10 power builders and brokers shaping Miami

The real-estate moguls, restaurant owners and non-profit organisers behind South Florida’s revival

The one-per-center
Michael Shvo
Founder and chairman, Shvo

“Miami is the only true urban resort in the US,” says the New York-based real estate developer, 51, whose $8bn-plus company also has offices in Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago. Shvo is the largest active developer in Miami Beach, working to create a “premier office destination for global decision-makers”. The company’s projects span 400,000sq ft of class-A Miami Beach office space, including The Alton designed by Foster + Partners and One Soundscape Park, whose interiors are conceived by Peter Marino. Most eye-catching of all is Shvo and Marino’s reworking of The Raleigh, an art deco hotel and Miami icon covering three acres of prime beachfront, which is being returned to its former glory as a 60-room Rosewood Hotel with a new tower offering 40 ocean-facing branded residences that set a new price point for Miami Beach with a $150mn penthouse.

“Miami was a transient city but now entrepreneurs and innovators come to live and expect the best architecture, the best quality,” Shvo says. “Where are the most expensive homes in Miami – the $15mn homes? They’re on Miami Beach, places like North Bay Road or Palm Island. That’s where true wealth wants to be.”