Our CEO Jason Payne sits down with Roberto Pulido, CEO of MiRA to discuss the companies first branded residences development Armani Residences Masaryk and much more.
JP: Before we discuss your amazing new development Armani Residences Masaryk, can you tell me about MiRA and the companies journey in luxury real estate development?
RP: Our experience in luxury real estate development goes back to 2012, when we took over Puerto Cancun. At the time, Puerto Cancun was an undelivered project, a master plan that we purchased from a court in Chicago.
It had a golf course, but it was run down with almost no maintenance. Aside from that, there were many unfinished projects in and around Puerto Cancun. We took over and repositioned the project as the best place to live and the most luxurious destination in Cancun by focusing on it’s access to the beach and sea.
At that time in Cancun, almost all of the beachfront in the sandbar was controlled by hotels, with very few condos or single family homes. Puerto Cancun sat in the middle of the city, the sandbar, and the tourism attractions. It had approvals to build and bring that Miami vibe to Cancun.
The north side of the property had large single family lots with docks at the back of your unit, with golf views, beach views, and ocean views.
We’re talking about single family lots in the order of one to five million dollars.
Once we took over, transactions started to happen, and construction of houses began, which became part of the repositioning and redevelopment of Puerto Cancun.
We also designed, built, leased, and operated a retail shopping zone that included luxury tenants, fast fashion, high end restaurants etc, all with views to a very nice part of the bay.
We built an apartment building, and sold a couple of development plots. A Renaissance Hotel was built there, and Grand Hyatt is under construction right now, continuing to bring high end luxury to the site.
Another developer built the SLS branded residence and hotel. All in all, our repositioning of the site and our targeting of the right customer came through, and it has been a great success.
We invested in improving the golf course experience, from maintenance to capital expenditures on golf carts and the driving range. We’ve improved the quality of the golf clubhouse and we are now under construction of the second phase of the country club experience, including tennis courts, paddle tennis courts, a swimming pool, a high end gym, a spa, and so forth.
This has been a transformation over the last 13 years, and it has a couple more years to go, but it continues to be the place to be in Cancun. It continues to attract resales in that price point. From the get go, the repositioning worked.
The philosophy of how you attract this high end customer and create that scarcity, that luxury experience, both from a product and from an experience and lifestyle, were merged. That’s what created the success
JP: With an impressive portfolio across residential, retail, and mixed-use projects, how would you describe MiRA Developments’ vision and motivations?
RP: We at Mira like to say that we build beautiful projects. We’re super proud of what we do. At the end of the day, we like to own a word that’s not commonly used, called placemaking. We like to say we own that concept, and idea.
Placemaking to us means we develop spaces that are beautiful, but more than anything, create authentic human connections.
Whether that’s within the boundaries of your home, the amenities and common spaces, or outside in a common space, that’s what we like to do.
Whether you’re talking about mid-income housing within mixed-use communities in Monterrey, Querétaro, or higher-end in Mexico City, Cancun, we always understood that this is a business where hardware and software have to run together.
If you disconnect one from the other, you come up with stale projects that don’t withstand the test of time. Hardware and software must run together… stale projects don’t withstand the test of time.
JP: Your newest luxury development is Armani Residences Masaryk which I believe are your first branded residences, why did you choose the area of Polanco
RP: Yes Armani Residences Masaryk is our first move into the branded residence asset class, choosing Polanco, well it goes back to what Polanco was, what it is, and where it’s heading. Twenty years ago, it was mostly single-family homes of wealthy families.
A change in zoning allowed low-rise condos, which helped propel Polanco into being considered the best place to live because it’s location to Mexico City, employment centers, the food scene, and Masaryk’s shopping.
Polanco didn’t lose its position as a go to market, but it wasn’t attracting a lot of new clients or new investment, especially on the luxury or high-end side.
Projects on the fringes, like Ruben Darío 225 and the expansion of Palacio de Hierro opened a vacuum for developers to come in.
Ruben Darío 225 was the most successful project in terms of pricing and absorption, it attracted back the ultra high net worth customers wanting to live in proximity to Polanco and Lomas, and that started to shine the light back on Polanco.
Developments like Palacio de Hierro, the U.S. embassy moving to the outskirts, and new hospitals positioned Polanco to be redeveloped again to attract high net worth buyers, and that is why we decided to develop our project there.
JP: Tell more about the project, and what makes it so special?
RP: We identified a block of houses ready to be demolished and repurposed and brought in Sordo Madaleno, probably the best architect in Mexico to work with us, and at some point, we thought this project required thinking outside of the box.
We thought if we were going to be part of the new Polanco that brings back the wealth and the desirability of living there, with high end shopping etc, we needed to up the bet on this project, and that’s when we looked at the branded residence space.
I think what makes Armani Residences Masaryk special is the horizontality and low rise nature of the project, that translates into a human living experience.
In a city like Mexico City with nice weather, living in a high rise building say on floor 18, wind becomes an issue. In a four-story building, you perceive the weather differently, interact with the city and the ground level at a human scale, which makes this a very very unique real state development.
By having close to 5,500 square meters of land, we are able to bring many amenities to the project, something Polanco doesn’t typically offer. Polanco projects are normally stand alone residential buildings with 4 to 12 units and have no amenities.
Privacy and exclusivity are big drivers so we designed it as a collection of buildings with 10 elevator cores, so you only share your elevator with at most, seven other neighbours. In our case we are able to build something truly special.
JP: Non hospitality standalone branded residences account for around 21% of the global market of branded real estate, why did you choose a brand like Armani/Casa rather than a traditional luxury hospitality-brand?
RP: We looked at both lifestyle, non-hospitality, stand alone branded residences and luxury hospitality brands.
At the end of the day we understood that our project was targeting residential end users, so we didn’t want this project to become a short term rental experience. Some hospitality brands weren’t interested if they couldn’t have that.
Hotel brands also wanted opportunities to create revenue streams outside the condos, requiring us to sacrifice the retail component for large restaurants and spas.
We always wanted to use the ground floor for retail tenants in order for the project to become an extension of Masaryk, merging into Polanco rather than becoming an outsider to the Masaryk vibe.
The Hospitality brands also required a lot of planning for hotel operations, with back-of-house space and services, so we didn’t think it was the right play for us.
On the Armani side, we saw them as an experienced brand in the branded residence space, with hospitality in mind, because they are also operating hotels and restaurants. I think that this experience creates an understanding of design ideas and philosophies that work for the end user, which resonated with us, and why we created this partnership.
JP: Planning a luxury real estate development can be challenging at the best of times, how have you found the additional layer of complexity of adding a brand licensing agreement to this process, and how has the experience been working with Armani/Casa thus far?
RP: Navigating the balance between market realities, the project, and providing the best experience with luxurious finishes and ideas from a renowned designer like Giorgio Armani has been a challenge.
Trying to get the right product to the customer at the right price point can be a challenge and these have been the pain points, but nothing that we haven’t been able to achieve.
On the other side the support from Armani, from marketing materials to brand standards, elevating project communication to design and materials has been extraordinary.
It’s difficult to bring in another layer, especially one where you relinquish control of some decisions, which as a developer can be hard, but working side by side as a partnership creates alignment to get to solutions, which I believe we have done very well. Relinquishing control is hard as a developer, but alignment made it work.
JP: In your marketing brochure there is a quote from Giorgio Armani which says “To create something exceptional, your mind must be relentlessly focused on the smallest details.” With this in mind will Giorgio Armani himself add his personal touches to the development?
RP: Yes Mr Giorgio Armani has added personal touches to the development. One key feature is that all units have terraces, some open-air, some roof terraces. The design from Sordo included the terrace frames with planters and green landscaping, but no barrier at the facade to the terrace.
Mr Armani said to elevate the beautifully crafted facade, we should incorporate a shutter system.
Together with Sordo, Armani, and MiRA, we designed a shutter system that sits on top of the planters, allowing you too close or open the shutters, creating a sense of privacy while dressing the facade in a very elegant way.
JP: Who do you envision as the ideal residents for Armani Residences Masaryk, and what type of lifestyle will they enjoy?
RP: The lifestyle we created has many dimensions. Privacy and efficiency, the lock and leave aspect and exclusivity are drivers, especially with only 57 residences.
The human scale of a four-story building is also a key selling point for this project, and that you’re attached to Polanco, with some of the best food and beverage offerings, shopping, parks, and museums within walking distance.
You’re buying a home with an urban lifestyle for whatever experience you’re looking for.
We imagine residents ranging from young families and entrepreneurs to business owners and large families, or those traveling to Mexico City looking for a pied-à-terre.
With the extension of amenities, wellness space, meeting space, and lounge space, it creates another layer to the experience of coming to Mexico for work, entertaining, or enjoying what Mexico City offers.
The type of customer that is looking for that European walking lifestyle, that’s what this project offers.
JP: What is your long-term vision for MiRA Developments, and how does Armani Residences Masaryk fit into that broader strategy?
RP: Our long-term vision is to continue developing projects that foster human connection across different markets and income brackets, bringing innovation to the market via value creation and identifying trends.
We’re always looking for that next generation of retail and wealth in real estate projects. Armani Residence fits because we want to become the best urban developer in Mexico, at all scales.
In the first cycle of MiRA we focused on super large, multi-phase master plans.
Now we’re proving we can execute with the same ideas, pillars around discipline, product definition, and strategy on smaller-scale projects, from middle to high income to ultra-high-net-worth, like this one.
We are proud to say that everything we’ve designed is customer-centric, around the placemaking concept, and with Armani a layer of exclusivity to the end consumer, and of course making our city more beautiful than it already is.
JP: I myself have been involved in the branded residences sector for almost 15 years, and I remain as positive about it today as I did back in 2011, how do you see the sector and where it will be in the next 5-10 years, and what role do you see MiRA playing in the upcoming years?
RP: I do believe branded residences will continue expanding. We’re seeing an expansion in the types of brands and players attracted to the space. Some brands will hold value, especially those that champion long-term value and understand this isn’t just a branding experience.
I think Armani is one of those brands. for example they visited the Miami project and came back with five lists of things to improve in the operation and the project as a whole. That shows their long term involvement, not a one-time thing.
On our end, we’re looking to bring more projects in the branded space to the market, not necessarily sure if they’ll be tourism-oriented, urban, stand-alone, or mixed with hotels.
The experience with Armani positions us as one of first movers, at the forefront of the race.
We will continue to look for opportunities to bring the next generation, maybe with Armani in another project or partnering with other urban brands for a different market or demographic, and yes it’s a space that I see having a strong future.
Roberto Pulido thanks so much for your time and valuable insight.
Armani Residences Masaryk
Nestled in the heart of Polanco, at the prestigious Masaryk and Molière intersection, emerges a masterpiece of residential design: Armani Residences Masaryk. This development is being driven by the innovative vision of the real estate leader MiRA, the architectural mastery of Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos, and the emblematic elegance of Armani/Casa
Armani Residences Masaryk is the first residential project by the Italian brand Armani in Latin America. This prestigious development represents the expansion of Armani/Casa in the region, consolidating its presence in the high-end real estate market with its characteristic timeless elegance, sophisticated design, and exclusive materials.
Spanning over 5,600 square meters, Armani Residences features three four-story buildings, comprising 57 exclusive residences ranging from 150 to 568 square meters, each with a private terrace.
More information https://armasaryk.com/
MiRA
MiRA is a leading real estate investment and development company focused on creating exceptional living and working environments. With a proven track record of success, MiRA has delivered numerous award-winning projects that have set new standards for quality, design, and sustainability. The company’s portfolio includes a diverse range of developments, including residential communities, commercial spaces, and mixed-use projects.
More than building spaces to live, MiRA is creating destinations that define what’s next.
More Information https://mira.mx
