Like these entrepreneurs, observers say, the Figaros are taking a calculated risk to invest in hard assets, which require a longer than usual payback period in a country that has been unstable in the past, and whose private sector suffered $2.7 billion in losses in the quake, according to a survey by the sector’s Economic Forum.

“The Figaros are a model,” said prominent Haitian economist Kesner Pharel, because of the brothers’ alliance “with international firms to bring the know-how and the best practices in the construction field in Haiti.”

Haiti’s growth, Pharel said, isn’t just limited by economics, but also by the small size of its construction companies. As a result, most have lost out on the few available post-quake contracts, mostly to Dominican firms, because they lack the capacity and technical skills.

“We need some great re-engineering in order to become more competitive,” Pharel said.

Unlike many of Haiti’s post-quake construction projects, however, Genesis has no donor dollars. The little foreign input comes by way of its design, the international building codes to ensure that it can sustain any future quake with little or no damage and use of the Miami-Dade County hurricane code.

“This is about reinventing our image, and trying to show the world that Haitians can build too, and they can build something that is earthquake resistant and to the right standards,” said Greg Figaro, 42, who left his healthcare consultancy business in Boston to join Arcotec as executive chairman.

It’s also about reinventing the way business has been traditionally done in a country that continuously ranks at the bottom of the International Finance Corporation’s Doing Business Survey. For instance, to attract investors, the brothers formed a development company. There also is a board of directors to share in strategic decision-making.

“There is a new generation in many of these family-owned groups that has come to understand the country cannot be developed without the majority of the population being a part of it,” said Ary Naim, Haiti and Dominican Republic country head for the IFC, the World Bank’s private sector arm. “They understand that everything they do has to be sustainable and inclusive.”

The IFC has a $55 million investment portfolio in Haiti with several private sector partners, including the Oasis and E-Power.

While unfamiliar with the Genesis project, Naim said Haiti’s private sector remains its biggest asset, especially for sorely needed job creation.

Still, some question the wisdom of building in Delmas, a particularly hard-hit city that has become known more for its densely populated sprawling slums and traffic congestion than its redevelopment potential.

Owned by the Figaro family for decades, the Genesis site was first developed in the 1970s by family patriarch Gérard Figaro. Haiti was transitioning from father to son in the brutal Duvalier dictatorship and textiles were the new market. A visionary, Figaro transformed the site into the headquarters for Citibank and Texaco.

Soon, the Imperial Movie Theater arrived across the street in the mostly underdeveloped, wooded area of residential homes of well-to-do families. Years later, Sogebank built its iconic sleek and modern headquarters. The boom then turned to bust, and a lack of zoning laws gave way to slums and urban sprawl.

Texaco left. Citibank stayed but the T-shaped building partially collapsed in the quake, killing several Citibank employees.

The brothers faced a quandary: walk away or use the property once again inspire development.

“It’s exactly the dream that my dad had,” said Rudy Figaro, 52, who returned to Haiti last year to head Arcotec as COO after 25 years as a software engineer in Boston. “He achieved it, from 1971 to ‘75. There wasn’t anything in that area, just a road. For us, doing something like this represents the same thing, several decades later.”

But it hasn’t been easy. Everything from the soil to the weather to finding workers capable of constructing such an intricate building has been a challenge, say the Figaros. For months the project was delayed because both the site and neighboring property were occupied by quake victims.

During the recent rainy season, the 120 workers on the morning shift began every day by pumping flood water off the site. “I learn every day and what I learn I share with my people,” Patrick Figaro said on a recent morning.

At least a dozen workers are former tent dwellers and previously jobless. Others like Prevy Docteur are returnees from the nearby Turks and Caicos. “Coming here every day, I am happy,” said Docteur, who supervises a crew of carpenters. “There are a lot of people in Haiti with knowledge and who can work. All that’s missing is the opportunity.”