Bob Zangrillo Revives $3B Miami Megaproject

Technology investor Bob Zangrillo is reviving plans for a $3 billion mixed-use project in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood, more than a decade after first unveiling the vision, Bloomberg reported.

Zangrillo is partnering with Miami-based Plaza Equity Partners on the proposed 7.8 million-square-foot development, an office hub aimed at companies in artificial intelligence, asset management and venture capital. The project would also include more than 2,600 residential units, a hotel and retail space.

The first phase calls for the office campus, which Zangrillo’s firm, Dragon Global, would anchor, along with a 25-story tower with 349 rental apartments.

In recent years, technology and finance companies have expanded in South Florida. Among them are software company Palantir Technologies, which moved its headquarters to Miami-Dade County earlier this year, as well as Apple and Amazon, both of which expanded in the county in The Plaza Coral Gables and Wynwood Plaza, respectively. Cryptocurrency firm Gemini also opened a Wynwood office at the Sterling Bay-developed 545wyn. Zangrillo’s idea is to channel the influx into a hub he calls “Magic City Innovation District.”

Zangrillo is the founder, chairman and chief investment officer of Dragon Global, a Miami-based firm that invests in AI companies targeting markets worth more than $100 billion.

He began his career in Silicon Valley and was an early investor in companies including Uber Technologies, Anthropic and SpaceX. After launching e-commerce software company Interworld in New York during the 1990s, Zangrillo said he saw Miami as the next place where global technology and finance firms could converge.

“I had a vision about 14 years ago that Miami was going to be the capital, or the future New York City, for technology companies and asset managers from around the world to converge,” Zangrillo told Bloomberg.

The project traces its roots to 2012, when Zangrillo unveiled plans for a large-scale development and began acquiring land in Little Haiti. Over the next several years, he assembled the site and secured approval from the Miami City Commission in 2019.

According to Bloomberg, the project stalled that same year, as Zangrillo and 50 other business professionals and Hollywood celebrities became embroiled in the college admissions scandal known as “Operation Varsity Blues.” Federal prosecutors accused him of conspiring to bribe officials at the University of Southern California to help secure his daughter’s admission. Zangrillo denied wrongdoing and was later pardoned by Donald Trump on the final day of his first term in 2021.

“There was really no case at the end of the day,” Zangrillo told Bloomberg. “They were trying to attack rich parents.”

The development has faced opposition from residents and activists concerned about gentrification and the displacement of working-class residents. Zangrillo said his team has committed $31 million to Miami’s Little Haiti Revitalization Trust, which supports economic development and affordable housing initiatives.

Little Haiti has seen an increase in investment in recent years, across housing, retail and commercial development.

The site carries a Special Area Plan designation, a zoning tool used for large-scale projects such as Brickell City Centre and Mana Wynwood. It is also located within a federally designated Opportunity Zone, which offers tax incentives for investment in lower-income communities.

In a 2022 statement, developer and broker Tony Cho said he was exiting the development as “an official partner” to focus on other projects, including the Future of Cities platform.

Anthony Orso, president of capital markets strategies at Newmark, will lead marketing efforts for the district.

— Eman Elshahawy