Related, Hong Kong-based Swire share top billing in Brickell

Related Group is back in the thick of shaping Miami’s Brickell Avenue, putting up luxury condo homes not far from where Hong Kong-based Swire Properties is building a new $1.5 complex that includes high-end retail shops and a hotel. 

Related had been at the epicenter of Brickell’s development five years ago, before the real estate collapse. The downturn took its toll on the mega-developer, forcing CEO Jorge Pérez to humbly ask lenders to restructure about $2 billion in construction loans for failed or stalled projects.

Today, Related has recovered and Perez is upbeat about both his company’s projects and Swire’s massive CityCentre development. The addition of shops and restaurants will only keep Brickell jumping even longer into the night, Pérez told South Florida Business Journal in a video interview.

The homes, the shops, everything that is being built right now will make Brickell “a complete community,” Pérez said.

Swire Properties’ Steve Owen agreed, telling the newspaper: “I think the future of Brickell is really predicated on its ultimate evolution as a sense of place.” [South Florida Business Journal] — Emily Schmall