Ed Easton

Easton has counted industrial as a base and local knowledge as the cutting edge for his family-owned brokerage, amassing a portfolio of 5 million square feet of warehouses and turning Airport West from exurban farmland into one of the most active industrial submarkets in the nation. 

He’s gotten Doral-based Easton Group through numerous market cycles since he started in 1974, keeping a solid footing in the hotly competitive warehouse sector of South Florida while making opportunistic investments in multifamily. His ability to offset cyclical fluctuations has earned him a reputation as one of the most resilient independent developers, which has helped him keep pace as institutional giants such as Blackstone and Ares have been drawn to the region’s industrial market. 

His latest challenge mixes his industrial chops with his penchant for multifamily side hustles,  teaming with Lennar and Dallas-based MPKA on City Park at West Kendall, which will have 8,000 residential units, 1.4 million square feet of retail, 500,000 square feet of office and — of course — 526,000 square feet of industrial space. 

The project has been controversial with conservationists and others who have opposed an expansion of Miami-Dade’s urban development boundary, and final approvals from county officials are still required. It also could test Easton’s ability to balance the speed and local expertise he values as a family-run outfit  against the corporate cultures of his partners.

— Francisco Alvarado