Developer Gil Dezer is elevating Miami’s real estate market one luxury project at a time
This month’s “Rainmaker” knows a thing or two about rising to the top of Miami’s booming real estate scene. Here are a few facts about Dezer Development president, Gil Dezer.
VITALS
45. Gil Dezer may have been born into a real estate family, but it was his unrelenting drive that paved the glitzy boulevard to his development dynasty. Born and raised in the Northeast, Dezer remembers learning all about real estate at the dinner table from his father, Michael, a real estate investor. Michael was also the visionary who set up the company for long-term success by purchasing numerous acres of oceanfront property in Sunny Isles Beach back in the 80s. But it wasn’t until Dezer, then only 34, founded the development company that the family cemented itself as one of Miami’s iconic developers.
NO SHORTAGE HERE
Thanks to the patriarch’s passion for real estate, Dezer Development now has a tremendous land bank. So unlike other developers who may not know where their next site will be, Dezer owns plenty of property in developable locations.
“The future is clear and spelled out, we have enough land to keep on building for the next 25 years, and that’s assuming we’re not going to buy anything. We have a long-term plan that we will be executing.”
For now the company runs hotels or rental properties on that land until Dezer is ready to pull the trigger on the next development.
A BRAND NAME
Dezer learned early in his career that aligning himself with a prominent brand was crucial. It gave him credibility, elevated his marketing, expanded his customer base and thus was a catalyst for an explosion in sales. His first foray into branded residences was with the Trump brand. That tremendous success opened doors for other brands, like Porsche and Armani, to see Dezer’s dependability, resilience, ingenuity and vision for luxury. The Residences by Armani/Casa is the fashion house’s first U.S. property, and it’s delivering a variety of unique amenities like an unrivaled spa, movie theater complete with plush Armani lounge chairs and a private restaurant. “We didn’t realize how important (these amenities) really are until we have a situation like we just went through and then they become essential.”
GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENTS
“My children.”
ON THE ROAD
While his father is a car-collecting fanatic who owns more than 1,000 and created the Dezer Collection Auto Museum, Dezer likes to drive his cars instead of keeping them on display. His favorites these days include a Porsche 911 Turbo, Bugatti Veyron and Porsche 918 Spyder.
JUST SO YOU KNOW
When asked to name one thing that most people don’t know about him he quickly replies, “I’m actually a nice guy!”
BACK TO THE FUTURE
Just walking into the Porsche Design Tower or Residences by Armani/Casa you can see the level of dedication and foresight Dezer brings to a property so we can only image what’s up his sleeve for his next development. His team’s endearing nickname for him is the mad scientist because he’s always working behind the scenes creating new concepts. “We’re in the big leagues and we do it right. People have taken notice of that.” And that’s paving the way for his future partnerships. One in particular, which he couldn’t name before this issue went to print but could confirm that, “the deal with the brand is signed, but it’s such a big brand we don’t control the release. The next one is going to be game-changing!”