Jan 23, 2017 - 0 Comments - Profiles -

Video: Miami Today Profiles Meyers Group’s Stuart Meyers

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Stuart Meyers began his early professional life as an accountant with Price Waterhouse, living in the Northeast, but had fallen in love with Miami when he started visiting from the age of 10. So the minute an opportunity arose to move here, Mr. Meyers grabbed it. He completed a leverage buyout of a Fort Lauderdale optical firm in 1982 and came down to run it. After disposing of the firm, Mr. Meyers worked for several real estate companies and then started his own, first as a co-founder of Cornerstone which had its foundation in affordable and multifamily housing, then grew to include the luxury, market-rate rental market and eventually condominiums due to the demand in South Florida. About a year and a-half ago, he founded the Meyers Group, a fully integrated multi-family and mixed-use real estate firm headquartered in Coral Gables, where Mr. Meyers serves as chairman and CEO.

The Meyers Group has several projects underway in Florida including on a 22,500-square-foot property downtown on NW 2nd Avenue – a block from All Aboard Florida’s MiamiCentral project — where the developer plans to construct a 150-unit high-rise rental property by 2019.

The Meyers Group also operates out of El Paso, TX, where it bought an historic hotel in October and plans to begin renovations on the 356-room property this winter. It’s such an iconic hotel in downtown El Paso, Mr. Meyers said, which he describes as the epicenter of the city where the museum, convention center, a new arena and the theater all come together. It’s the 5th avenue, the Plaza of El Paso, he said, with an extremely colorful history.

Mr. Meyers firmly believes developers have a responsibility to the cities in which they invest because they leave a footprint and their mark. He said he’s seen cities without planning and it’s a terrible thing to behold. Developers owe something to the communities where they build, he said. They are obligated to give back something that the community can not only be proud of but what is in some way useful, not only for providing tax revenues but also as a center for the arts, for example; possibly for entertainment, high-end living or a very achievable, affordable and healthy economic living.

Miami Today reporter Susan Danseyar interviewed Mr. Meyers in his Coral Gables Office, surrounded by photos of his family and projects, including the historic hotel in El Paso.