GlobalMiami 2024-Doral Special Report

THE

CITY OF DORAL THE LOGISTICS HUB OF GREATER MIAMI

Doral City Hall

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WORLD-CLASS C U LT U R A L EVENTS

A P L A C E R I C H I N C U LT U R E , C U I S I N E A N D C O M M U N I T Y. Downtown Doral is a place where town

management firm based in Coral Gables, FL

meets city and culture meets community. A

is the developer of Downtown Doral.

vibrant confluence of culture and commerce

The $1 billion, 250-acre mixed-use infill

combining homes, offices, an award-winning

development that has transformed a

school, local restaurants and shops that

decades-old office park into the heart of

offer a new quality of life—totally walkable,

one of the fastest growing cities in the

connected, and artfully designed. Codina

United States was first conceptualized

Partners, a distinguished real estate

by Codina Partners in the early 2000s,

development, investment, and property

the master-planned community creates a

O AT E D CHOOLS

OVER TEN INTERACTIVE A R T I N S TA L L AT I O N S

PREMIUM LIFESTYLES

walkable and bike-friendly urban center

Cooper Carry and more to create the

complete with more than 40 retail stores

feeling of a true, urban yet sophisticated

and restaurants, 150,000 square feet of

downtown. Every detail of the community—

Class-A office space, 5,000 residential units

from the design elements, to the

at completion, the top-rated Downtown

materials used, to the carefully curated

Doral Charter Elementary School and

retailers chosen to set up shop, and the

Downtown Doral Charter Upper School,

hand-chosen, original artwork proudly

a world-class Ambulatory Center by

displayed for public enjoyment—has been

UHealth, Doral Government Center, the

meticulously planned. Codina Partners

Doral Cultural Arts Center, and public green

enlisted the services of the best and

space—host to South Florida’s largest array

brightest minds in the industry and spared

of outdoor interactive art.

no expense to create a family-friendly

Codina Partners tapped designers such

community offering a true lifestyle campus

as Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Sieger Suarez,

that seamlessly blends urban and suburban.

DOR AL REPORT

DORAL: Logistics Hub Now 20 years old, Doral has blossomed into an international logistics center for Greater Miami – and a vibrant city in its own right.

BY YOUSRA BENKIRANE

When Ramon Mareno launched his fish importing company west of Miami International Airport 25 years ago, the area was a sparsely settled swath of unincorporated Miami-Dade County. Like other businesses in the area, he was attracted by low land cost and proximity to the airport.

He started with a small warehouse and truck, then opened a fish market, and then expanded to a larger warehouse.

Fast forward to today. Mareno’s Heads or Tails Inc. now offers 250 different types of fresh, frozen, and salted seafood products from Nicaragua, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Trinidad, Turkey, Chile, Indonesia, Canada, and Norway — all coming to Miami then redistributed throughout the United States. His warehouse has grown to 15,000 square feet, with cold storage capabilities.

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for Global Miami

We never thought we would move to Doral but the fact that you can have your business and live three minutes away is a huge plus. And it's a beautiful city.

RAMON MARENO, CENTER, FOUNDED HIS FISH IMPORTING COMPANY, HEADS OR TAILS INC., 25 YEARS AGO, IN WHAT BECAME DORAL. SHOWN ABOVE IS THE COMPANY'S LOADING DOCKS TODAY

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DOR AL REPORT

It was still just West-Dade at that time. You still had a lot of swamp land and people thought they were crazy...

CHRISTI FRAGA, LEFT, MAYOR OF DORAL, ON HOW DORAL EMERGED AS COMMUNITIES AND CLUBS PICKED UP THE NAME

what really catapulted Doral’s name, but it was still just West-Dade at that time. You still had a lot of swamp land and people thought they were crazy,” says Doral’s mayor, Christi Fraga.

Despite more families moving in, the area lacked essential amenities like stores, schools, and parks. Still, early residents were drawn to the area due to its low density and affordable housing, despite the scarcity of facilities. Traffic was minimal and the landscape was dominated by farms.

Incorporation efforts began in 1995 as residents sought more services. Despite initial setbacks – including legal disputes over the use of the Doral name – the community persisted, eventually achieving incorporation in 2003 after a prolonged battle to secure its own local government. Among the early challenges: The State had tried to charge Doral a mitigation fee when incorporating.

“They basically charge you to exist,” says the founding mayor of Doral and current County Commissioner for District 12 Juan Carlos Bermudez. “So, we took that fight to Tallahassee. It took us three years, but we finally won it and it was a big victory.” If the city were to pay that today, says Bermudez, it would be on the hook for around $25 million a year out of its $85 million budget.

JUAN CARLOS BERMUDEZ, FOUNDING MAYOR OF DORAL

Just as importantly, he now lives in Doral, the city which grew up around him. “If you’re working seven days a week, you don’t want to spend half an hour in a commute. We never thought we would move to Doral but the fact that you can have your business and live three minutes away is a huge plus,” says the CEO. “And it’s a beautiful city.”

THE BIRTH OF A CITY

Moreno’s trajectory as a business owner and resident is a perfect mirror for the inception, growth and now maturity of Doral. It all began almost 75 years ago, when Doris and Alfred Kaskel bought 2,400 acres of swampland for $50,000 in an area where there were more cows and horses than residents. In 1962, Doris and Alfred opened the world-renowned Doral Hotel and Country Club, using a combination of their names.

The club’s name – Doral – became the area’s epithet and for decades defined its identity. In the second year of operation, the Kaskels hosted the first Doral Open Invitational, Florida’s major PGA event. Following changes in ownership over the years, Donald Trump acquired the club in 2012 for $150 million, rebranding it as Trump National Doral Golf Club. Renowned globally for its golf courses, notably the Blue Monster, the club remained a significant destination and hosted the PGA Tour Tournament until 2016.

In the early 1980s, Doral witnessed an initial growth spurt with the development of Doral Estates by Bill Kaskel, the grandson of Doris and Alfred. This was soon followed by a partnership with Lennar Homes to create Doral Park. The naming convention of these communities after the club became a recurring trend. “That’s 8

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VIEW TO DOWNTOWN DORAL WITH THE TRUMP NATIONAL DORAL GOLF CLUB IN THE FOREGROUND

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DOR AL REPORT

Today Doral is a vibrant home to over 75,874 residents, a 77% increase in the last eight years, according to city officials. Residents come from all over, with a notable presence of Hispanics, particularly Venezuelans, Cubans, and Colombians. The Venezuelan community has made up such a large portion of the residents – still almost a third of the city – that it was nicknamed “Doralzuela.”

“The growth that we had from Venezuelans moving here and establishing Doral as their home really helped shape our city,” says Mayor Fraga. The large Spanish-speaking population (95 percent of residents speak Spanish) also encouraged the biggest Spanish-broadcasting network, Univision, to open operations in Doral.

Nor was that firm alone; some 100 multinationals, small and large, now call Doral home, and planned areas like Downtown Doral, City Place Doral, and Midtown Doral have made it a highly attractive destination for living, working, investing, and recreating.

BECOMING A HOME

In 2014, Armando Codina was the first to introduce the concept of a downtown for Doral, though he had been active in the area well before then. As one of South Florida’s most successful – and impactful – developers, Codina had for decades been the largest builder of high-end industrial and office space in the Airport West submarket, part of which would later become Doral.

Today, Codina Partners has or is building 1 million square feet of Class A office space, 5,000 single-family and multifamily housing units, the city’s Government Center and its City Hall, public green spaces, and an upcoming senior living facility. But its largest and 10

DOWNTOWN DORAL IS STILL GROWING, WITH PLANS FOR ADDING MORE RETAIL SHOPS AND RESTAURANTS.

most transformative project is the creation of Downtown Doral.

After a former Kroger office park went bankrupt, Codina saw an opportunity and purchased the 125 acres. “It didn’t take a rocket scientist to think, ‘This is where Doral should have a downtown,’” says Codina, “and I decided I would create it. [So] I went to the founders of the city and I said, ‘Listen you can’t be a city without a downtown. You are an emerging city with no revenue yet, so I will give you a downtown without a penny of city money.” Codina did require some concessions such as the downtown designation, but not a single resident opposed the development.

Now, with the help of partners like Miami-based Arquitectonica (which created the designs), the area has become a mixed-use development known as Downtown Doral, featuring international restaurants like Bulla and Dragonfly. The development is currently still growing, with plans for further retail expansion; when finished it will have more than 70 retail shops and restaurants. With families in mind, Codina also added a tuition-free charter school to be the center of the community and maintain walkability. “The school has been one of the engines of Downtown Doral,” says Codina.

Adding to the city’s cultural mix is the Doral Contemporary Art Museum (DORCAM), which emerged from a grassroots initiative by a group of friends who had been organizing exhibitions in unconventional spaces like warehouses. On the weekends, they’d host pop-up shows for what they called the Art Industry Movement. “In one exhibition, the mayor showed up and I said to him ‘Doral is cool, but you don’t have a museum,’” says Marcelo Llobel, GLOBALMIAMIMAGAZINE.COM

(c1 ;'(

@CityOfDoral

www.cityofdoral.com 11

DOR AL REPORT

Airport, with its massive network of flight connections, especially to Latin America and the Caribbean. It is bound on the east by SR 826 (Palmetto Expressway), on the west by the Florida Turnpike, and to the south by SR 836 (Dolphin Expressway). Its business-friendly environment (with over 150,000 workers) is further enhanced by the presence of the Miami Free Zone, which provides duty-free wareDEVELOPER ARMANDO CODINA OF CODINA PARTNERS, ABOVE house facilities, attracting international trade opportunities.

(RIGHT), WITH DAUGHTER ANA-MARIE CODINA BARLICK (CENTER), THE COMPANY CEO, AT THE OPENING OF PURA VIDA DORAL. “Doral is an industrial hub. All the largest companies in the world have warehouses here,” says Frank Trelles, vice president of TOP RIGHT: THE DOWNTOWN PARK IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF State Street Reality. Regarding warehousing, the city is currently at MAINTAINING PUBLIC GREEN SPACES. 3 percent vacancy compared to the national average of 6 percent.

BELOW RIGHT: DOWNTOWN DORAL IS A VIBRANT AREA FOR EN“Doral is like the star island of warehousing,” says Trelles. NuTERTAINMENT WITH INTERNATIONAL RESTAURANTS merous companies have located in the city to capitalize on the its logistical advantages, from large corporations like DHL, FedEx, and Amazon, to small mom-and-pop businesses. director of the Doral Contemporary Art Museum – aka DORDHL Express has been in Doral since 1987, before the city was CAM. “Having a cultural institution is important.” Established in 2017, “Our contribution is being more accessible for all kinds of art- born. “We first opened our operations in Doral [because] proximity ists, designers, architects, and from different countries,” says Llobel. to the airport was a big draw, but also the number of companies that were moving into the rural area made a lot of sense to us,” says Nemer Abohasen, the company’s general manager for the U.S. “It’s LOGISTICS EPICENTER literally a 10-minute drive from the airport. So that’s facilitated trade tremendously, being able to get to the customers as soon as possible.”

Doral’s economy is characterized by a diverse mix of industries – it Indeed, with Miami – and MIA – having become the gateway is home to over 9,000 businesses – but logistics and trade are the to Latin America, DHL is one of many companies that use Doral bread and butter. There are over 2,600 trade and logistics-related as a strategic location to service the region. The top five export descompanies in Doral, 250 corporate headquarters, and 100 multitinations for DHL Express are Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, national corporations, including numerous Fortune 500 firms. But and Peru. The top five import origins are China, Hong Kong, Great why Doral? The simple answer: location.

The city is strategically located adjacent to Miami International Britain, Colombia, and Brazil.

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to think ‘this is where Doral should have a downtown' and I decided I would create it...

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DOR AL REPORT

Right now, our volumes for freight are huge because it comes in not only through MIA, but on the ocean side with Port Everglades and PortMiami…

BARBARA PIMENTEL PRESIDENT OF CTS GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN SOLUTIONS, SHOWN RIGHT, WITH HEBERT CASTRO, SALES MANAGER FOR CTS

DHL Express also partners with multiple freight forwarders and other international businesses already in Doral; by some measure as much as half the freight volume that moves through the Miami Customs District (i.e. South Florida) ends up in Doral warehouses. “When Miami started growing, the airport started growing, the seaports started growing, so the industry grew and became perfectly suitable for business,” says Hebert Castro, Sales Manager for CTS Global Supply Chain Solutions, a global freight forwarding and logistics company.

CTS recently chose Doral as its first hub for dry cargo, shortly following with cold storage capabilities to take advantage of MIA being the number one U.S. airport for perishable products. “What happens here doesn’t happen in other ports,” says Barbara Pimentel, President of CTS. “Right now, our volumes for freight are huge because it comes in not only through MIA, but on the ocean side with Port Everglades and PortMiami…. It gives us a dynamic of volume of perishables that come through here so that we can capture and tap into that market.” CTS is currently adding operations in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Peru, and Colombia.

Prologis is another global logistics – and real estate – firm that has long been developing warehouses in Doral. In the past year, they have accumulated some 1.2 billion square feet of industrial warehouses across 19 countries, with Doral accounting for 10 million square feet of that space. “From a location perspective, Doral is probably the best on the map to access those [other] important logistics hubs – and then to also be able to distribute from there to the rest of the world,” says Jason Tenenbaum, Prologis Senior Vice President and Market Officer for South Florida. “It’s extremely central and it’s great access.”

Large global firms like FedEx, DHL, and Amazon use Prologis’ warehouses in Doral to reach Latin American markets, but most of Prologis’ Doral tenants are small businesses renting under 10,000 square feet of warehouse space, with 1,000 or fewer employees. This is to Prologis’ advantage; according to Trelles, those lease rates have increased more than the larger spaces in price per square foot.

Many of Prologis’ smaller tenants are in the business of trade, specifically with Latin America and the Caribbean. Most of their owners come from South American descent and/or with visa programs like EB-5, where migrants are granted a visa after investing a certain amount of money. Many end up opening their South American operations in Doral and shortly realize they want to live there, too.

KEEPING IT CHILL

While most of the city’s warehouses do not include cold storage, at least until a tenant comes in and adds it, Doral’s cold storage capabilities are extensive, serving as a vital link in the supply chain.

Especially for the seafood and flower wholesale industries, cold storage ensures the freshness and quality of inventory. With Miami International Airport now the leading U.S. entry point for perishables, having high-quality temperature control capabilities means 14

importers and exporters of perishable products flock to Doral to be as close to the airport as possible.

Heads or Tails Inc., for example, depends on cold storage to maintain the freshness of is seafood imports, which it then distributes through over 120 deliveries a day, mostly to restaurants, fish markets, and Hispanic supermarkets, like the Bravo chain. “Doral is the ideal place for our businesses. It’s strategic and it’s next to the airport. Ninety percent of the fish that we sell comes through MIA, only five minutes away,” says Moreno.

Every day, large volumes of both fish and flowers are unloaded at the airport and then trucked to Doral. Nicknamed “the floral city,” Doral now handles roughly 86 percent of the approximately 4.5 billion fresh-cut flowers imported into the United States every year. “Doral is the floral hub. We have a ginormous airport that is importing fruits and vegetables and all kinds of stuff from all over the world,” emphasizes Fernando Ortega, General Manager of Jet Fresh Flowers (see story pg. 52).

BANKING ON TRADE

With Doral emerging as a world-class destination for commerce and trade, numerous financial institutions are also jumping on board.

In addition to the regional Federal Reserve Bank, the city is home to global financial institutions like Sabadell United Bank, Espírito Santo Bank, City National, Ocean Bank, and U.S. Century Bank.

Last year, Banesco Bank USA opened a new three-story, 16,000-square-foot headquarters housing over 300 employees, centralizing all its offices. Banesco USA is an independent Florida state-chartered bank founded in 2006 with over $3.5 billion in assets and six different business centers in South Florida and Puerto GLOBALMIAMIMAGAZINE.COM

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DOR AL REPORT

Rico. The bank offers international banking and trade financing, mostly catering to international customers for their personal and commercial needs in the U.S. They currently manage over $1.1B in depository balances from clients in Latin America as well as offering mortgage services for nonresidents, providing financing for approved clients from abroad to buy property in South Florida.

The bank is also currently running a multi-lingual campaign to help entrepreneurs navigate the U.S. market and open a company.

“Doral has been constantly growing. There’s always construction and new planned residences,” says Luis Pereda, Senior Vice President Head of International Banking. “So that goes hand in hand with why Banesco moved in. We’re actively looking to invest in the community and to support more business owners in their finances.”

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TOP: DORAL'S LOCATION ADJACENT TO MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT IS THE KEY FOR LOGISTICS. FRANK TRELLES, VICE PRESIDENT OF STATE STREET REALITY, SAYS, "ALL THE LARGEST COMPANIES IN THE WORLD HAVE WAREHOUSES HERE.” ABOVE LEFT: DHL EXPRESS HAS BEEN IN DORAL SINCE 1987, BEFORE THE CITY WAS BORN. NEMER ABOHASEN, THE COMPANY’S GENERAL MANAGER FOR THE U.S. SAYS “IT’S LITERALLY A 10-MINUTE DRIVE FROM THE AIRPORT. SO THAT’S FACILITATED TRADE TREMENDOUSLY, BEING ABLE TO GET TO THE CUSTOMERS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.” ABOVE: PROXIMITY MEANS FRESH SEAFOOD CAN BE DELIVERED QUICKLY FROM MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO COLD STORAGE FACILITIES LIKE HEADS OR TAILS INC. IN DORAL

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DOR AL REPORT

Pride of place, however, goes to U.S. Century Bank, the first bank headquartered in Doral (in 2002). Oscar Gomez, Executive Vice President for Global Banking, attributed the bank’s decision to Doral’s early status as an industrial hub with global companies moving products through the city, and wanting to be near those clients (see story pg. 56).

We had three main goals for our master plan of the city: One, to have more parks. Two was to create a downtown overlay district. And three was to get the medical industry in the city.…

WORLD CLASS HEALTH CARE

THE FOUNDING MAYOR OF DORAL JUAN CARLOS BERMUDEZ, ON THE EARLY VISION FOR INCORPORATING THE CITY OF DORAL.

Another significant addition to the city’s roster of services is healthcare, introduced relatively recently. Healthcare providers like Jackson Health, Baptist Health, and UMHealth have all increased their presence in the city.

In 2021, Jackson West Medical Center became the first academic medical center in Doral. After purchasing 27 acres for $38.5M, the site became an outpatient campus for adult and pediatric patients with a free-standing emergency room, as well as a children’s ambulatory center for specialized pediatric care. At about the same time, Baptist Health Hospital opened in a 43,000 sq. ft. two-story facility offering 24/7 emergency care as well as diagnostic imaging, surgery, inpatient pharmacy, etc. Baptist also has several urgent care centers in the city.

Now, the University of Miami Health (UHealth) is expanding its reach in Doral, completing phase two of its Ambulatory Medical Center Project, UHealth at Doral (the first phase, with urology, oncology, and dermatology services, opened in 2022). The new facility, expected to open in September, will be a six-story, 160,000 sq. ft. center right in the heart of Downtown Doral, providing primary care, cardiology, neurology, and ophthalmology through its No. 1 ranked Bascom Palmer Eye Institute.

According to the university Miami-Dade County is investing $7.7 million in the project, which will total 178,000 square feet

ABOVE: THE NEW UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI HEALTH COMPLEX

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of space between the new building and the existing one. “A lot of families are moving into Doral, and we noticed patients and family members from Doral traveling to UHealth locations across Miami-Dade to seek care. So, it was our mission to bring health care closer to home,” says Vandana Pathak, Assistant Vice President for ambulatory services at the University of Miami Health System.

NAVIGATING THE FUTURE

In many ways, Doral is now becoming a victim of its own success.

Due to the rapid growth in population, urban development, and new businesses, the city is finally beginning to run out of space. “I wish I would have had some foresight to what Doral was going to become as quickly as it happened,” says Mayor Fraga, “As a city, we made some mistakes that right now we’re kind of paying the price for. We did not land bank enough as a city... Even if we wanted to build a public works facility, for example, we don’t have land to do it.”

While that assessment may be a little dire – the city did set aside 78 acres for a massive Doral Central Park – with high demand for its limited remaining supply of space, the cost of operating in GLOBALMIAMIMAGAZINE.COM

WORLD-CLASS HEALTHCARE IS EXPANDING IN DORAL UHealth at Doral is taking leading-edge care to the next level for the benefit of our community.

Located in Downtown Doral and arriving fall 2024, the expansive six-story, 160,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility will feature transformative clinical care across a wide range of services and life-changing results powered by the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine.

Our expert physicians and staff will include those from NCI–designated Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, the #1 eye hospital in the nation.

UHealth at Doral will also deliver the latest in urologic treatments from the highly acclaimed Desai Sethi Urology Institute.

UHealth at Doral will offer:

Cardiology • Dermatology • Endocrinology • Executive Medicine • GI/Endoscopy • Gynecology Interventional Radiology • Oncology • Ophthalmology • Orthopaedics • Otolaryngology (ENT) Primary Care • Radiation Oncology • Surgical Oncology • Urology Women’s Services • And more

UHealthatDoral.com

DOR AL REPORT

Doral has increased dramatically. Today, according to Trelles of State Street Realty, the average cost of warehousing in Doral is a minimum of $300 a square foot. Before COVID, it was at $110 a square foot. “When these prices went up so high, it pushed a lot of the smaller companies out of the market,” says Trelles. “It’s happening all around Miami. More people are coming in but at the same time, many are getting pushed out.” To achieve affordability, it’s becoming more common, for example, for companies in Doral to hire a larger third-party logistics provider that can leverage efficiencies of scale.

Still, the demand for warehouse space, which was fundamental to the city’s incarnation, shows no signs of diminishing. “If you go anywhere in Miami, you’re going to see cranes – new buildings and thousands of new apartments and condos are going up, and they’re going to get filled” says Trelles. “You’re going to need more toilet paper, more cell phones, more tires – and all that’s stored in a warehouse.” In a perfect world, as the population grows, warehouse space should also grow. But in Doral’s case, it is hemmed in by the Everglades.

“The scarcity of land creates a very interesting landscape for our industrial real estate market in South Florida and specifically in Doral,” says Tenenbaum of Prologis. “That will make us even more thoughtful about our warehouse design.” In other words, the industry must get creative. “We have to look at opportunities that are three to five years down the road,” says Tenenbaum. His company is currently working on a development just outside Doral to build a million square feet of warehouse space in four buildings, after purchasing ten plots of land to consolidate the property. They are also developing a multi-story logistics facility for an e-commerce customer, the first vertically integrated warehouse design in Florida.

That warehouse will be almost a million square feet, laid out over three separate floors. Like areas closer to the coast, going vertical is 20

CITY PLACE, A MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT IN THE HEART OF DORAL DEVELOPED BY THE RELATED GROUP.

a new trend for the county.

“It’s so important to protect our industrial businesses, not just for Doral and for Miami-Dade, but for South Florida since it’s a huge economic engine,” says Mayor Fraga. “The logistics, import and export… and then all the industries that fall into that – flower, food technology, and so forth. It’s a huge economic driver for Doral.”

Another major issue echoed by the industrial community is the buildup of traffic, a consequence of Doral’s remarkable growth thanks to its strategic central location, transportation access, proximity to major regional assets, supportive government services, and favorable growth and development policy. Part of the congestion stems from worker inflow, something that is avoided by simply living in the city.

To that end, Doral has proactively invested in enhancing the lifestyle of its citizens, from its new urban centers providing the amenities of entertainment, dining, and medical campuses, to its parks, with a focus on both existing spaces and the creation of new green areas such as Doral Central Park. This Park, when finished, will be one of the region’s largest, and will feature an indoor recreational facility, pools, walking paths, tennis and basketball courts, multi-purpose fields, picnic areas, a skate park, and an open-air amphitheater.

“The most important accomplishment to me was creating a sense of community. We took an area in the western part of Dade County where there wasn’t anything and built a community,” says Founding Mayor Juan Carlos Bermudez. “We had three main goals for our master plan of the city: One, to have more parks. Two was to create a downtown overlay district. And three was to get the medical industry in the city. We were able to get those goals accomplished.” With such accomplishments under its belt, Doral’s momentum continues, reflecting the city’s resilience and commitment to sustained growth. l GLOBALMIAMIMAGAZINE.COM

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DOR AL / COMPANY PROFILE

Spanish Style Medicine SANITAS, WHICH FOCUSES ON PREVENTION, IS EXPANDING RAPIDLY IN THE U.S.

BY DOREEN HEMLOCK

I

t’s among the fastest-growing healthcare providers in the United States, and it’s bringing an approach more like Spain’s – one that features integrated services focused on prevention. The aim is to keep people healthy and out of the hospital, reducing long-term medical costs.

Sanitas may not be a household name in Miami yet, but the company that started in Spain and expanded to the U.S. from Colombia is quickly building a following in Florida, Puerto Rico, New Jersey, and Texas as it expands nationwide. It now boasts more than 500,000 members in the U.S., mostly in Florida. And it employs at least 3,000 people in the U.S., including 400 in the city of Doral, where it runs its U.S. headquarters and its round-the-clock telemedicine division.

Sanitas entered the U.S. market in 2014 through an alliance with Guidewell, the parent company of insurer Florida Blue. Guidewell was looking for a partner to provide healthcare for U.S. Hispanics through U.S. government-assisted programs. Sanitas, which launched in Spain in the 1970s, had long been successful in Colombia and other Latin American nations.The partners started small, with three centers in Florida, but with a grand vision to offer a different style of healthcare – not the usual fee-for-service U.S. model, but one based on health outcomes. The goal is to improve results in the U.S., which spends the most in the world on healthcare per person, but produces results below European counterparts that spend far less.

“One of the big problems in U.S. healthcare is fragmentation,” with providers in varied private groups referring patients to specialists in other groups and not always following up, says Ignacio Arbeity, CEO of the Sanitas unit in the U.S. “Our biggest concern is patient satisfaction. We call and follow up. We try to find solutions for your condition, so you don’t end up in the hospital, where the costs explode.” Sanitas receives bonuses from insurers if patients stay healthy and out of hospitals, he says.

Sanitas hails from a country where health care is deemed a right, and nearly all services are provided at government facilities, paid through taxes. Spain’s government uses its leverage to negotiate prices for supplies, helping keep costs down. Care is essentially free, with co-pays only for prescription drugs. Co-pays end when patients become seniors, Arbeity says. In contrast, the U.S. system is about 85 percent private, with co-pays for nearly everything – even for seniors with government-backed Medicare.

Spain also offers greater access to doctors than the U.S. It has roughly 4.4 doctors for every 1,000 residents, compared to 2.6 per 1,000 residents in the U.S. Costs for healthcare also differ greatly. In 2021, Spain spent roughly 10 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on healthcare, compared to 18 percent in the U.S. For Sanitas, starting up in the U.S. has been easier than for many Spanish companies, because Florida Blue and other U.S insurers handle much of their marketing. Plans call for doubling its U.S. footprint every few years. “We want to provide capacity to those who need it when they need it,” says Arbeity, “in a system that’s not fragmented but intelligent.” l

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IGNACIO ARBEITY, CEO OF THE U.S SANITAS HEADQUARTERS IN DORAL

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FERNANDO ORTEGA, JET FRESH’S GENERAL MANAGER.

Blooming Excellence W

BY YOUSRA BENKIRANE

alking through Jet Fresh Flowers is like walking through a candy store of flowers, an explosion of colors from 120 different types of fresh-cut blooms ready to be delivered to supermarkets, event planners, and local florists – or shipped to distributors across the U.S. “Flowers are powerful,” says Fernando ‘the Fern’ Ortega, Jet Fresh’s general manager. “It’s an item that’s used for some people’s core memories, and they are powerful for mental health. So, we try and showcase some of the best flowers from all over the world.”

Jet Fresh Flowers, a family-owned flower importer, distributor, and grower, has been in Doral since its inception in 2008. Michael Black, founder and president, started the company with just himself and a desk. Now, strategically located less than 10 minutes from Miami International Airport in 15,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space with 50 employees, Jet Fresh has blossomed as a flower wholesaler.

In addition to sourcing from farms in Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Italy, France, and some Asian and African countries, Jet Fresh also owns a boutique farm in Cotopaxi, Ecuador. Called Jet Fresh Flower Growers, its 150 employees cultivate over 40 species of roses at a height of 2,900 meters. “We go worldwide and then consolidate all that product here in Miami. And then from here, we’re shipping to the entire United States, Canada, etc,” says Ortega. The farm ships directly to customers in Europe, Russia, and China.

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Being so close to the airport allows the company to make an average of five runs a day to the airport, shipping almost 2,000 boxes daily. From sourcing globally to meticulously handling and packaging, the industry never sleeps. “It’s very stressful, because it’s a perishable item, and it’s dying before it gets in our hands,” explains Ortega.

Geography is a key factor for the floral industry, and where logistics go, flowers follow. Even though New York has a long-standing reputation as a major flower importer, according to Ortega, 95 percent of those fresh-cut flowers come through Miami, which means Doral.

“Doral is a floral hub. There are tons of refrigerated logistics, and air freight in the city that ships throughout the world,” says Ortega. With traffic thickening across the county, Doral’s proximity to the airport and major highways helps cut through that – making Doral an efficient option. “Everybody [here] is sitting next to the airport – we want to get our flowers that are imported from the airlines as fast as possible,” says Orgtega. “I have very limited windows throughout the day to make sure that those flowers are packed, labeled, and delivered to their cargo agent that same day.”

When asked if Jet Fresh has considered opening a warehouse elsewhere, the option of Hialeah Gardens popped up due to more affordable rent and more space. But it is too far from the airport.

“We’d be further away from the truck lines which wouldn’t work because we have nonstop service,” said Ortega. l

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DOR AL / COMPANY PROFILE

He found a property in what is now Doral. At that time, it was just horses, cows, and some warehouses that were very inexpensive for Dade County...

Stone Merchants FOR THE MUSOLINO FAMILY, THE BUSINESS OF SELLING MARBLE AND TILE IS MULTI-GENERATIONAL

BY YOUSRA BENKIRANE

W

hen the city of Doral celebrated its 20th anniversary, the top 20 businesses that have been in Doral since the beginning were recognized and voted on by the community. One of them was Casa Linda Tiles, which has become something of a household name in the city.

Casa Linda traces its roots back to a father’s bold decision to venture into the marble business in the United States. Then called Mediterranean Exports, the company was founded in the Doral area in 1973 by Stephen Musolino, an Italian importer who thought there was an opportunity to introduce Italian marble to American consumers.

“He found a property in what is now Doral,” says Steve Musolino, son of Stephen and the current owner. “At that time, it was just horses, cows, and some warehouses that were very inexpensive for Dade County – which is important in our industry, because we have a lot of heavy, bulky products that don’t need fancy warehousing for it to be competitive.”

Steve’s father, equipped with bilingual skills, traveled back and forth from Modena, Italy to Miami, bringing marble for wholesale distribution to different outlets in the U.S. He soon expanded the business to include ceramic tiles imported from factories in Italy and Spain. As the business flourished, Steve’s father started opening offices across the U.S. and Canada and locked down agency agreements

26

STEVE MUSOLINO, CURRENT OWNER, ON HIS FATHER FOUNDING THEIR MARBLE AND TILE BUSINESS IN DORAL IN 1973

with his European factories. In 1986, Steve ventured into the family business, encouraged by his father to create a retail arm by launching Casa Linda – Spanish for Beautiful House. “I was fresh out of my two years college and he [motivated me] the same way he taught me how to swim – he pushed me into the pool.” Casa Linda soon became a trusted name among homeowners, designers, contractors, and architects, says Steve. “These are people that I’ve helped decorate their homes, and they’ve seen my sign driving by for all these years.”

After taking over the business from his father, Steve transformed Casa Linda Tiles into a comprehensive design center, offering a curated selection of home decor products under one roof.

This strategic move not only enhanced the customer experience but also contributed to the growth of the city of Doral. The warehouse has since expanded to become a one-stop shop to include all home décor needs. “Someone comes to look for furniture, they stumble upon tile, and someone comes from tile, they end up with a cabinet.

For that reason, I really put my heart and soul into getting this done,” says Steve.

One of Steve’s inspirations for creating a full design center came, again, from his father. “He multiplied himself and we all know a good way to make money is by multiplying yourself,” he says. After completing construction in 2015 to redevelop the site into a full design center, Casa Linda Tiles has remained resilient, being one of the longest standing retail stores in Doral. “Today I’m proud to say that is an active design center called the Doral Décor Center. The building was finished after my father passed away, but I’m sure he’d be proud that we finished his vision and maintained the business.” l GLOBALMIAMIMAGAZINE.COM

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Global Banking from Doral

FOR U.S. CENTURY BANK, THE LOCATION PROVED PIVOTAL

E

BY YOUSRA BENKIRANE

stablished in 2002, before Doral was officially incorporated as a city, U.S. Century Bank became the first bank to be headquartered in the city. With a majority Hispanic board of directors, U.S. Century launched with $23 million in capital to provide financial services to local Hispanic-owned businesses. Today it is South Florida’s 8th largest community bank by assets ($2.2B), having grown steadily across the South Florida tri-county area with 10 locations, 194 employees, and a global reach.

U.S. Century began their operations in Doral to follow their target customers – industrial businesses (and their owners) involved in light manufacturing, warehousing, wholesaling, distribution, and, ultimately, international trade. Due to the city being well positioned for companies importing and exporting merchandise of all kinds, servicing these sorts of clients grew the bank’s global muscle in trade finance, mainly for Latin America.

U.S. Century provides their clients global banking resources by working with foreign correspondent banks, mostly in Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, and Peru, offering services ranging from trade finance to personal wire transfers. “In a lot of the markets we work with the larger banks,” explains Oscar Gomez, Executive Vice President of Global Banking. “For example, in the Dominican Republic we work with three of the top four banks in the country. They have an

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OSCAR GOMEZ, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL BANKING FOR U.S. CENTURY BANK.

account with us, and we do the trade financing through our credit department, giving them a [credit] line and renewing the line on a yearly basis.” Most transactions range between $1 million and $5 million with a focus on agribusiness.

For example, a large U.S. agriculture company that U.S. Century works with exports grain to customers in Ecuador. The buyer approaches his bank in Ecuador, which happens to be one of Century’s correspondent banks, which therefore has a line of credit with U.S. Century Bank. The correspondent bank is then able to provide its customer – the importer (buyer) – the financing to purchase the grain.

U.S. Century Bank offers other trade finance instruments, from letters of credit and documentary collections to supply chain financing, all designed to meet the challenges of businesses engaged in cross-border trade, while mitigating risk.

The Doral location also provides a convenient place for international clients to access the bank when in Miami. Most of their clients have businesses abroad that export to Miami or have businesses in Miami that export abroad. “It’s very good for us because of the type of customers we have [need] proximity to the airport, the expressways and so forth,” says Gomez. “A lot of times we have our customers fly in, and they’ll come right to the bank. Doral is more accessible than if they stayed in [other parts] of the county.”

Another facilitator of strong cross-border banking has been the use of technology, with customers from abroad able to access their banking services digitally. “You’ve got to have the most up-to-date technology in order to be a player in the international market,” says Gomez. At the same time, ease of travel helps maintain personal client connections. “In global finance we’ve seen that Miami, specifically Doral, is a gateway because of the size of PortMiami and the airport, one of the largest used by our customer base. It has all been very significant to our overall business.” l GLOBALMIAMIMAGAZINE.COM