{"id":1496,"date":"2025-11-05T17:18:28","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T22:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brickellsold.com\/blog\/sam-nazarian-speaks-at-the-real-deal-miami-real-estate-forum\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T10:42:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T14:42:58","slug":"sam-nazarian-speaks-at-the-real-deal-miami-real-estate-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brickellsold.com\/blog\/sam-nazarian-speaks-at-the-real-deal-miami-real-estate-forum\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Nazarian Speaks at The Real Deal Miami Real Estate Forum"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Sam Nazarian sees Miami<\/a> as a city at the highest echelons of real estate, largely due to the in-migration of recent years. But growing pains linger.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t go backwards. Miami<\/a> now is one of the most important, if not the most important, cities in the world today, but there are different things that drive this,\u201d said hospitality mogul Nazarian, founder of sbe, whose other holdings include C3 restaurant group.<\/p>\n

Nazarian spoke with The Real Deal<\/em>\u2019s Editor in Chief Stuart Elliott at TRD\u2019s <\/em>Miami Real Estate Forum 2025 on Wednesday, marking the first panel that kicked off the two-day event at Mana Wynwood. The event followed Zohran Mamdani\u2019s mayoral win in New York on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Generally, Mamdani\u2019s promise to freeze rents on rent-stabilized buildings and increase corporate and income taxes, plus his anti-Israel stance, are expected to prompt another influx of New Yorkers to Miami. Yet, Nazarian \u2013\u2013 who said he disagrees with Mamdani\u2019s philosophy and politics, but found that his campaign \u201chit a chord for the next generation\u201d \u2013\u2013 pointed out other factors that drive people\u2019s decisions to leave home and move.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Miami\u2019s infrastructure may not be ready for another growth spurt, he said, citing long-present issues such as traffic and the lack of private schools. The city also is experiencing new restaurant openings, which also \u201cis not easy to scale so quickly,\u201d including to train staff.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nazarian isn\u2019t worried about New York developers coming in and posing competition for Miami\u2019s long-established names in real estate, including Terra and Related Group. Building in the Magic City isn\u2019t easy, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not easy to understand the politics of infrastructure \u2026 permitting, zoning inspections, contractors,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not for the faint of heart to be building down here\u201d in South Florida.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Miami\u2019s Tuesday mayoral election is headed to a runoff, and Nazarian praised outgoing Mayor Francis Suarez, adding he\u2019s part of a crop of South Florida politicians who \u201cgive you the optimism to get shit done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of whether Mamdani\u2019s win prompts a few more billionaires to move south, \u201cthe biggest buyer in South Florida is the Hispanic and Latino market,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nazarian\u2019s career has spanned all facets of the industry. In the 1990s, Nazarian started out as a nightlife king in Los Angeles, where he opened his first club at 26, and at one point had 13 nightclubs. As founder of sbe, a hotel and restaurant group based in Beverly Hills, California, Nazarian at one point controlled preeminent brands including Mondrian, Delano, Hyde. He also launched SLS Hotels, opening SLS hotels in Beverly Hills, Miami and Las Vegas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nazarian sold his stake in the hotel side of the business in 2020 for $850 million to French firm Accor and at the same time increased his ownership in sbe\u2019s ghost kitchens and C3, owner of Umami Burger.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Aside from restaurants, his most recent ventures are in \u201cwellness and longevity,\u201d as the 50-year-old praised the use of preventative medicine, saying it saved him from a potential brain aneurysm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Miami, Nazarian\u2019s HQ Hotels & Residences by sbe will brand Black Salmon, the Boschetti Group and Constellation Group\u2019s planned 35-story, 229-unit condo project at 422 Northeast 29th Street in Miami\u2019s Edgewater. Marc Anthony, whose house in LA Nazarian once bought, is a partner in HQ brands.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI always knew why I got into nightclubs and restaurants: To have the credibility to operate a lifestyle hotel,\u201d said Nazarian, who launched SLS Hotels in the early 2000s, opening SLS-branded hotels in Beverly Hills, Miami and Las Vegas. \u201cIf you are going to be a lifestyle guy, you need to understand the parts that make up the lifestyle. You have to be great at everything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n