Miami’s Design District: from “Dump” to Shopping Mecca

Miami Luxe

Craig Robins, CEO of Design District co-owner Dacra, began accumulating buildings in the area in the late 1990s, transforming a patch of largely abandoned furniture showrooms that were "unrenovated and a dump," he said. Robins estimates that he paid around $15 million for about half of the Design District… Based on the district's roughly 1 million square feet, that suggests the entire property would have a valuation of around $4 billion.

The Eternal Glamour of the #ArtDeco Beach House

A hundred years ago, architects all over the world upped anchor and sailed into an era of maritime fantasy. Seduced by the smooth lines, painted steel, portholes and ribbon windows of cruise ships, many built the finest houses of the 1920s and 1930s on beaches. 

They gazed out to sea as if longing for the nautical glamour of the transatlantic liner, just as shipping companies were vying to create the most lavish interiors, the sleekest profiles, the classiest balls and the fastest crossings. 

It was the era of seaside architecture, an evocation of sunshine and bracing fresh air — and it set the standard for coastal living. In the 2020s and around the world, there is a new appreciation of a style that still influences what is built on waterfronts. 

Art Deco by the Sea, a new exhibition at the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich, explores that brief flourishing in Britain. But the UK was just a corner. From Miami to Havana, Puerto Rico to Biarritz, Cape Town to Los Angeles, local versions of Art Deco sprang up in the most desirable seaside neighbourhoods.

See The whole article on the FT here: httpshttps://www.ft.com/content/f99a2ecc-525f-11ea-a1ef-da1721a0541e

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Incredible #Miami Artist @JMargulis

#JMargulis https://www.instagram.com/j.margulis

Incredible art from Miami artist, the Venezuelan @JMargulis in @VoyageMIAmag 

http://voyagemia.com/interview/meet-j-margulis-j-margulis-visual-artist-wynwood-area/

Meet J. Margulis of J.Margulis Visual Artist

Voyagemia StaffFebruary 15, 2018

Today we'd like to introduce you to J. Margulis.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don't you give us some details about you and your story.
I began my career as an artist through photography while studying Management in my native Venezuela. I was working at the time in a family-run business exploring digital printing and later in life, I decided to apply my professional skills to art making, as I progressively became interested in sculpture. Today, my artwork is the result of an intrinsic connection between two and three -dimensional planes, working with sculpture in parallel with photography.

I began producing acrylic 3D sculptures and compositions made from different types of colorful plastic sheets, affixing them onto surfaces, other times as free-standing structures or traditional fixtures on a wall. As a direct consequence of these productions, I began photographing my pieces as a way of documenting them, thereby generating a significant volume of autonomous photographic work which created an intimate connection between the photograph and its related piece, developing a visual yet independent dialogue through language, photography, and sculpture.

At the same time I was supporting myself through custom work I did in my acrylic shop, furniture, displays and any job I could make using my skills and equipment. One day a friend of mine from childhood was in town, he used to be the director of an Art Museum in California and even though I had a long time without talking to him I send him a message and ask him to come over and take a look at my work. I was not even showing my work at that time, I just had this small collection of pieces created by me which I felt where good enough for me to dream of having an Artist career. (something I dream about all my life and honestly felt it was not going to happen in this lifetime of mine).

I needed an opinion from someone I respect and trust given the subjective nature of art critique. I already had a family with two children at that time and could not afford to play the artist, I had a big responsibility but the urge to create, the ability to express myself with a clear voice was so overwhelming that I only need one encouraging word that would unlock my vision to give me license to dream of truly becoming a professional artist. And so it happens that one afternoon my friend swing by and took one look at my small collection of pieces and he could not believe these were the first pieces I ever made…

He took me under his wing and prepare my first show which obviously took many people by surprise, a lot of people did not believe in me and look at me as if I was a bit crazy but the show was a great success and so my artist career began and I never look back. On the contrary, I just spring forward working like a madman, evolving, growing and developing this new sense of myself. It's been several years from that time and I still have this feeling of gratitude, this sense of purpose and obligation to become the very best version of myself. Very few people get to do what the love the most in life, the possibility of realization is not a given and when you are lucky enough to find it specially when you thought it was too late for it then you know you must honor it every day for the rest of your life.

Has it been a smooth road?
As a struggling artist many times you must take another paying job we all have hear this before but the truth is that not being able to work on your Art is one of the most miserable feeling you can have, it just feels like a great waste of time. When you are an artist you know that transcendence, redemption and the ability to deeply communicate with other human beings only can be realize through art.

To sell an art piece more than the money you get to spend is a promise that you can keep making art and maybe if you sell enough you will be able to do it all day and everyday of your life…. that is a dream worth taking risks, exposing yourself and revealing without fear your most intimate essence.

It's a road full of uncertainty and many discouraging moments, disappointments and self doubt. But when you know this is your mission in life, when you know there is anything else that can take you to developing your full potential then you become a survivor and find the way to push forward and have faith in yourself.

So let's switch gears a bit and go into the J.Margulis Visual artist story. Tell us more about the business.
I believe that courage, empathy, and kindness are all ingredients in a powerful and elusive formula, which arms us with a clean and ever-sharpening lens that catches fleeting glimpses of our true nature. Small fractions of divine understanding that reverberate in our essence with the power to shape our deepest beliefs and completely change our perspectives, and so, the way we act in the unfolding of our own existence.

My work is about the physical representation of this belief. I digitally design 3-D objects and compositions, and cut them in slices from different types of plastic sheet materials. These slices are then fixed to a rigid canvas, a pedestal or held together in space. Most of my work is done using acrylic sheets with different levels of translucency in a range of colors, graphic patterns, textures and photographic images directly printed on the sheets' surfaces. The bright and fully saturated color palettes to which I instinctively gravitate to, is heavily influenced by the traditional Mexican arts and crafts which made a great impact on me during the time that I lived there.

I treat my three-dimensional pieces as light traps or secret blueprints, in which by controlling the placement of its components, I'm able to create intriguing 3-D containers. Their designs are then fully revealed by applying or "pouring" light into them. In a sense, light becomes the ink that reveals the design by following a 3-D template. The light source may vary from natural to one or more fixtures, placed on precise locations in relationship to the subject, with specific power, color temperature, angle and proximity.

These exposed patterns and designs are not absolutes or unique because as the viewer changes his point of view, the work expresses a different narrative that is completely new in its own essence. It intrigues and fascinates me how the object mutates in front of me, with no other resource but a simple change of perspective. Going back and forth naturally, I try to synthesize and integrate different perceptions that coexist as different facets of an object.

Every time, I find myself trying to lock that seemingly unreal angle in which we are able to contemplate the amazing connections among complex layers of facts, prejudices, and beliefs; that "sometimes surreal" frame in which we discover how easily we could be absolutely wrong and misjudge everything that surrounds us, while tragicomically posing ourselves as proud holders of truth and owners of higher grounds.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I think that the future is already here. Social media and online gallery platforms has created this scenario where there is a personal and direct relationship between the artist and the audience.

Right now anyone can truly get to know an artist by following his or her development on a continuous basis through social media images and the artist expressed ideas and thoughts. There is this virtual conversation in which art gets infused into people's daily life. You can talk to the artist, you can tell them what you like, what you don't like, celebrate the success or critique the shortcomings there is this amazing relationship potential not only with the art but with the artist itself.

Contact Info:

• Address: 710 NW 55 Street, Miami FL 33127
• Website: www.jmargulis.com
• Phone: 3055885155
• Email: jm@jmargulis.com
• Instagram: @j.margulis artist

Getting in touch: VoyageMIA is built on recommendations from the community; it's how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

@MasterLiving

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Miami looks to Renters to Fuel its recovery

Miami Renters Fuel a Boomlet - WSJ.com

By ARIAN CAMPO-FLORES

MIAMI—When the real estate market collapsed five years ago, this city's downtown soon became an emblem of the worst excesses of the building boom. Glittering new towers sat mostly vacant.

Those towers are filling up much sooner than some analysts predicted. The new arrivals, mostly renters, are spurring the establishment of restaurants, bars and shops. Streets that once grew desolate at the end of the workday now buzz with residents walking dogs and dining at outdoor tables.

"I never expected it would be as vibrant as it is today," said Andres del Corral, a 30-year-old commercial real estate broker who moved to the area three years ago.

Downtown Miami Rebounds

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Jason Henry for The Wall Street Journal

The Epic, a new residential and hotel tower, sits in the heart of downtown Miami.

• More photos and interactive graphics

A February report by the Miami Downtown Development Authority found that 85% of new condo units, those built since 2003, were occupied, up from 74% in 2010 and 62% in 2009. The residential population of downtown—which, broadly defined, stretches from the emerging Wynwood arts neighborhood in the north to the gritty Central Business District to the flashier Brickell financial district in the south—now numbers about 70,000, compared with 40,000 a decade ago. Another 10,000 people are expected to move in by 2014, according to the Development Authority.

Ambitious new projects are on the way. In April, Hong Kong-based Swire Propertiesunveiled plans for Brickell CitiCentre, a five-million-square-foot development with a hotel, residences, office towers and retail outlets. Construction is expected to begin next year. Last week, Genting Malaysia Berhad, of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, announced a deal to buy 14 acres of waterfront property where the Miami Herald building currently sits. The company plans to build a complex with restaurants, entertainment venues and, if the Florida legislature authorizes it, casino gambling.

Nationwide, the housing sector continues to suffer—figures released Tuesday showed that home prices fell 4.2% in the first quarter—and whether Miami's momentum will continue, leading to the 24-hour city that downtown boosters dream of, is unclear. Miami-Dade County's 13.2% unemployment rate, the second-highest in a state hard hit overall by the economic downturn, remains a drag on the local economy. And the region continues to reel from the mortgage foreclosure crisis.

"The [downtown] market on the surface appears to be doing really well," said Glenn H. Gregory, senior vice president at commercial brokerage firm Jones Lang LaSalle. "The question is whether that will be sustainable."

Many buyers are investors who plan to unload their properties eventually, said Peter Zalewski, principal at real estate consultancy Condo Vultures LLC. Mr. Zalewski's question is: "Will they dump at the same time?" That would depress prices, potentially reversing the area's revival.

Condo sales here began surging after property owners slashed prices about two years ago, sometimes by 50% or more. That lured hordes of international buyers, including Brazilians and Venezuelans, who often pay entirely in cash. Fewer than 4,000 out of the 22,000 new units built since 2003 remain unsold, according to Condo Vultures.

At the Icon Brickell, a luxurious three-tower complex that for many came to epitomize the height of the speculative frenzy, more than 80% of the units have been sold, according to Fortune International, which markets the units. Sales are averaging 47 units a month.

In the past year, prices for new condos downtown have begun ticking up, from $298 a square foot in 2009 to $304 in 2010, according to Condo Vultures.

Residents say downtown is more animated than ever. When Geri Fischman moved to the area from South Beach three years ago, the nightlife options were scant. Now Ms. Fischman, 28, has a slew of them within walking distance, including db Bistro Moderne, the new Miami outpost of famed chef Daniel Boulud. Coming soon across the street from her place: a Whole Foods supermarket and a luxury movie theater. "I can't remember the last time I went to South Beach," she said.

As young professionals and families move in, the area's vibe has changed. Bayfront Park in the Central Business District now has free yoga classes three times a week. Parents pushing strollers are a common sight.

"A few years ago, you couldn't be here at night without dogs and guns," said William Richey, an attorney who lives in the CBD, while dining one recent evening at Trë, a new bistro. "Now it's full of life."

The newcomers have encouraged new businesses to open—38 in 2010, according to the Downtown Development Authority. Another 27 are currently planned for this year.

Many existing establishments have changed their mix of merchandise to appeal to a younger, more affluent demographic. At La Epoca, a department store in the CBD, clothing racks that once featured Levi's denims now have Diesel jeans and Hugo Boss shirts. "Sales keep growing each year," said owner Tony Alonso.

Downtown still has a way to go, especially the CBD, which remains crammed with grubby storefronts. "It's a bit of a mud hole," said Tony Goldman, a longtime developer who helped transform South Beach and is now considering investing downtown.

Development Authority officials are working on a master plan for the district. They recently helped organize a gathering of business leaders in the CBD to hear a presentation by Mr. Goldman, who outlined his vision for a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood centered on its historic buildings.

"It could be this fabulous oasis," Mr. Goldman said in an interview. "I think it's never been more ripe."

Write to Arian Campo-Flores at Arian.Campo-Flores@wsj.com

Miami Renters Fuel a Boomlet - WSJ.com

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