David Martin

For nearly 23 years, David Martin’s Terra has set the standard for commercial real estate development in Miami. From its initial specialization in single-family homes and townhouses to its glass-encased convention centers and luxurious multifamily communities that define neighborhoods, Terra has never wavered from its central thesis: It’s all about South Florida. 

The firm is strictly focused on the three south Florida counties, and particularly Miami Beach, Downtown Miami, and Coconut Grove within the Miami metro. Moreover, Martin is asset-class agnostic, so he builds garden-style multifamily, grocery stores, high-rise residential towers, retail centers, office buildings and multi-tenant mall spaces. 

“So it’s the opposite of what they taught you in school: no geographic diversity and in every asset class rather than one,” Martin said. “But it’s been great. We take a neighborhood strategy.” 

The neighborhood-focused strategy is intimately connected to improving the local communities in which his projects reside. For instance, Grove Central, a 402-unit, 170,000-square-foot, mixed-use residential and retail project in Coconut Grove, is primarily focused on utilizing the nearby local metro rail station that opened in 1984 and adding workforce housing to the area. 

“The overall thesis is: How do we bring people closer to transit and how do we make transit more accessible to people? And how do we make transit more inviting?” said Martin, who is also contributing to a new 10-mile linear park in Miami called The Underline. ”What South Florida needs is to think about mass transit and how we can connect neighborhoods and accessibility, and not only think about the spine but the ribs that connect the people in cities.” 

Martin, a lifelong Floridian, believes that doing good for the community is ultimately good for the bottom line of a real estate developer. 

“If you could find a formula where doing something for the community is good business that’s sustainable, that’s one of the stories of capitalism,” he said. “It takes a little longer — and you need to be more thoughtful and engaged with neighborhoods you’re building in — but it’s more rewarding. And at the end of the day, enhancing and improving the community improves the asset, as well.”