Peebles Corp. chief credits NYC entrepreneurs for Miami’s new stature as a global market

Miami has become a global real estate market to the credit of New York developers, R. Donahue Peebles, chairman and chief executive of the Coral Gables, Fla.-based Peebles Corporation, said in a New York Times interview.

“Strategically, New York and Miami are very well connected. When you look at the last real estate cycle, much of the big boom in Miami took place because New York entrepreneurs and developers came to Miami to develop,” he said.

Local government in South Florida are “reluctantly partners,” Peebles said, especially in Miami Beach.

Miami has bounced back quickly from the 2008 economic collapse because of international buyers, he said.

Among the largest African-American-owned developers in the U.S., Peebles Corp. focuses on residential and hospitality developments, and has projects in Miami, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Las Vegas and New York.

“One of the criteria is I have to like the place — I enjoy being there myself. I’m from Washington, and in 1996 I went to Miami on vacation, liked it, saw an opportunity, and in ’98 moved there and built a business there,” Peebles said. [NYT] –Emily Schmall