring Al Pacino and Marlon Brando; Santo Domingo’s colonial zone and Hotel Embajador, released 1974.
NYAD, sports biography drama starring Annette Benning and Jodie Foster; locations include Pinewood DR Studios.
ROAD HOUSE, a re-imagining of the 1989 action film, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Daniela Melchior; Pinewood DR Studios.
ARTHUR THE KING, an adventure film starring Mark Wahlberg and Simu Liu; Santo Domingo’s colonial zone.
The plan is to host a film industry hub and later an entire city on the lands around Pinewood DR Studios...
MARIA VALENTINA AVELLANEDA, MARKETING MANAGER, LANTICA MEDIA
While most productions come from overseas – even filming of a version of reality TV show “Survivor” for Turkey – there’s been a boom in home-grown movies too. The incentives law offers the 25 percent tax credit when foreign groups work through a local production company. That’s encouraged locals to enter the industry, with many universities adding film studies to meet rising demand.
Elsa Turull was among the first to seize the production opportunities. A decade ago, she created Larimar Films, named for the semi-precious stone native to the Dominican Republic that has a light-blue color like the Caribbean Sea. She got help through a Dominican friend in Hollywood, California.
Besides assisting foreign productions, Larimar Films now has made several movies of its own, including “Quien Manda?,” a comedy about an independent woman, and “En Tu Piel,” a drama about infidelity (available on Amazon Prime). Dominican films now show in such festivals as Cannes and Venice, she says.
Turull cites five reasons – beyond tax breaks – as to why her country is ideal for filming. The first is location, being two hours by jet from Miami and 3.5 hours from New York. Second is the diversity of locales near one another – beaches, deserts, the Spanish colonial zone, mountains, factories, and more. “You can drive two or three hours between locations, not seven as in some countries. And that makes for big savings,” she says.
You can drive two or three hours between locations, not seven as in some countries. And that makes for big savings.
Tourism and connectivity also help. With ample hotels nationwide, crews can readily find lodging near film locations. Actors and crews can easily fly in and out, with its abundant flights for tourists, says Turull. Plus, costs are cheaper than Hollywood, even as local crews earn good wages by Dominican standards.
Still, there are challenges to growth. The government tackled a key stumbling block in 2018 by slashing the withholding tax on pay to non-residents, down from 27 percent to 1.5 percent. That’s helped draw Hollywood stars who earn mega-salaries like J.Lo. There’s also a need to train more local talent. Salaries are rising because of limited supply, shrinking cost savings compared to such rivals as Atlanta, Toronto, and Colombia, says engineer Antonio Alma, Turull’s husband who recently left a corporate job for film. Meanwhile, look out for the upcoming adventure movie “Arthur the King,” starring Mark Wahlberg, filmed partly in Santo Domingo’s colonial zone. l
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Forget cigars, medical devices or even tourism services. For lovers of baseball, the most important export from the Dominican Republic is its baseball players.
This Caribbean nation sends more players to U.S. Major League Baseball teams than any other country besides the United States itself. About 500 Dominicans players now sign contracts with MLB organizations yearly, not just with MLB’s top 30 teams but also its minor leagues and other professional clubs, says the MLB Commissioner’s office in Dominican Republic, its only baseball operations office outside the U.S.
Drive past the turquoise waters and white sands of Boca Chica beach, down a windy inland road, and you’ll find outpost after outpost of MLB teams including the Miami Marlins. The Marlins last October opened the country’s newest MLB academy,
built at a cost of $15 million, to develop Dominican players as well as players from nearby nations such as Venezuela, Colombia, and the Netherlands Antilles.
The 35-acre Marlins academy resembles a college campus. There are modern dorms that sleep about 100 players, plus classrooms with computers, a well-stocked cafeteria, and recreation rooms with ping-pong tables, TVs, and videogames. Players at the academy also have access to fully-equipped gyms, weight rooms, batting and pitching practice areas, three baseball fields and coaches that help with everything from how to bat to their nutrition. Mornings begin with classes in varied subjects, including English.
For teens at the academy, it’s typically their first time away from home. Many come from modest means and have never had access to so much quality food – tuna-fish cans stacked high, protein shakes and pista-
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL COMMISSIONER’S OFFICE
PHOTOS:
THE MIAMI MARLINS BASEBALL ACADEMY IS A 35-ACRE COLLEGELIKE CAMPUS THAT CAN HOUSE 100 PLAYERS. FACILITIES INCLUDE A FULLY EQUIPPED GYM, BATTING AND PITCHING PRACTICE AREAS AND RESIDENTIAL DORMITORIES WITH CAFETERIA.
The Dominican Republic has become the mecca for baseball internationally.
chios available anytime. They’ve also never had access to the abundant, quality gear they receive: shoes, uniforms and practice wear. Some are so endeared to staffers they call them “aunt” and “uncle.” Baseball for the talented youth represents both a passion and a possibility to make it big financially.
This country is the only one outside the U.S. where all 30 MLB teams have academies, and “thanks to this, the Dominican Republic has become the mecca of baseball internationally,” says the local MLB Commissioner’s Office, which helps regulate and facilitate club operations in the country.
There’s big money at stake. The latest economic impact study, carried out in 2019, estimates the MLB and its teams spend $367 million a year in the country, including academy outlays and signing bonuses for players, among other expenses. They also contribute 1,200 direct jobs and thousands more indirect jobs to the Dominican economy, according to the MLB Commissioner’s Office.
Dominican baseball stars in the US often re-invest back home too. Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez, who grew up in one-room house with five siblings, helped re-develop his Santo Domingo neighborhood of Manoguayabo. The Boston Red Sox pitcher has constructed homes, schools, a window factory, and a baseball field. Hall
of Famer Vladimir Guerrero built so much in his humble hometown of Don Gregorio de Nizao, NPR reports, that the former Los Angeles Dodger outfielder opened a concrete block factory, a trucking firm, and a hardware store. Of course, not all the players at academies make their way to professional baseball, even to the clubs that feed into MLB’s 30 elite teams. By some estimates, just 4 percent get into those ranks. And there’s concern that academies should do more to prepare trainees with skills for a life outside baseball. Pitcher Martinez himself now focuses much of his foundation’s work on educational needs in his homeland.
“The main step our country needs,” Martinez told a Washington, D.C. event this February led by Rep. Adriano Espaillat, (D-NY) the first Dominican-born federal lawmaker, “[is] to open doors throughout the world is education.” The theme for the Capitol Hill event was “Dominicans batting with bases loaded.”
Professional baseball players certainly seem to be educating themselves more on their rights. In December, the Major League Baseball Players Association, which also represents minor leaguers, opened its first international office. It’s located, of course, in the Dominican Republic. l
Prices continue to rise in the Greater Miami housing market as people and businesses in key areas of the U.S. continue to relocate to the area, and as foreign purchasers continuing to buy. The South Florida region as a whole saw prices jump 13.5 percent yearto-date, though predictions are for a more modest
rise of two percent over the next 12 months. For just the Miami luxury condo market, prices have risen 40 percent over the last 18 months, and 17 percent over the last six months, according to Miami-Dade County records. We asked several realtors for some of their prime listings in the area.
LISTING PRICE: $3.88M
1428 Brickell Ave. #2405, Brickell 3 bed / 3.5 bath. 3,767 sq. ft.
With 11-foot ceilings, a sunrise terrace, a summer kitchen, and a private elevator foyer, this spacious home at The Residences at 1428 Brickell has some of the best views in the city. Amenities include a rooftop
pool, an entire floor dedicated to health and wellness, and a family-focused space with learning center, cinema, wading area, and more. Listing Agent: Anthony Flexas (Cervera), 305.338.7089
this is what luxury is all about. Residents have access to the hotel’s amenities, including the gym, restaurants, pool, beach, and more. Listing Agent: Mendel Fellig (Compass), 305.632.8803
LISTING PRICE: $14.5M
This combined double-unit apartment comes with exceptional private amenities, 14-foot ceilings, six parking spots, wine storage, and two private elevators. The smart home is fully automated with
floor-to-ceiling windows that show off amazing panoramic views of the ocean and skyline and let in lots of natural light. Listing Agent: Mariana Niro (Serhant Florida), 305.323.2806
BY HARRIET MAYS POWELL
In the world of fashion, the words “chic” and “sustainable” remain uneasy bedfellows. Even today, only a few top-tier designer brands can claim to have made significant progress. Astonishingly, after the oil industry, the fashion business is the next biggest global polluter. Last summer, photos of vast piles of rotting garments strewn along the coast of Ghana drew widespread attention to this disturbing problem. Some discarded clothes end up in landfills, but only a small percentage will decompose quickly, with the vast majority taking decades to break down completely.
To become a certified sustainable brand, as defined by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, is not an easy or inexpensive ambition. For starters, there are issues of transparency, from decoding the myriad of threads that make up the supply chain, to verifying that those supplies are ethically sourced (ensuring that the workers are adequately compensated), to certifying that the production processes are non-polluting. These requirements can be daunting to burgeoning brands. But it is the established “fast fashion” companies – think H&M and Zara – with their ability to sell a shirt for the price of a Starbucks coffee, which continue to be chiefly responsible for most of the harmful effects of the fashion system. They vastly overproduce season after season, resulting in an enormous surplus of items, which are then jettisoned.
NILÜFER BRACCO, SHOWN OPPOSITE, ON THE MOVE FROM ISTANBUL TO THE U.S.
ABOVE LEFT: NILUU BRAND AT VERSACE
MANSION FASHION SHOOT
ABOVE RIGHT: NILUU SILKSENSE NEWSTYLES
Enter Nilüfer Bracco, a Turkish designer based in Miami, who, at the onset of the pandemic three years ago, forged ahead with her plans to launch niLuu, a collection of chic and wearable clothing, ethically produced and completely sustainable. Even the firm’s elegant black boxes are made from recycled cardboard.
Standing at an imposing height of 6-foot-2 with striking features and a large serpentine tattoo, Bracco greets me warmly at the front door of her Miami home. She is profusely apologetic because her driveway is dotted with puddles from the earlier rain. Instead of sitting at a formal table in the dining area, she suggests we relax on comfortable couches in the living room, surrounded by modern art, with a view of Biscayne Bay over an infinity pool.
Raised in a small town outside of Istanbul, Bracco’s ticket to explore the wider world was her talent as an athlete. She joined Turkey’s leading volleyball team and, from there, was recruited to play at a midwestern university on a full scholarship. She readily admits that it was a complete culture shock. “They didn’t know what to make of me,” she says. “They treated me like some kind of exotic bird.” After graduation, Bracco moved to New York and attended Parsons School of Design. There, she met her Italian husband. A child came along, and they moved to Miami to begin the next chapter in their lives.
Bracco tells me that she is inspired by the rich tradition of textiles in her native land. Istanbul was a terminus of the famous Silk Road, a trade artery that brought luxury
They didn’t know what to make of me. They treated me like some kind of exotic bird.
goods from China to the Mediterranean. She felt drawn to the smooth and sensuous texture of silk. And on a trip with her brother to a fabric fair in Germany, she discovered a “vegan silk” supplier. He told her how silk is made, and why he eschewed the traditional process and opted instead to create an artificial alternative.
Even after a long career in fashion journalism, I didn’t really know how silk was produced. Bracco explained. In brief, the fiber is harvested from the silkworm’s cocoon while the pupa inside is on its way to becoming a moth. In order to extract the maximum amount of fiber, the cocoon is boiled, steamed, or blasted with hot air to destroy the silkworm inside. If the grub is allowed to mature and eat its way out of the
cocoon, the long fibers are broken. Around 3,000 or 4,000 cocoons are required to make a single pound of silk.
Bracco was intrigued by the supplier’s tale, but it was the quality of his new fabric that hooked her. The silk substitute, called Cupro, is made from recycled cotton linter – the fluffy fiber around the plant’s seeds which are a byproduct of the cotton harvest. This is spun into a yarn by the Japanese Asahi Kasei Corporation, whose state-ofthe-art facilities are able to achieve zero waste emissions and can recycle 40 percent of the expended energy back into the system through a “closed loop” production cycle.
The yarn is then woven in Turkey by the İpeker firm. The resulting fabric is hypoallergenic, anti-static, breathable, biodegradable,
ABOVE: NILUU BRIDAL COLLECTION
OPPOSITE: NILUU SILK WEAR COLLECTION
All niLuu garments are biodegradable. Unlike traditional silk, the clothes do not have to be dry cleaned and can be machine washed.
NILÜFER BRACCO.
and – like traditional silk – glides easily across the skin. İpeker used to be a traditional silk producer — “İpek” means “silk” in Turkish — but as the world’s consciousness changed, the company decided to develop alternatives that could deliver the same characteristics. Their new fabric uses proprietary processes for dyeing, printing, and finishing that consume significantly less water, energy, and chemicals, while achieving the same depth of color and luxurious feel as traditional silk.
For Bracco, the last phase of the production process takes place in a women-led atelier in Turkey. There, her team develops the intricate patterns and prints that have become a hallmark of the brand. Samples are sent back to the U.S. for Bracco’s meticulous inspection. The garments are then manufactured and shipped to a warehouse in North Miami for distribution.
Launching during the pandemic was a learning lesson, Bracco says, because the business had to rely solely on e-commerce. When the crisis abated, she quickly found that in a physical retail environment, where prospective purchasers can touch and feel the fabric, sales increase exponentially. After less than three years, Bracco proudly lists her current retail partners, which include Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Nordstrom, several of Gwyneth Paltrow’s GOOP stores, and a high-end boutique in St. Barth’s. Earlier this year, she did a popup in Dubai that proved so successful they soon signed a year-long lease.
Initially launching with sleep masks, pillowcases, and kimonos, the line has since expanded to include ready-to-wear and bridal collections. Bracco has abandoned the initial term “loungewear,” and now prefers to call her collection “silk wear,” because the pieces are so versatile. They can be worn during the day, be accessorized at night, and are ideally suited for travelling. “They go with your flow,” she says with a grin.
All niLuu garments are biodegradable. Unlike traditional silk, the clothes do not have to be dry cleaned and can be machine washed, according to Bracco. If they do end up in a landfill, they will dissolve by 50 percent in about two months. But with a price range of $80 to $1,000, and given the timeless and adaptable silhouettes, this is not throw-away dressing.
So, what’s next for Bracco? She already has plans to develop a line of athleisure wear by adding stretch to her signature fabric. Given her history as a star athlete, this seems like a natural progression for her brand. l
BY KYLIE WANG
The most recognizable hotels in Downtown Miami and Brickell are chains: the Four Seasons, the Intercontinental, the JW Marriott, etc. But there’s another type of property that deserves its own recognition: the unique, signature hotel. Little encapsulates that stand-alone experience better than The Elser Hotel, which sits in the heart of Downtown Miami, overlooking the Freedom Tower, Kaseya Center (the recently re-named home of the Miami Heat), and Biscayne Bay. Named after the old Elser Pier, where tourists used to take charters into in the early 1900s, it’s the latest jewel in the portfolio of properties managed by Highgate corporation.
Right from the start, The Elser looks, well, different. Its façade on Biscayne Boulevard is swathed in opaque, futuristic panels set at geodesic angles. Its public spaces, including a multi-story shared balcony overlooking the bay, use the exposed concrete columns that are the vogue for modern architecture. Because its footprint is relatively small, it has a surprising number of rooms – 646 in a slender 49-story tower.
The Elser also has residences, where owners can put their homes into a rental pool. This means that each room comes with a kitchen, fully stocked with high-end appliances, perfect for those looking for a longer-term stay. The spaces range from studios to three-bedroom suites, all with views of the city and water and many including their own balconies. For those who want to spend more time in Miami than a few days, The Elser offers monthly stays starting at $4,000 per month and discounts up to 35 percent off for visits three nights or longer.
The amenities (along with wooden floors and a brick-lined lobby) are what really give The Elser a bespoke flair that is almost boutique-like, despite its depth of room options. The wood-paneled two-story gym is stocked with all the equipment you’ll need, and
TOP: THE MODERNIST 49-STORY ELSER
HOTEL OVERLOOKS BISCAYNE BAY.
ABOVE: LOBBY IN EXPOSED CONCRETE TOP LEFT: THE SPECTRE SEAS YACHT IS AVAILABLE AS AN ADVENTURE PACKAGE.
OPPOSITE PAGE FROM THE TOP:
SWIMMING POOL ON THE MAIN BALCONY
THE FITNESS CENTER IS FULLY EQUIPPED
A ONE BEDROOM SUITE WITH OCEAN VIEW
KING SIZE BEDS FOR A PERFECT SLEEP
A THREE BEDROOM SUITE KITCHEN AREA
features weekly bootcamp, HIIT, and yoga classes. The main pool is similarly spacious, wrapping around the building on the same level as the shared balcony space, with a 16-foot poolside LED screen and a bar with drinks and light bites (flatbreads, sandwiches, salads). Breakfast is served here, though it’s a small affair, mostly consisting of pastries, coffee, and quiches. We recommend the wellness shots – the ginger one with cayenne will give you an effective morning wake-up call.
Though the Elser probably isn’t where you want to host your next conference given its lack of ballroom space, it does have coworking spaces, and the new cocktail bar and restaurant opens this summer. From the creators of Jaguar Sun, the downtown seafood and pasta hotspot, the lobby-level restaurant should prove an excellent spot for more intimate meetings.
Befitting its bayside location, The Elser also offers an immersive yachting experience in partnership with Spectre Seas, which has a fleet of James Bond-inspired yachts. The $5,000-plus adventure includes an overnight suite stay at the hotel, curated meals from the hotel’s executive chef, and a private four-hour charter on one of Spectre’s vessels. With water sports, custom cocktails, and chef-prepared snacks, the package, available year-round, is a great way to close out a deal – or celebrate its closing.
For visits lasting a week or more, The Elser is hard to beat for its amenities and location. It lies across Biscayne Boulevard from the Bayside Marketplace as well as the arena where, besides Miami Heat games, major concerts are held. It’s also walkable to Miami’s downtown science and art museums, and an easy People Mover ride to the Brickell financial district. The hotel offers a bespoke experience that a stay at a larger chain hotel often lacks, and what’s better than working out on a treadmill with a vast view of the city? l
QUINTO IS A HIDDEN GEM IN THE MIDST OF BRICKELL’S BUSTLE
Q
BY ANDREW GAYLENewcomers might be surprised to know that Quinto is now seven years old, which, in Brickell talk, amounts to a lifetime. About the only dining establishments with greater longevity in Miami’s financial and high-rise residential district are the Capital Grill and Truluck’s.
The culinary focus of Quinto is South American dishes with a Mexican veneer. And by Mexican, we do not mean what passes for Mexican food in U.S. restaurants. This is the Mexican cuisine of Mexico City – refined, inventive, and multi-layered.
“We are trying to bring to this area the heart of Latin America, but with a Mexican influence,” says Chef Ivan Uria, himself Mexican. “And everything is cooked with a wood fire.” Both of these flavor influences are immediately apparent in the ceviche rojo ($21) a different take on the traditional dish from Peru. “In the case of the ceviche, it’s not just Peruvian ceviche, but a kind of a Mexican ceviche with red sauce from tomatoes roasted in the oven, which gives you that smokey flavor,” says Chef Ivan. A dusting of onion ashes also comes by way of the fire.
The wood searing and Mexican overlay is also evident, in the best possible way, in the Calamares a la Plancha ($21), an appetizer with a clever mix of ingredients and cooking techniques. The calamari, seared by the wood fire, is mingled with sliced avocado, red onion, and barley, and plated with a black romesco sauce. The combination of textures and flavors breaks new ground. “The interesting thing is that all the ingredients were roasted in a wood oven, and we finished with a little bit of squid ink, because we wanted to make the whole dish ‘squid,’” says Chef Ivan, which explains why
ABOVE
OPPOSITE PAGE FROM THE TOP:
LEFT: CALAMARES A LA PLANCHA
RIGHT: PRIME SKIRT STEAK
MEDITERRANEAN BRANZINO
NIGERIAN TIGER PRAWNS
QUINTO
the normally red romesco sauce is blackened.
Still in the para compartir (to share) section of the menu, we had to try the Gambas al Ajillo ($29) – shrimp cooked in oil with garlic, a traditional Spanish dish that makes for a good benchmark. Theirs was exquisite. The garlic oil was made robust by sauteed Mexican guajillo chilis, and the succulent Gulf shrimp were dabbed with white garlic aioli sauce, balanced by squares of sweet potatoes (wood roasted, of course), and sprinkled with paprika. Garlic shrimp 2.0.
The entrees we sampled were all elevated by similar enhancements, along with just plain good cooking. The prime skirt steak had just the right blend of salts and peppers, juicy and hot off the fire ($54). The whole Mediterranean Branzino ($48) was butterflied, seasoned, cooked on the grill, then finished in the wood oven. The skin was crispy, the meat moist, with a roasted lemon and cup of pepper oil on the side to further bring out the flavor. Just superb – as were the oversized Nigerian tiger prawns, fire-roasted and plated on a bed of tagliatelle pasta with a pool of reduced lobster bisque ($36).
While we rarely describe desserts, we must mention their dark chocolate cheesecake with pistachios and passion fruit/orange sauce, as well as their caramel tiramisu with a warm gooey interior juxtaposed with cold banana ice cream (both amazing at $14).
The setting for this banquet is as inviting as the food. Quinto is urban and sophisticated, with a rustic edge – wooden tables, low-level lighting, a sprinkling of tiny bulbs woven into the outdoor plants, with warm wooden floors and wooden ceilings in the indoor areas. The service, like the music, is just right, present but not overpowering. If you work in the Brickell district, it’s just a quick ride up the elevator from the lobby of the East Hotel. For those who don’t work in the area, validation is available for valet parking. Whatever it takes to get to this hidden gem, the reward is worth it. l
With a record 50.6 million passengers last year, Miami International Airport is now the number two U.S. airport for international passengers (behind New York’s Kennedy), and No. 14
for total passengers worldwide. It is also the number one airport for international freight in the U.S. and No. 7 worldwide. Overall, it is now the world’s 8th busiest airport. (See story pg. 46).
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