By Jacquelynn D. Powers, Photographs: Theodore Marienthal

f 2004 was defined by the multitude of real-estate developers from all over the country who descended upon the Las Vegas Strip, then 2005 will be the year that these architectural renderings and models become reality. Leading the charge is Jorge Perez, a seasoned, prolific builder from Miami with big ideas about the future of Las Vegas. Not only is Perez striking fast, but his edifices straddle all segments of the market—from his high-end Icon towers on Convention Center Drive to moderately priced condos in the fickle Downtown area. Somewhere in between these two ventures, Perez, the founder and chairman of the Related Group of Florida, is partnering up with locally based Centra Properties to develop 25 acres next to the Hard Rock Hotel and working with the City to develop a 61-acre tract in the heart of Downtown.

While this may seem overly ambitious to some, for Perez, an affable real-estate mogul with the soul of a city planner, it's only a fraction of what he's capable of. After all, back home his company has created more than 400 communities, sold $10 billion worth of property and indelibly changed the landscape of South Florida. And he intends to do the same here. Already, Icon's sales center is generating healthy presales and Perez anticipates breaking ground on the first tower in the middle of the year. More significantly, Jorge will be bringing his impressive art collection, modern design sensibility, dizzying marketing skills, efficient building philosophy and urban planning theories with him. Let the construction begin.

VEGAS: Why did you decide to venture into Las Vegas?

JORGE PEREZ: It has a lot of similarities to Miami: It's a very young city. The government is dying to do new things. There is great external growth; people are coming from everywhere in the world. Vegas is full of energy. I love meeting with people here; they all want to do new things. The styles are not set. To me, it was much more challenging and rewarding to be able to participate in the creation of this new metropolis. If I have another base in Chicago, New York or San Francisco, those cities are already what they are. Las Vegas is redefining itself all the time.

Initially, you focused your business solely on South Florida. Do you think you've done that, so it's time to go into a new market? Or did Vegas just call you?

Las Vegas just called me. I had the opportunity to come out here and I said 'no way.' I remembered Las Vegas as a place where you walked on the Strip and people were throwing papers with nude women at you. There was no reason to come here but to gamble and catch a show. Las Vegas has changed—and it wants to change. It understands that with just gambling alone, it can't continue to grow. They want a total city, as opposed to a tourist center. I want to have impact: Las Vegas is a great opportunity not to do one job, but to set up a company and build it just like we built Related of Florida. We're not here to do one job, take some money and get out. We're going to make a very large commitment to Las Vegas.

Tell me about Icon Las Vegas.

We had looked at several sites a year ago and saw that as Las Vegas evolves, there are two things people want when they're buying condominiums: The view of the Strip and the proximity to all of the amenities that the Strip has. In Florida, it's the water and the proximity to the urban core. We saw the Las Vegas movement on the Strip following Steve Wynn. Steve Wynn is a real light to Las Vegas. He has brought architectural and design changes. So, the Wynn Las Vegas hotel is only a block away from our site. The Convention Center, which is the third-largest convention center in the country, is also a minute away. This location is going to be an extremely important intersection.

In Miami, we brought in Philippe Starck to Icon. We brought Yabu Pushelberg from Toronto and David Rockwell out of New York. These are the leading names in design today, and we plan on bringing the same names here. Las Vegas has that in their casinos, but we haven't seen that in the residential sector...

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