How two Argentine entrepreneurs found a niche in the art of building new schools
One of the critical issues facing corporations looking to recruit new talent to Greater Miami is the quality – and quantity – of schools in the area. Two entrepreneurs from Argentina recognized the demand for preschools to K-12 schools in South Florida – especially with the expansion of Florida’s voucher system and the national movement for school choice programs – and have staked their future on supplying the bricks and mortar required.
Fortec Chairman Pablo Barreiro and CEO and Co-Founder Martin Saidon launched their business model in 2020, based on the idea of building custom facilities for successful school operators. In under four years, Fortec has achieved remarkable growth by developing 20 schools and executing over $170 million in educational real estate deals. Their Miami-based company has centers across Florida, Virginia, Georgia, Massachusetts, Washington, Illinois, Texa, and Connecticut, and it has invested nearly $35 million across South Florida to transform more than 62,000 square feet of land into thriving educational centers. Fortec has signed leases with school operators that include several Montessori networks, in some cases turning abandoned properties in once-blighted areas into vibrant community landmarks.
“As a developer, we make choices about what will help the community,” Barreiro says. “Building a school that will have an impact on giving more choices to families, that is fulfilling.”
Fortunately for Fortec, the demand for education is rapidly growing. An influx of 20,000 students from outside the U.S. was absorbed into the student body at Miami-Dade Public Schools in 2022-2023, according to Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Ron Steiger. Private school enrollment meanwhile skyrocketed from 24,000 to 37,000, a 54 percent increase.
Further fueling demand for better schools is the relocation to Miami of well-heeled captains of industry (the leading edge of which includes billionaire Ken Griffin, CEO of hedge fund Citadel, and billionaire Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Blue Origin), who have driven real estate values into the stratosphere with their multi-million-dollar purchases of homes in the region. This astounding invasion of C-suit executives and their families has outstripped supply and is probably slowing Miami’s growth. “It doesn’t have enough schools,” Barry Sternlicht, Starwood Capital Management CEO, told Bloomberg Television. “There are a lot of companies that would move down if they could get their employees’ kids into schools, which is impossible.”
Fortec’s goal is to help turn the impossible into the possible. With more than $40 million in projects under development – $22 million in Florida – Fortec is giving families more choice in schools for their children. It recently signed a lease with Guidepost Montessori and the Academy of Thought and Industry to operate two schools serving pre-K, elementary, and high school students in Hollywood Beach. These two facilities cost $9.8 million to build, and like other Fortec projects were built specifically to meet the requirements of their educational tenants.
Saidon said Fortec’s commitment to excellence is rooted in the legacy their projects represent. “We are enhancing the area and the community,” Saidon told Global Miami. “A school is not something that will be there only for a couple of years. It’s going to be there for a long time.”
