Michael Shvo

Michael Shvo has never lacked for moxie.

After an enormously successful career as a residential broker in New York in the early 2000s, Shvo refashioned himself as a developer and an owner, and in a relatively short period of time has made some seriously bold moves: He purchased 711 Fifth Avenue in 2019 (aka, the Coca-Cola Building) for $955 million; he purchased the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco in 2020 for $650 million (speaking of which, there’s a big rededication at the property this spring); he bought the Big Red skyscraper in Chicago for $376 million; he built Mandarin Orientals on Fifth Avenue and in Beverly Hills; and he brought the Aman brand to New York’s Crown Building.

It should therefore be no surprise that at a moment when a lot of attention in the world of real estate falls in South Florida Shvo would get in on the action.

First up, The Raleigh, the 1940s hotel that Shvo and architect Peter Marino are reimagining for 2024 as a 60-key and 44-residence project. “We’ve started sales and we’re getting extremely, extremely high numbers,” ranging from $4,000 to $12,000 per square foot, Shvo said.

Shvo tapped Norman Foster to design The Alton, a 170,000-square-foot, ground-up office building, with another 17,000 square feet of retail and five luxury residences at the foot of Lincoln Road.

But that’s not the only office. Shvo returned to Marino to design One Soundscape Park — “It’s the office version of The Raleigh,” Shvo said. The 60,000-square-foot project is where Shvo is putting his Miami offices. He said one prospective tenant told him, “It’s like working in a Chanel store.”

Of course, none of that means Shvo is finished in Florida. “I’m trying to buy another site,” Shvo told Commercial Observer. We expect nothing less.