Joining the ranks of major givers in Miami, developer Jorge Pérez has pledged to donate $35 million in cash and art from his personal collection to the new Miami Art Museum, which will bear his name when it opens in two years.

The donation includes $5 million that Pérez has already pledged and partially paid; an additional $15 million for the capital campaign and $15 million worth of Latin American art to be chosen by the museum.

“My reaction is stunned gratitude,” said museum director Thom Collins. “Stunned because this campaign was kicked off in a very, very rosy economy and this project was kicked off in a rosy economy. This is not a very rosy economy.”

The economic downturn has been difficult too for Pérez, whose Related Group became emblematic of the real estate boom and bust. The bust part of the cycle cost his company $1 billion, and Related was forced to negotiate deals with all of its lenders before emerging from the crash with plans to start building again.

“I’m very happy for him, given everything that he’s been through the last couple of years,” said Ricky Arriola, a member of the museum’s board. “He’s still standing. I think it’s got to be a great feeling for him to be in this position to be able to do this.”

The gift, to be paid in full over the next 10 years, brings the fundraising total to $167million for the museum’s new home next to Biscayne Bay, including $100 million in county bond money. The Herzog & de Meuron-designed structure, inspired by Miami’s Stiltsville, is set to open in late 2013.

When it does, it will be called the Jorge M. Pérez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County, or the Pérez Art Museum of Miami for short.

Pérez stayed silent on his gift Thursday, granting no interviews but releasing a joint statement with the museum.

“Miami Art Museum’s commitment to assembling one of the world’s leading collections of contemporary art reflects my own desire for Miami to continue to grow as an international cultural destination,” he said. “My hope is that the collection I am donating to the museum, along with the gift for the museum’s new building campaign, will enhance its role as a place where locals and visitors come together to experience an expansive collection of contemporary art, including our community’s finest works, and become educated in the global visual arts.”

Aaron Podhurst, chair of the museum’s board of trustees, said Pérez approached him in September about making the donation.

“I said, ‘Jorge, it’s got to be synonymous with other gifts in this community,’” Podhurst said in an interview Thursday. “I said, ‘You’ve got to do $35 million too.’ ”

A $35 million gift from billionaire entrepreneur Phillip Frost and his wife, Patricia, will see the Miami Science Museum renamed the Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science when its new building opens in 2014. The couple also gave a $33 million naming gift to the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami in 2003 and a $2 million naming gift to the Frost Museum of Art at Florida International University in 2002.

In 2008, businesswoman and philanthropist Adrienne Arsht gave $30 million to the county’s performing arts center in 2008, now called the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County.