On the chilly morning of Jan. 24, a jubilant group of real-estate enthusiasts gathered at the Mayfair House Hotel & Garden for CREW Miami’s first event of the year, an Economic Forecast Breakfast.
Attendees were warmly greeted to a dining hall with breakfast food and drinks. With a nice cup of joe, everyone began conversations on a topic they all knew best: Miami’s booming Commercial Real Estate Industry (CRE).
MIAMI ON THE RISE
The event’s featured speaker, Spencer Levy, global client strategist and senior economic advisor at Coldwell Banker Richard Ellis (CBRE,) provided a forward-looking analysis of the macro and microeconomic factors that influence the industry.
Levy motivated the group to push forward with development in Miami, stressing that the current socioeconomic conditions create a prime opportunity to take action.
“It is not, ‘If you build it, they will come.’ You build it where they want to be, where they need to be, and this is where they need to be,” he said during his presentation.
Levy emphasized how Miami has scored highly on his “five pillars of awesome,” which are: talent, live-work-play, ease of regulatory burden, foreign capital, and infrastructure. According to Levy, some factors include Miami’s 1.4 monthly mass-transit riders; 475,000 foreign-language speakers, 6 times more than any other city in the country; and the high number of yearly visitors in South Florida, with 44 million visitors in 2018.
He adds how some of San Francisco’s most influential developers are investing in Miami’s Wynwood district due to it being one of the fastest growing submarkets in the U.S and the booming tech talent in the area.
“The submarket is everything,” Levy said. “You need to be at the places that have the deepest pools of talent. Tech talent is not all the talent in the world, but it's a good proxy. This is one area where South Florida can really move the needle by having a greater concentrate creation of talent in the STEM areas, so they can compete with some of those other cities that have more.”
CAREER ADVANCEMENT
Opening remarks were conducted by Josie Legido Correo, CREW Miami’s new president and director of business development at JWR Construction Services.
In an interview with Biscayne Times, Correa explained that the organization offers a strong network that has helped women advance their careers, including her own.
“I joined the [CREW] committee because I recognize that the way you build really strong relationships with people is when you get to work with them one-on-one,” Correa said, referring to her transition from membership to becoming a committee member at CREW. “The reason people join organizations like this is to build strong relationships that will ultimately lead to business opportunities.”
Correa has been involved with CREW since 2019, effectively upscaling her leadership position in the organization while simultaneously advancing her construction company’s goals.
“I'm seeing a lot of opportunities coming and landing before me that I would not have if I were not in the position that I am with CREW,” she said.
In being the president of CREW and taking the role of vouching for others and helping them grow in the field, she has also helped her company become more recognized.
“It's been a game changer,” she said. “People know I represent JWR in meetings and all our events. The amount of brand recognition that I’ve been able to get for the company has been invaluable because even though they've done a lot of projects in South Florida in general, now they've got brand recognition in Miami.”
ORGANIZATIONAL GOALS
Founded in 1987, CREW Miami aims to empower women in CRE and connect them with business opportunities in the city.
Correa said that one of CREW’s active goals is to recruit members to the committee. Membership is open to anyone with at least one year of CRE experience through an application process that is reviewed by the board of directors and includes access to monthly networking and educational events.
Correa added that CREW also accepts a few memberships a year from vendor companies.
"Those are companies that cater to commercial real estate," she explained. "For example, it could be a business that provides kitchen cabinets, one that supplies tiles, or a janitorial company servicing commercial buildings. However, we limit the number of those allowed each year.
Correa said CREW also hosts events that teach skills to become effective leaders and what it takes to run the organization.
“If you're running a committee, you can't do all the work yourself,” said Correa. “So, you basically have to take a committee and you have to be a leader. You have to know how to delegate, and you have to know how to put people in the right positions for them to help you get to that goal as a committee.”
According to Correa, CREW also focuses on building personal growth.
“We have a mentorship program as well that's phenomenal,” Correa said. “I mean, most people would pay for something like that, and that's one of those benefits that you get by being a member.”
The organization also has a scholarship program through its CREW Network Foundation that supports female university students and guides them toward a career in CRE.
“The purpose of that is to empower women and to give them a leg up, in terms of opportunities, getting those leadership skills on, and learning from other women in the industry,” said Correa.
CREW Miami will host their next event on Feb. 19. For more information, visit CREWMiami.org.