Doral

Luigi Boria, minister and millionaire, runs for Doral mayor

 

Former Doral councilman Luigi Boria, a self-made millionaire and ordained minister, says ‘I expect to win because I have worked hard.’

 

Luigi Boria, candidate for Doral mayor, sings alongside his wife Graciela Boria at the Alpha and Omega church on Nov. 18.
Luigi Boria, candidate for Doral mayor, sings alongside his wife Graciela Boria at the Alpha and Omega church on Nov. 18.
Alexia Fodere / Para El Nuevo Herald
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By Enrique Flor

Of the $494,000 of his campaign funds, $389,000 came from his own pocket, according to campaign filings.

The younger Borias have apparently inherited their father’s entrepreneurial spirit.

Public records show that in May his children — Alexander and María Lorena, 29 and 25 respectively — created Grand Floridian at Doral, LLC, in partnership with Juan Carlos Tovar, a young Venezuelan entrepreneur. The corporation owns 12 acres from 107th Avenue and 66th Street in northwest Doral and five acres in Homestead.

Alexander Boria said that he plans to build a development of 40 single-family homes on the Doral land, which cost close to $6 million.

Bolaños criticized Boria for not disclosing what he called “a potential conflict of interests” during a council discussion of the land adjacent to the Boria property.

Educational entrepreneur Luis Machado plans to build a charter school there, a prospect that could add to the marketability of nearby neighborhoods.

When the charter school issue came before the council, Boria left the meeting and did not vote.

Bolaños says that Boria should have publicly disclosed why he left the meeting.

“He should have explained it clearly,” he said.

Boria, elected to the Doral council in 2010, said that he reported the issue to the city attorney. Former councilman Pete Cabrera, who lost a run-off slot to Bolaños by only 73 votes in the Nov. 6 general election, also took Boria to task on the issue during the heated campaign season.

Cabrera nonetheless announced his support of Boria earlier this month.

And Boria has also nabbed other potentially key endorsements — those of former Miami mayors Joe Carollo, who also attends the Alpha and Omega church with Boria, and Maurice Ferré, who announced his support Saturday on local AM radio station Actualidad 1020.

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