The Saga of Nitin Motwani and the Miami Worldcenter
By Joseph A. Mann Jr. And JP Faber
The pool deck on the top floor of the new Paramount building in Downtown Miami is no place for anyone with a fear of heights. Here, from the 60th floor, the views are breathtaking – and harrowing for any acrophobic – with only a clear glass railing around the deck.
“I didn’t realize this was the highest elevation for a swimming pool in the City of Miami,” says Nitin Motwani, a master developer responsible for the huge Miami Worldcenter complex surrounding the Paramount. “We should use that as a marketing tag.” A good idea, perhaps, but no longer necessary. A luxury residential tower, the Paramount is the centerpiece of Miami Worldcenter and is 100 percent sold out. The other buildings, some finished, others still rising, are also well on their way to full occupancy.
“People said I should concentrate on the Brickell area,” says Motwani, looking south to Miami’s financial district. “But you know its streets are flooded during a heavy rain or a king tide. Here, we are 12 to 16-feet above sea level, which is why Flagler brought his train here 100 years ago.” “Here” – a 27-acre swath of land just east of Bayfront Park in Downtown Miami – is where Motwani decided to create Miami Worldcenter, a $5 billion, world-class, mixed-use development to which he has devoted most of his adult life.
Beginning 17 years ago, Motwani and his partners began to assemble the parcels that would ultimately be united into a futuristic complex of high-rise homes, offices, hotels, and retail outlets. What had once been a patchwork of parking lots and warehouses adjacent to Miami-Dade College is now approaching completion, bringing as many as 10,000 new residents into a TOD – a transit-oriented development – where the city’s People Mover, the county’s Metrorail and bus system, the Tri-Rail trains, and the Brightline high-speed railroad all will converge. And with thousands of new jobs in the offing, these lifelines are critical for delivering a workforce from other areas of Greater Miami.
“Assembling the property was probably one of our greatest challenges,” says Motwani. “It was something like 144 different parcels from 43 different sellers.” And, as with any complex assemblage of parcels for a large project, the purchases had to be made with dummy companies. “We had six different brokers working for us. My parking guy was a shill; we had my pool guy, my landscaper, anyone I could get to play the frontman,” says Motwani. “And we were fortunate that we were able to get everyone [to sell]…. There were some holdouts, but we were eventually able to make a deal so we didn’t have to build around anything.”
The result is the single largest planned development project in the city’s history, one so massive that it took $100 million just to build the necessary water, sewage, drainage, and power infrastructure. When completed in 2024, it will contain over 5,000 residential units, 600,000-square-feet of office space, 300,000-square-feet of retail space, 600 hotel rooms, and 100,000-square-feet of public green space, including a massive central square. It is a world of its own in Downtown Miami.
HE MAKING OF A MEGA DEVELOPER
When he was in his early 20s, Motwani didn’t want to work in real estate. He had just completed four years at Duke University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in political science.
Today, at 43, Motwani is a major figure in U.S. real estate, and not only because he is the managing principal of Miami Worldcenter Associates, which is developing the city within a city. He has also planned and
built – and continues to build – hotels, resorts, retail venues, and thousands of condos and rental apartments in Florida and other states. He works on a dizzying variety of real estate ventures with his family’s development firm, Merrimac Ventures, alongside his mother Ramola and his younger brother Dev, as well as outside partners. He also participates in U.S. and international real estate development organizations, serves on the advisory board of the University of Miami’s Master of Real Estate Development + Urbanism program, and is active in Broward College’s R. Motwani School of Hospitality.
Endowed by the Motwani family in 2019, the R stands both for the late Ramesh Motwani, Nitin and Dev’s father, and their mother Ramola. It was this dynamic couple, and especially his persevering mother, who tilted Nitin’s trajectory into real estate.
Ramesh (Bob) and Ramola Motwani moved to Fort Lauderdale from St. Charles, Missouri (a suburb of St. Louis) in 1986 with their two sons. “I was eight-years-old and we arrived in Fort Lauderdale just before Spring Break that year,” Motwani told Global Miami Magazine. His entrepreneurial parents, who owned and managed an import/export business in Missouri, had visited Fort Lauderdale earlier, enjoying the climate and beaches, and learning that many motels earned enough money during the Spring Break boom (and a few other weeks of winter traffic) to make a profit and remain open only part of each year.
Born and brought up in India, Ramesh and Ramola Motwani were an ambitious, educated couple – she with a law degree from Government Law College in Mumbai and he with an MBA degree earned in Illinois.
The Motwanis decided to buy a 36-room motel—the Merrimac Beach Resort—move in, and take advantage of the Spring Break business. Unfortunately, at that time, “Fort Lauderdale decided to end Spring Break,” says Nitin. “It was good for the city but bad for my family.”
The anticipated wave of student clients never arrived and occupancy levels across the city’s lodgings collapsed. Their first Spring Break at the Merrimac – and subsequent ones – were flops as the city strictly enforced rules, banned public intoxication, arrested raucous students, and told the world that Spring Break was broken.
The Motwanis purchased the Merrimac with savings under a seller-finance plan, about the only positive element at the time, Motwani says. The sellers, who knew the city was planning to squash Spring Break, offered better financing terms than banks, believing the buyers would eventually fail. But the Motwanis held on.
Working hard to promote their motel and using income from their business in Missouri, the family not only survived, but acquired another nearby motel and other properties at bargain prices. Seeing that the city did not have a clear economic plan to replace the lost income from Spring Break, the Motwanis organized other business owners and met with city leaders to define a strategy for transforming Fort Lauderdale Beach into an attractive family tourist destination. Over time, their efforts (and investments) did just that, helping convert the city into a thriving tourist location with first-class hotels.
After Bob Motwani died in 1994, Ramola continued to develop new hotel properties through their family-owned Merrimac Ventures. Now chairwoman of Merrimac, she was a catalyst in attracting the Conrad Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach and the Four Seasons Hotel and Residences Fort Lauderdale to properties owned by the Motwanis. “My mother walks along the Fort Lauderdale beach in the morning and is proud of what she has done for the community,” says Motwani.
JOINING THE FAMILY FIRM
During the late 1980s and 1990s, Nitin and Dev helped out their parents at the motels while becoming top students at local schools. After graduating from Duke, Nitin went to work for Goldman Sachs in New York City as an equity derivatives sales trader. Dev, now president and CEO of Merrimac Ventures, also left to study at Duke, Colombia University, and the London School of Economics. While both sons appreciated their parents’ hard work and business acumen, “We both said we’d never work in real estate and never return to Fort Lauderdale,” says Nitin.
Then, while Nitin was working for Goldman Sachs, his mother traveled to New York to meet with developers. “I went to meetings with her and learned about the hotel business,” Motwani says. “I found it interesting to talk to my mother about the business of acquiring properties and developing them. And I realized my family was not in the motel business, but in development.” Motwani was a real estate convert. He decided to enhance his knowledge of the sector, earning a master’s degree in real estate development at Columbia University, and in 2004 returning to Florida to work with his mother as managing partner at Merrimac Ventures. He also began exploring other opportunities in the industry.
MIAMI WORLDCENTER TAKES SHAPE
Back in South Florida, Motwani met developer Art Falcone, his future partner at Miami Worldcenter, through a mutual friend. “Art had sold his homebuilding business and was looking to do something big,” says Motwani. “This was before Wynwood and the Design District. There was just Brickell and Downtown. Miami was a true world trade center, had great weather and global brand recognition, but it didn’t have a real center. I was excited by the idea of doing something big and I got involved in June 2006.”
To develop the project, Falcone and Motwani set up Miami Worldcenter Associates, with Falcone the founding principal and Motwani the managing partner. California-based CIM Group – a firm that acquires and develops properties and invests in community projects – later joined as a third partner. That same year, Motwani and Falcone began acquiring land in Miami’s Park West and Overtown neighborhoods. The City of Miami was auctioning off parcels and the two saw long-term opportunity in owning land in the city’s core.
Keenly aware of the threat of rising sea levels, the team took steps early on to prepare for the future effect of climate change. “We started off by buying land at the highest elevations in Downtown Miami,” says Motwani, investing in infrastructure improvements for a large-scale development in a previously undeveloped area. The two partners assembled a team of experts and began the long and complex process of evaluating and acquiring land, working with
the City of Miami and local communities to win their support and obtain zoning approvals and putting together an overall plan while making adjustments. Along the way, the project’s scope grew from 13 acres to 19, and then to 27. “We went to multiple hearings and public meetings over the years. We had attorneys but did not use lobbyists,” says Motwani, who served as a member of Miami’s Downtown Development Authority (DDA) board for almost 15 years, helping advance programs like the Follow the Sun campaign and the Finance Sector Initiative, which helped attract new companies to Miami.
The Worldcenter development moved ahead despite the Great Recession, changes in demand and pricing in Miami’s commercial and residential real estate markets, and COVID. Reflecting the axiom “Timing is everything,” the project was helped by a combination of factors that, in recent years, have elevated Miami to a preferred destination for companies and individuals seeking to leave states where high taxes, crime, and COVID constraints were major issues. Florida – and especially Miami – offered a business-friendly location (no state income tax), a great climate, and an early end to COVID restrictions, attracting a wave of corporate relocations and new or expanded regional offices. Art Basel, the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, major medical and university centers, world-class air and seaports, new opportunities for high-tech startups, and a host of other advantages boosted the city’s appeal in the U.S. and abroad, attracting firms like Citadel, Blackstone, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Softbank to new commercial spaces and bringing thousands of talented employees to Miami.
THE BLUEPRINT
The master plan for Miami Worldcenter was finalized in 2016 and construction began the same year. The plan initially called for more than $3 billion in investments for the massive mixed-use, live-work-play community, a figure that has grown to $5 billion as Miami Worldcenter Associates continues to partner with leading South Florida, New York, and European developers. The crisscrossing relationships are almost as complex as the task of assembling the land, and each project has its own story.
“CitizenM [hotel], for example, was a straight land deal. We just sold them the land and they built it themselves,” says Motwani. “The same for some of the apartment buildings, where we sold the land and they’re building it themselves. This building [the Caoba] we bought out of our land venture with our partner CIM, and Falcone and I developed it with them. We’ve since sold it,” he says. “Another new project that I’m doing with the Related Group personally
is the Crosby [a 450-unit condominium]… We also created two pedestrian-only streets and large public spaces.”
Besides citizenM hotels and the Miami-based Related Group, Miami Worldcenter has joined forces with a litany of best-in-class developers, architects, and design and engineering firms to carry out the projects. These include Elkus Manfredi Architects, The Witkoff Group, ZOM Living, The Comras Company, Jeffery Deitch, Lalezarian Properties, Paramount, and The Moinian Group.
Financing for the development varies. “Every vertical project is financed separately through a combination of equity and debt,” says Motwani. The project uses financial institutions that include Inbursa, Fifth Third, Bank OZK, Santander, JPMorgan, Silverstein, CIM (partner), and Mack Capital. “In the case of condos, deposits were used to fill in the capital stack.” In addition to the infrastructure, Miami Worldcenter Associates finances the amenities and facilities used by the public, such as its green spaces.
“I’m into my 17th year with Miami Worldcenter,” Motwani says. “Investing in a community is different from one-off projects…. Currently, we have $2 billion in investments completed, and close to $1 billion in construction underway today.” Including construction, about 1,000 people are working on the project now. The total investment will be closer to $5 billion he says, since “We’re building more than we originally planned.”
While Motwani is clearly proud of what he has accomplished so far, he remains a remarkably humble and approachable titan of real estate. Having come from a background that cherishes family, he spends as much time as possible with his wife and three sons.
“Nitin was exceptionally smart and ahead of his years and you just knew that he was going to be a wild success,” says Laura DiBella, Florida’s Secretary of Commerce, who grew up with him in Fort Lauderdale. “At the same time, he was down to earth, very nice, a good person and a good soul… His humility has helped bring him success because he hasn’t gotten in over his head.”
Motwani also has a keen eye for the elements that create a sense of community and continuity. At the end of one of the pedestrian walkways in Worldcenter stands an enormous globe of the world circa 1890, retrieved from the inside of the former Miami Science Museum in Coconut Grove. When the Science Museum relocated to Downtown Miami – immediately east of Worldcenter – the globe was to be abandoned.
“The old science museum had a massive leak onto the globe. A lot of it was damaged. We said, ‘Why don’t we take this as an opportunity and make lemonade out of lemons.’ We hired Franz Ackermann, a famous artist from Germany, and we [restored it] in a way that it could be outside,” says Motwani. That the globe now adorns a central corridor and intersection of the Worldcenter is a perfect symbol for the transformation of Miami from its former role as a small, albeit strategic trading post to a world-class city.
“We have a vision of what Miami could be,” says Motwani. “What we like to do is create communities, help improve communities. It’s more than just putting up buildings. It’s building great buildings that will outlast us.”
MIAMI WORLDCENTER
OVERVIEW
Occupying 27 acres in Downtown Miami, Miami Worldcenter is one of the largest private real estate developments in the United States. The ten-block project features a mix of retail, hospitality, commercial/office, and residential projects integrated with public transportation. The development will bring approximately $5 billion in new investment to downtown Miami and create thousands of temporary and permanent jobs.
300,000 SQUARE FEET OF RETAIL SPACE OVER 5,000 RESIDENTIAL UNITS
OVER 600,000 SQUARE FEET OF OFFICE SPACE 600 HOTEL ROOMS
OVER 100,000 SQUARE FEET OF PUBLIC GREEN SPACE ESTIMATED COMPLETION IN 2024
LOCATION & CONNECTIVITY
Miami Worldcenter is immediately north of downtown Miami’s Central Business District (CBD), extending between 2nd Avenue and Miami Avenue to 11th Street. It is within walking distance of Miami Dade College, the Perez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science, the Miami-Dade Arena, the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. Transportation to elsewhere includes Brightline’s high-speed rail, Metrorail, Metromover, Tri-Rail commuter rail and the Brickell/ Biscayne trolley systems.
RETAIL
Miami Worldcenter’s lifestyle-driven “high-street” (main street) retail component is the centerpiece of the master plan, with an open-air shopping promenade running north and south from Northeast 10th Street to Northeast 7th Street, and between Northeast 1st and 2nd Avenues. A large public plaza and park will be surrounded by shops and restaurants. Approximately 255,000 of retail space has already been leased, including to Brasserie Laural, El Vecino, Maple & Ash, Etta, Sephora, Lucid, Lululemon, and Ray-Ban.
RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL
Miami Worldcenter will include more than 5,000 residential units with a mix of luxury condominiums and market-rate apartments.
COMPLETED RESIDENTIAL PROJECTS INCLUDE:
PARAMOUNT MIAMI WORLDCENTER, 569-UNIT CONDOMINIUM TOWER. CAOBA, A 444-UNIT MARKET-RATE APARTMENT TOWER.
BEZEL MIAMI, A 434-UNIT LUXURY RENTAL TOWER.
PROJECTS UNDER CONSTRUCTION INCLUDE:
MIAMI WORLD TOWERS, 52-STORY TOWER WITH 550 MULTIFAMILY APARTMENT UNITS. LEGACY HOTEL & RESIDENCES, A 50-STORY MIXED-USE TOWER WITH 310 BRANDED RESIDENCES ATOP A HOTEL AND 50,000 SQUARE FEET OF MEDICAL OFFICE SPACE. CAOBA PHASE TWO, A 40-STORY TOWER WITH 420 MULTIFAMILY APARTMENTS.
PLANNED RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENTS INCLUDE:
600 MIAMI WORLDCENTER, A 579-UNIT FULLY FURNISHED CONDOMINIUM. THE CROSBY, A 450-UNIT TURNKEY CONDOMINIUM.
A PAIR OF RESIDENTIAL TOWERS BY NEW YORK-BASED NAFTALI GROUP.
A THREE-TOWER MIXED-USE PROJECT BY THE WITKOFF GROUP.
HOSPITALITY
NOW: Miami Worldcenter’s first hotel, CitizenM, has opened, offering 351 “affordable luxury” boutique hotel rooms with a 10th floor pool deck and state-of-the-art fitness center and gym
PLANNED: Legacy Hotel & Residences is a 219-room luxury sky-scraper hotel that will feature downtown Miami’s largest hotel pool deck set on one acre and an enclosed seven-floor rooftop atrium with restaurant, bar and lounge.
PUBLIC ART PROGRAM
Miami Worldcenter has engaged international art curator Jeffrey Deitch and Miami-based curatorial collective PRIMARY to spearhead a $5 million public art initiative. The program features large-scale murals, paintings, and sculptures created by globally acclaimed artists.
