Brazilian buyers put the luxe in real estate

Businesses from realty and design firms to retailers are benefitting from the boomlet created by an influx of wealthy Brazilians.

Fabiana Pimenta, a real estate agent for Fortune International, is sitting on a white leather sofa in the model apartment at Jade Ocean with the expansive ocean views and the Fendi décor, waiting to begin a tour of the Sunny Isles Beach building.

Pimenta, a Brazilian who moved to Florida to attend college, is entitled to a little breather. In January, she and her team, which includes her brother in Sao Paulo, sold 15 high-end South Florida condos — all to Brazilians.

At 2,100 square feet with three bedrooms and both ocean and city views, this is the type of unit that is particularly popular with Brazilian buyers, she says. Seven months ago, Pimenta sold the last Jade Ocean penthouse, a 5,000-square-foot unit, to a Brazilian for $4 million.

An ultra-wealthy crowd of Brazilian real estate buyers is creating a boomlet for local real estate agents and other businesses that cater to their tastes.

There have been so many Brazilian buyers at Jade Ocean that the touch-screen that unit owners use to summon the concierge, order food from the Epicure market across the street or schedule a spa appointment has been translated into Portuguese.

Also popular is the Casa Fendi package, complete with a platform bed, pillows, leather croc-embossed wall covering, sleek furnishings and lighting. Buyers can purchase it or another décor package, then come back in a few months to a totally equipped condominium.

“If I take potential buyers out, it’s rare that I don’t close a deal,’’ says Pimenta, whose specialty is the Brazilian market. “When they visit, they buy.’’

María Helena Abreu, who splits her time between Belo Horizonte and Brasilia where she works for the government, made her first trip to Miami in 10 years recently and she was on the hunt for a two or three-bedroom apartment.

Abreu, her husband Joao Batista and her daughter Isabel returned to Brazil last week without making a purchase, but they’re thinking seriously about a unit at Icon Brickell.

“Miami looks a lot like Rio,’’ says Abreu. “It has really developed since the last time I was here — for the better. It’s become a city I adore. The people are very friendly, the city is very beautiful, the beaches are great and the climate is wonderful.’’

Plus, she says, she has many Brazilian friends who have already bought condominiums here.

“Brazilians follow each other — the right crowd, the right families,’’ says Edgardo Defortuna, president and chief executive of Fortune International. About a quarter of the company’s new sales are to Brazilians.

Another thing the Brazilians like about South Florida is the sense of freedom and security they have. Many are used to having armored cars and bodyguards at home, say real estate agents, and they like to be able to work around Bal Harbour or SoBe without being recognized.

In addition to the beach, the climate and the shopping, interior designer Mirtha Arrarian says her clients like Miami’s location as a half-way point between South America and the art objects, antiques and fashion of European capitals.

These wealthy clients will fly in on their private jets just to celebrate a birthday. They like coming to the boat shows and taking in tennis matches at the Sony Ericsson Open. Art Basel is also a big draw.

It’s not unusual among her clients for a family to buy one unit for themselves and another for their kids or for their guests, she says.

Her high-end clients include entertainers, TV personalities, and entrepreneurs — mostly from Sao Paulo. “That’s where the money is,’’ says Arrarian, who runs MAS Interior Design.

Most of her Brazilian clients, she says, prefer the area of South Beach along South Pointe Dr. — the SoBe Riviera — and tend to buy units in the $7 million to $10 million range.

One client who recently bought a condominium there, she says, is eyeing a nearby vacant lot as an ideal site to build a tennis court, quarters for the servants and an area to park more cars.

As Arrarian talks, she also checks out the sophisticated offerings at Ornare, a Brazilian-owned kitchen, bath and closet showroom in Miami’s Design District.

“The dream of Brazilians is to have an Ornare closet,’’ says Arrarian who has just examined a selection of leather and bullhorn closet handles and matte lacquer closet doors. “Now they want to have them here too.’’

Claudio Faria, the director of Ornare’s Miami showroom, says the company works hard to cultivate the Brazil-Miami nexus. During Art Basel, for example, Ornare flew in 30 Brazilian architects.

As Faria, who is Brazilian, demonstrates a high-tech kitchen faucet set against a backsplash of rustic reclaimed wood, he says, “This is the exquisiteness of Brazilian design — the unexpected.’’

And he’s quite excited about the possibility of showcasing Brazilian design to not only the Brazilians buying real estate in Miami but also to the world.

“Brazil is an extraordinary country at an extraordinary moment,’’ he says. “For the first time Brazil has a real opportunity to present its style to the world. Now the world is watching us.’’

Investors also are taking advantage of the low real estate prices.

Brazilian businessman Ricardo Dunin moved to Miami 20 years ago when Brazil’s economy was going through a rough patch and he worried about security in his homeland. For a number of years, he made a good living here in real estate development but the real estate crash has meant a change in strategy.

While Dunin and his partners have more than 20 development projects underway in Brazil, these days he concentrates on buying and selling real estate in the United States.

Right now in Brazil, he says, “Whatever you do works.’’

The Brazilian investors in South Florida, Dunin says, are “playing the distressed arena.’’

“We’re all buying in the U.S. below replacement value,’’ he says. “These are moves of opportunity.’’

Last summer, he and his partners in Miami-based Lionheart Capital paid $120 million for 146 unsold units at the former 2700 North Ocean condo on Singer Island. It was the most expensive bulk condo sale in Florida over the last five years.

The former condominium building has been transformed into Ritz Carlton Residences, Singer Island.

“There’s never been a better time for Brazilians to buy in Miami,’’ says Pimenta. “About a year ago the Brazilian market really started to fly.’’

There’s been a confluence of events that favors real estate sales to Brazilians.

Their currency, the real, is very strong against the dollar, making U.S. purchases very affordable; the Brazilian economy is robust — putting extra money in people’s pockets; and real estate prices in Brazil are soaring but cratering in South Florida.

There’s one more element, says Peter Zalewski, a principal in Condo Vultures, a Miami real estate consultancy. “With the economy doing so well there’s this sense of optimism. There’s this talk of this being the Brazilian century. As people’s confidence level builds up, it’s only natural that they think of buying real estate outside their country.’’

Pimenta has been one of the beneficiaries of that optimism but she also works hard. The sun has already set as she concludes the tour at Jade Ocean. Her phone buzzes and she glances at the message.

“Oh, another lead for tomorrow,’’ she says.