Megacollector Jorge Perez Steps Back From Real Estate Business

Pérez will turn his attention to collecting and philanthropy.

Jorge Pérez at the Pérez Art Museum of Miami (PAMM). Paula Bustamante/AFP/Getty Images.

Miami megacollector and philanthropist Jorge Pérez, whose support led to the renaming of a Miami museum after him, plans to hand over control of his real estate firm to his sons as soon as “a few years from now.” The man known as the Condo King said he hopes to wind down his involvement with The Related Group so that he can turn his attention to his art collection, travel, and further philanthropy.

Pérez’s son Jon Paul, 31, works for The Related Group from the firm’s Miami headquarters, while Nicholas, 28, works for the New York developer Related Cos., an independent company that works with the Related Group on some projects.

“They’ll keep on earning their place in the company, and of course my hope would be that they would come to run the company a few years from now,” Perez told Bloomberg. He said he will be able to “act much more as sort of the true chairman of the company and do some of the things that I want to do.”

South Florida real estate expert Peter Zalewski suggests to Bloomberg that the slowdown in the housing market due to reduced buying power of South American buyers may have prompted the timing of Pérez’s decision, allowing him to get out before a downturn.

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The Pérez Art Museum Miami. Courtesy Pérez Art Museum Miami.

The Argentine-born developer’s philanthropy has changed the face of the arts in his adopted hometown. In December 2011, Pérez donated $20 million to what was then the Miami Art Museum to support the construction of the institution’s Herzog & de Meuron-designed building. He also bolstered its collection by donating $20 million in Latin American art. In recognition of his generosity the museum changed its name to the Jorge M. Pérez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County.


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