You might know Gil Dezer as the developer of flashy South Florida condo towers with outlandish amenities like a 60-story car elevator. But his firm Dezer Development is also wrapped up in another business: land banking.
Dezer checked in with The Real Deal South Florida Managing Editor Ina Cordle at TRD‘s Miami Showcase and Forum to give an update on his current projects, and explain how his firm is positioning itself to take advantage of the next demand wave when it comes.
“We are tremendous land bankers,” he said. “That’s always been our business. We buy stuff to hold for the future.”
The developer is under contract to buy roughly three acres of waterfront land from Publix in Sunny Isles Beach. The deal has at least two years left to close, giving credence to Dezer saying that his firm is in no rush to sell out their remaining projects and launch a new building.
Dezer is one of several major luxury developers who launched their projects earlier in the cycle when demand was still high, allowing them to sell out the majority of their preconstruction units, secure financing and begin construction. He said his Porsche Design Tower is slated to be completed within the six to eight weeks, Armani/Casa is more than 60 percent sold and still has 30 months to open, and Hyde Midtown is more than 85 percent sold with an expected completion date of late 2017.
“I’ve been in this movie for so long,” he said. “The buyers will slow down today, the next year they’ll come back.”