Arnaud Karsenti

Karsenti started out investing in distressed properties, assembling land in Miami’s Little Havana and elsewhere that he flipped to developers. His firm, 13th Floor Investments, has built condominiums and more recently it has focused on transit-oriented developments and redevelopments of city halls. 

Karsenti leans on discretionary private equity funds to finance his projects. 13th Floor has managed more than $5.5 billion in properties and made roughly 70 investments in the Southeastern U.S., primarily Florida. 

Under Karsenti’s leadership, 13th Floor completed projects that include the Harbor in North Miami Beach; 1010 Brickell in Miami’s Financial District; and 400 Sunny Isles in Sunny Isles Beach. Its public-private partnerships include Link at Douglas at the Douglas Metrorail station in Miami, as well as the planned Link at Boca at the Boca Raton Tri-Rail station and Link at SoMi, a redevelopment of South Miami’s city hall complex. 13th Floor Homes is the firm’s homebuilder arm, which has redeveloped golf courses into residential communities, among other projects. 

In 2025, 13th Floor stirred controversy in Brickell with plans for an 80-story condo that’s expected to replace a parking lot and school behind First Miami Presbyterian Church, while leaving the sanctuary intact. Opponents take issue with the prospect of more traffic and less open space, as well as the demolition of the school. The Ardid family’s Key International has partnered with 13th Floor on several projects, including the proposed Brickell condo. 

— Lidia Dinkova