When David Martin enters a new neighborhood, the first thing he does is identify who is anti-development, and then he figures out how to engage with them.
It’s partially how Martin, CEO of Coconut Grove-based Terra, has earned his reputation as someone who effectively works with local government, his competitors and NIMBYists.
“There’s always things that we can do in order to better our community. Today, we’re so political, and most of the time, even on the opposite spectrums, we may agree on 50, 60 percent of the things,” he said. “Our job is to work on the things we agree on and not let the things that we disagree on get in the way of progress for our future generations.”
Martin sat down with The Real Deal’s Editor-in-Chief Stuart Elliott at TRD’s South Florida Real Estate Forum on Thursday for a wide-ranging conversation about his pipeline of projects, learning from past failures and working with family, He also discussed being part of the next generation of leaders in development, and what drives him. A standing-room-only crowd filled the room at Mana Wynwood. More than 6,000 people attended the two-day event in Miami.
Martin’s projects include a condo tower in Midtown Miami with developer Michael Simkins that French chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten is branding; a Mr. C Residences in West Palm Beach with the Morrison family; and the Miami Beach Convention Center Hotel with Jackie Soffer and partners.
On Tuesday, voters approved a referendum that will allow Terra and ESJ Capital Partners to develop a condo tower on Miami’s Watson Island. That includes the $135 million purchase of city land, converting Jungle Island into a public park and a $15 million contribution to affordable housing, infrastructure improvements as well as an expanded public waterfront.
“With these referendums, I’ve learned a lot,” Martin said, speaking about others he has worked on in the past. “We started with a referendum for the convention center hotel, in which we got 64 percent of the vote. We did a referendum for Marina Park. I lost, and hopefully I can go back on the ballot in the future.”
Though Terra’s $1 billion purchase of Genting Group’s downtown Miami assemblage was canceled, Martin said it “could be one of the single most important properties in the country.” Terra’s $500 million purchase of Castle Beach Club, an aging condo building in Miami Beach, also fell through earlier this year.
He said learning from past mistakes is important.
“Our community does have challenges, whether it’s transit or having affordable housing for our workforce or just dealing with stormwater management and mitigating and adapting so that we can thrive,” he said.
Martin added that when he enters a new neighborhood or is working on a referendum, he is personally meeting with people at senior centers and knocking on doors.
“The challenge for us is just to learn how to communicate better. Sometimes, social media, it’s intense,” he said. “A lot of times we sit in our homes and we complain about the government. It’s not the government’s fault. It’s our fault. We all need to participate and get involved in order to help fix whatever issues we’ve got in our community.”
Elliott brought up how Martin works on so many projects at once, bringing together teams that include star architects such as Bjarke Ingels, restaurateurs like Major Food Group and Michelin-starred chef Vongerichten.
“I do push, but we push within reason to have a disciplined approach at making decisions so we’re not wasting time,” Martin said.
Elliott closed out the conversation with a question about Martin’s carpe diem approach to life, and how he was exposed to a lot of mortality as a child. Martin’s grandfather started a funeral home business that his brother now runs. His mother, who Martin said has lived with pain her whole life battling Multiple Sclerosis, is one of the people who has made him who he is.
“Just experiencing so much death on a daily basis, and understanding that we really have a very short time to make an impact on our lives, our families and for future generations,” Martin said. “That’s definitely driven me in a subconscious way, just to think differently about life.”