The first time Albania applied for EU candidacy, upon joining NATO in 2009, it got turned down, not once but twice, on the basis of the inadequacy of its democratic reform process and its ineffectiveness in fighting organized crime and corruption. Six years later, Prime Minister Edi Rama sees the EU integration process as the only way for Albania to get out of the vicious circle it has been trapped in, and start laying down the foundations of a modern democratic state.
Albania’s history has indeed been clustered with an exceptional string of challenges: scourged for centuries by foreign dominations, including by the Romans, the Serbians, and the Ottomans, then firmly in the grip of communism for five decades thanks to dictator Enver Hoxha, Albanians were long deprived of the most basic human and civil rights, growing largely isolated from the rest of the world.
Making reference to that period, Rama highlights, “It disrupted the very core texture of our society and seriously hampered our institution-building process.” Then adds, “Against such a background, integrating within the EU became the only safety belt we could embrace, to start patching up the puzzle of mechanisms that a functioning democratic nation requires.”
Relentlessly bullied and brutally oppressed, yet never entirely defeated, Albania has developed the fiber survivors are made of. Resilient as it may be though, breaking free from the stranglehold of the past and embarking on its new path towards a more open economy has been anything but easy for the small Balkan nation.
For years, the country’s growth model has largely relied on foreign remittances and a domestic construction boom, fuelled by the people’s attempt to regain ownership of what they perceived as their dispossessed properties during the Hoxha regime. After weathering the global financial crunch reasonably well, a stalled Eurozone economy, especially in recession-hit Greece and Italy where a large Albanian diaspora lives, has opened a crack in the cash funnel feeding Albania, exposing the system to a series of vulnerabilities. That, coupled with its existing structural weaknesses, placed the economy under increasing pressure.
When it comes to the EU accession process, Albania has some catching up to do. Concepts like accountability, transparency, compliance with the law, ethical and fair business practices, international standards, widely adopted and implemented throughout the EU community, are still fuzzy words in the vocabulary of the average Albanian entrepreneur or public servant. The path ahead is a steep one and Rama is well aware of it. Since taking office in September 2013, he has enacted a series of strong measures to crack down on corruption, cronyism, and widespread informality, including the massive tearing down of illegal constructions and the exemplary punishment of electricity theft and other violations by severe fining and even incarceration.
However harsh such measures may appear or feel, he views this shock therapy as an essential instrument to set the country on the right path, and ultimately raise the living standards of its people to more acceptable levels. If the universal truth, that having a sound rule of law builds confidence in the nation’s institutions, leading to higher productivity and economic development, holds true, the Prime Minister may have just found the right formula to turn the country’s fate around, in the medium to long term.
The government has identified energy, agriculture, tourism, and manufacturing as Albania’s primary sources of sustainable growth and FDI, though further diversification is key to boosting competitiveness going forward. Having a safe and efficient transport and infrastructure system is also a priority, and Public-Private Partnership (PPP) is viewed as a vital tool to achieve this goal. Hence, the importance of foreign investors and the support of the EU, with regards to the modernization of seaports, the upgrading of the national grid, and the strengthening of intraregional connectivity through an integrated intermodal transport network. The man in charge of this process, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Edmond Haxhinasto shows confidence, “As an active promoter of good neighborly relations across the region, Albania is in a unique position to promote projects that are beneficial to all.”
According to the authorities, the existing national laws on concessions and public procurement meet European standards. Thus, they guarantee the transparency of deals, the accountability of officials, and, most importantly, level playing fields for both local and foreign investors.
Barry Johnson, the exuberant CEO of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, sums it up in a sentence, “Miami is in the middle of a real estate Renaissance that is coming back with a vengeance, following the downturn in our economy and the bubble burst.” Driving around Miami these days it is hard to contradict him; the city has weathered the storm better than most other cities in the country, construction sites are popping up everywhere and the landscape looks and feels anything but still. Despite the bullishness displayed by most developers though, some observers think that there is more than one reason for cautious optimism. Cranespotters.com, a website that monitors condo preconstruction projects across the tri-county region, reports 50 new projects totaling nearly 17,000 units currently being carried out in greater downtown alone.
Last March, Miami’s Urban Development Review Board approved as many as 1,300 new residential units in one single afternoon; enough to raise concerns even in the least skeptical of locals about the possible repercussions on the economy and the quality of the finished product that will be introduced in the market.
The city has just dug itself out of the harshest housing bubble bursts in recorded history, which saw the prices of condos take up to a 60% plunge or more in some cases, and while most downtown developers are acting as though they have cast all fears aside and are ready to move forward with full confidence, the spectrum of a possible relapse is still hovering around.
Industry expert Peter Zalewski recalls what happened during the previous crash. “When the market collapsed, towers that had just been completed and that had cost developers $300-350 per sq ft to build were selling at $80 per sq ft. At that time, Europeans flocked to Miami attracted by the perspective of great deals, though they came with the old world mentality and felt there was something strange, something that did not make sense. So they got stuck into wavering and missed the opportunity. The same happened with New Yorkers, though for different reasons, whereas Latin Americans came in strong and raked up as much as they could. Countries like Brazil, Venezuela, and Argentina dominated the market at that time”.
Zalewski explains that what stopped Wall Street buyers was the so-called “successor developer liability”, according to which if one individual owns too many condos in a building, namely 7 units or more, the association can deem him to be the developer and if anything should happen to the building, he automatically steps into the place of the original developer. He continues, “Because of this attempt to protect the individual buyer vis-à-vis the bulk buyer, each time the Wall Street people were trying to cut a deal they stepped into the legal hurdles associated with it, and ultimately they could not get it past the committee. In the end, close to 9,000 units were traded in bulk”.
And he concludes, “On July of 2010 a moratorium was put in place on the successor developer liability that effectively stopped it, and as soon as that happened Wall Street came down and tried to buy whatever was still unsold but by then the Latin buyers had chipped away the vast majority of what was available. Wall Street buyers wanted 50% of the buildings so that they could control their investment by exerting some sort of control over the association, but the fact that Latin buyers had already bought such a large amount of units prevented them from doing that”.
During the recession and throughout the first semester of 2013, the state of Florida recorded the highest overall foreclosure rate in the US, so this new condo boom may indeed be the breath of fresh air Miami needed. But with the wounds and bruises still fresh on the skins of many, such a high pace of growth may not be enough to dispel residual fears of a backlash.
A man who shows a great deal of confidence in the future of South Florida’s property market is Ron Shuffield, President of Esslingen-Wooten-Maxwell Realtors (EWM). Tennessee-born Shuffield came to the Sunshine State a week after college and like many others decided to make Miami his home. He has lived in Florida for the past 40 years, most of which working in real estate.
The company he runs is a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate and the exclusive South Florida representative of London-based Christie’s International Real Estate. In addition to its residential division, it has a commercial and a new development division, a mortgage brokerage company, and a title insurance company. “We are totally integrated, a sort of one-stop-shop”.
EWM has been the leader in the sale of Miami homes and condominiums priced in excess of $1 million for a number of years. “We currently are involved in a transaction exceeding $1 million every 17 hours, 365 days per year”, notes Shuffield. “Our cutting-edge digital marketing technology has allowed us to lead our market in sales to buyers and sellers throughout the world. Our social media outlets; Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc. have allowed us to develop and strengthen strategic relationships throughout the world”. While real estate brokerage is still a very localized business, we also have built strong alliances throughout the world through the 27,000 associates affiliated with Christie’s in 45 countries. Through EWM’s exclusive global relationships, there isn’t a corner of the globe where we don’t have relationships. EWM has ten offices across Miami-Dade and Broward counties, where our associates are moving toward $3 billion in annual real estate service transactions. In April of this year, we celebrated our 50th anniversary”. EWM’s 800 associates and staff members are actively involved in the community, lending their support to over 150 charitable organizations.
Miami’s natural beauty and unparalleled quality of life are regarded as its two key assets from the point of view of residential buyers, and Shuffield confirms it, “One-third of all real estate sales in Miami today are made to foreign buyers. Not just main or second homes, but also third, fourth homes, etc. It usually starts with a holiday; that is usually enough for people to fall in love with our city and decide to invest in real estate. Our geographic location is unique as we basically have a half billion people leaving South of Miami and another half-billion living north of Miami. Being at the center of it gives us so many added opportunities that other communities do not have. For example, you can fly to Caracas in roughly the same time it takes you to go to New York, around 2 and a half hours”.
For the past two years, Christie’s has ranked Miami as one of the top 10 luxury destinations in the world. Shuffield explains that one of the key reasons behind Miami’s global appeal is the great value of its real estate. “Vis-à-vis London, which averages $3,200/sq foot for a downtown London flat, a Miami condo is currently selling for $440/sq foot on average. Therefore, on a per-square-foot basis, London is over 7 times more expensive, which means you can theoretically purchase seven Downtown Miami/Brickell Avenue condos for the price of one nice flat in London”.
Currently, the four biggest real estate buyers in Miami are Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, and Colombia and that has been the case for a number of years, due to the permanent instability in the region, which has turned South Florida into a major recipient of flight capitals from the Latin American region. Also, one must not forget that 60% of Miami-Dade’s permanent population is of Hispanic background. As competition increases, however, both at home and vis-à-vis other emerging destinations around the globe, developers are beginning to realize that market diversification is no longer an option, nor one they can afford to postpone.
Shuffield explains that Miami was originally built as a single-family home community, but due to the ongoing expansion and diversification of its population, around 2003, the pendulum began swinging towards condominiums as the preferred type of housing.
As a result, Miami–Dade County today features a unique assortment of sleek condominium buildings and distinctive single-family homes. Shuffield notes, “Right now, single-family homes represent 43% of all residential transactions, while the remaining 57% is condos “.
With reference to the current pace of growth, industry expert Peter Zalewski explains why the market is far from immune to the risk of overheating again. “A condo market is considered healthy it if has up to six months of inventory, and Miami right now has nearly three times as much. The period 1960-2002 registered around 11,500 condos built downtown, in the space of 60 blocks. From 2003 to 2010, we added another 22,200 and in the current boom, they are proposing close to 18,000 condo units. If you consider that these numbers are bound to get higher and higher, you realize what the market is shaping up to be like in the coming years”.
What is the right pace of development then, and what lies ahead for one of Miami’s key industries? Taking for granted that the last boom and bust has taken a major toll on developers across the board, one wonders, how they are thinking and acting this time around. Have they become weaker as a result and their confidence is only skin deep, or have they grown stronger from it, and thus become more skilled at anticipating and, if need be, at effectively maneuvering out of future problems? For now, “The cranes are back again and in a big way” to cite GMCVB’s President Bill Talbert, and that sign of vitality is the boost the city needed after so much doom and gloom.
According to the Association, the state of Florida ranks No1 in the country in terms of property sales to foreigners, nearly doubling California’s figures.
According to Shuffield, “25% of all international sales recorded in the country are in Florida, and within this figure 55% of our foreign buyers are British. The bulk of British purchases is in Central Florida, where Brits also have a large tourist following. Even though international buyers in Miami are predominantly from South and Central America, British, as well as other European buyers in Miami are very visible”.
At present, nearly 80% of condos are being built in Miami-Dade County, 52% of which in downtown Miami. Asked to give his opinion on the subject, Shuffield warns on the risk of flooding the market with too many condos at once, most notably in greater downtown as, he observes, “it would produce a net imbalance in supply and demand, that could cause prices to stagnate or even drop. No one wants this”.
Miami-Dade County is approximately 60% foreign-born as it is the place where foreigners feel most comfortable. European buyers tend to gravitate around the barrier island, Miami Beach, while Downtown Miami is mainly a magnet for Latin Americans who buy with the intention to rent. Heading north the numbers fall, with only 12% of condos going up in Broward County and 9% in Palm Beach County.
The gap is hardly surprising, given Miami’s greater efforts, and success, at branding itself internationally. After all, it is its growing reputation as a top-notch business, shopping, and leisure destination that has fueled the remarkable recovery of its real estate industry. Teresa Kinney, the energetic CEO of the Miami Association of Realtors (MIAMI) provides us with additional figures that give us a greater insight into it, “2014 marks our third consecutive year of record sales and our second year of double-digit price appreciation. In 2013, over 30,000 homes and condos were sold in Miami-Dade County, representing an 8 percent growth over the previous year. More specifically, sales of single-family homes grew by 12.5 percent while condo sales grew by 4.6 percent. The current median sale price for single-family homes is $243,000, which represents an 8 percent increase year on year, while for condos it is $193,000, equal to a yearly increase of 10.3 percent. This is our market’s best performance ever.
Kinney recalls what happened during the last recession, “From 2008 to 2011 people gradually adjusted to the fact that their properties were no longer worth what they were before the crisis, so the market started moving again and by 2011 we hit our record number of sales ever. That same trend continued during 2012 and 2013, and to this day we have kept the same pace. The good news is that, despite all this growth, our current prices are at the same levels as 2003, which makes our market particularly appealing to foreign buyers. All in all, Miami offers such a wide range of locations, choices, and lifestyles compared to other cities around the world that buyers cannot go wrong”.
She concludes: “2014 marks the 94th anniversary of the Miami Association of Realtors. Over 20 years, we have grown from 5,000 members to more than 35,000 primary and secondary members today, making us by far the largest local Realtor association in the country”.
Though poor in fossil fuel reserves, Turkey boasts an abundance of renewable energy sources (RES). So much so that the government has made meeting 30% of its energy consumption needs through renewables, one of its key objectives for 2023. The law on utilization of renewable energy resources (Law no. 5346), has been effective since 18 May 2005 and has been amended several times, as recently as October 2013.
Solar energy – until now in the background, as opposed to wind and hydro – has finally started to attract investments. Turkey holds a high potential for solar energy due to its geographical location; according to recent studies, it has an annual sunshine duration of 2,640 hours (7.2 hours a day) and an average annual solar irradiance of 1,311 kWh/m2. Its technical solar energy potential stands at 380b kWh/year.
Currently, solar plants classified as large-scale installations (above 1MW) or small-scale installations (up to 1MW) are subject to different regulations. Companies wishing to build large-scale solar plants must first obtain a preliminary license from the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA), which gets converted into a full license upon commencement of the plant’s construction. During such preliminary phase, which lasts a maximum of 24 months, the generation company obtains the required permits to build its generation facility.
At present, the energy produced with photovoltaic technology benefits of an incentive of $13,3 cent /kWh for 10 years, provided the production plant has started operations before 31 December 2015.
Additionally, if the mechanical or electro-mechanical equipment of the power plant is produced locally, a premium shall be added to the feed-in tariffs during the first 5 years of operation. However, the Council of Ministers (2013/5625) decided that the PV plants commencing operation between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2020, will be entitled to benefit from the fee in tariffs and the additional premium specified by the Renewable Law, too.
With regards to small-scale plants, no license is required, and the procedure is much more streamlined for establishing large-scale units, in that case, the owner can be an individual entity – and not just a legal entity – and no tender is required. All that is needed is a request made to the local utility company and a permit from the municipality to build the plant. The last step is the signing of a so-called “interconnection agreement” between the applicant and the utility company. The producer can use the generated energy for his self-consumption needs, but also sell the energy to the Regional Network Operator.
The current Law establishes in fact that power plants under 1 MW capacity are entitled to direct their excess (unused) energy to the grid and be considered Renewable energy support mechanism participants.
The feed-in-tariff policy sets a fixed and guaranteed price at which generators can sell power within the electricity market. As a result, investors can obtain a constant price linked to the US dollar, thereby avoiding surprises in revenue expectations due to price fluctuations.
Ankara is pursuing a model of “widespread generation” across the national territory, aimed at multiplying small-scale energy plants in such a way that consumers can be turned into producers, able to access energy and monitor its utilization independently.
This system allows investors to minimize their losses, as their plants’ proximity to the final consumer implies a shorter transport route and consequently a lower dispersion along the distribution line. Such cost-cutting of the electrical bills is particularly significant in the case of energy-intense activities.
When listening to, say, your local business partner, people sitting at busy cafés, or impromptu markets on street corners speak, be aware of the precious heritage surrounding you. Intangible yet substance-filled, present-day Albanian features scores of millennia-old words, tracing back to civilizations that are now confined to pavilions of antiquities. A priceless living vestige of the archaic past of the Mediterranean and beyond, as revealed by emergent literature on linguistics, it shares profound and profuse affinities with some of our planet’s most ancient tongues, including Sanskrit, Persian, Hebrew, Akkadian, Hittite, Greek, Latin and the oldest branches of German.
Indeed, the many archeological artifacts and linguistic relics that bear witness to a glorious past for this corner of Europe, speak of a cultural and spiritual hub, and a “melting pot” of the mythological lore of remote ages. After all, notwithstanding disputes on the exact location, these territories hosted the prominent Dodona oracle, drawing visitors from all corners of the globe long before the Hellenic, Latin, and eventually, Slavic civilizations appeared and thrived in the broader region.
Similar to the handful of Albania’s cultural and historical assets, both tangible and intangible, that have been awarded “UNESCO World Heritage” status – including the 6th century illuminated Gospel manuscript “Codex Purpureus Beratinus”, the iso-polyphonic music performed by Labs and Tosks of Southern Albania, the citadel of Gjirokastra, the 2,400-year old town of Berat, and the ancient city of Butrint, inhabited since pre-historic times and described in Virgil’s Aeneid as a “Troy in miniature” – the Albanian language represents yet another invaluable treasure that has been preserved for the world. A meaningful contribution to the European “puzzle” of cultures and languages, modern Albanian provides an interpretation key not only to long-standing linguistic enigmas but also to the historiography of the ancient Mediterranean in its entirety.
Certainly, the country’s uneven, often rugged geography has played a role in its preservation, providing a natural shield from the random ravages of rising and declining empires throughout the course of time. It is the remarkable resilience and vitality of the Albanian people though, that ultimately allowed the spoken language to be passed on to successive generations, turning it into an essential component of Albania’s national sentiment and core identity. And most likely, these very qualities will guarantee its longevity for centuries to come.
Since the post-1990 democratic transition, Albania has gradually made its way out of Europe’s “blind spot”. Yet, the country’s splendid heritage – the Albanian language being a prime asset – has yet to be fully cherished by visiting tourists and scholars alike. Taking stock of such amazing legacies will go a long way to ensure that Albania is no longer seen as a backward country in the backyard of Europe, but rather as a gem of immeasurable historical and cultural value for all.
A few miles away from the resort-like atmosphere and pace of South Beach, is Miami’s thriving greater downtown scene. The area, which already hosts the largest concentration of international banks in the United States, as well as many large national and global companies, is experiencing an unprecedented boom, both in terms of the variety and the scale of real estate projects being carried out. As it stands today, Miami is reported to have the 3rd highest number of skyscrapers in the US, after New York City and Chicago, and yet more vertical structures are on their way.
Someone who is well versed in the new spike in demand for real estate in downtown Miami is Commissioner of District 2, Marc Sarnoff who notes, “The investors we are seeing in this building cycle are somewhat different from those of the previous cycle, which were already a good crop. What we are seeing today is much closer attention to architectural design as well as to the environmental impact of projects, and more iconic structures. Overall, this building cycle is more sustainable than the one before because this time we are not dealing with banks’ money, but instead people are putting down their own money, and that clearly reduces the likelihood of them walking away from their own investments.” Besides being the city’s District 2Commissioner, Sarnoff is also Chairman of Miami Downtown Development Authority (DDA). As such he has been a strong advocate of enhancing the area’s overall quality of place, through a number of initiatives aimed at relaunching neglected and unproductive urban areas, protecting the environment through stricter green policies, managing the city’s water resources more effectively, and overall, nurturing the creation of a more appealing downtown ecosystem. In his on-going personal quest to endow the city centre with a higher and richer quality of life, he feels that a lot has been achieved already, “In 2010 Miami was ranked as one of the world’s top 3 cities alongside London and Moscow, by the International Journal for Investment, so I would say we are already in the top league. Plus, we are still a bargain. Miami is definitely one of the most competitive places on earth in terms of value for money.”
Alyce Robertson, the Executive Director of the DDA, corroborates his statement, “We are a very young city by comparison with most other cities around the world and in many ways we can claim we have not yet been discovered. As Miami Downtown Development Authority our job is to get the message out that our city is not just about sun and fun; this is a place where you can have a full business schedule, as well as immerse yourself in the arts and culture, enjoy our beaches, and a lot more. We are a highly diversified product and destination, that can please all palates, up to the most demanding.” Robertson explains that the DDA operates within the boundaries of approximately two square miles and, while today downtown is home to a population of around 80,000 people, it has doubled in number over the past decade.
Francisco Garcia, Director of the Department of Planning and Zoning for the City of Miami, outlines what he calls the “wholesale reorganisation of the region’s population”. He explains that over the years the South Florida market has been developing in a very suburban fashion, giving birth to a number of very upscale, luxurious single-family residential clusters away from urban centres. “What is happening now is that people are beginning to coalesce around the urban core and as they experience an increasingly more taxing commute, they will start considering moving closer to our downtown area, especially given the high-quality products that are being delivered and will continue to be delivered to the market going forward”. He explains that the density plan for Miami’s urban core is currently around 1000 units per acre, somewhere close to the density of Hong Kong and Tokyo. “We are going to give people who now live 20 or 30 miles away the opportunity to move increasingly closer to their place of work and live in an environment that ensures them a level of convenience, safety, beauty of place – a quality of life – that is hard to match elsewhere,” explains Garcia. In his widely shared opinion, this will ultimately give shape to a city with year-round business, as opposed to just seasonal business as it has been so far. “We are becoming a 12-month a year city, which speaks to the sustainability of our plan. The fact that more and more foreign investment is coming to our city is a good indicator that the level of our infrastructure is significantly going up in quality.”
Currently, 75% of Miami is zoned as single family residential, which equals approximately nine units per acre. Garcia describes such numbers as anachronistic and, consequently, unsustainable in the long-term, “I personally see no end to the increasing pace and quality of urban development in Miami; with the upgrading of our seaport and airport, not to mention our roadway and freeway system, we are inevitably set to become one of the next great cities of the world. The idea behind Miami 21 – a vision of how the Miami of the future will be, based on the adoption of a holistic approach to urban planning and the use of our land – is to get people out of their car and start relying on public transportation. To give you an example, a project called CENTRO was just approved, featuring 352 condos and just four parking spaces, one of which is for disabled people. At our current pace of growth, traffic is a problem that must be taken very seriously. We are moving into a phase where you will no longer be able to park your car. People will have the option of either using public transportation in the downtown area or relying on automated parking systems.”
Miami 21 identifies six elements as pivotal to transforming the city into a unique place to “live, work and play” – namely, zoning, economic development, historic preservation, parks and open spaces, arts and culture, and transportation.
The revitalisation process of greater downtown Miami is led by Brickell City Center, a mixed-use development project embracing four blocks from west of Brickell Avenue to the south of the Miami River, and Miami World Centre, a 10-block site situated in Park West neighbourhood, just north of the city’s Central Business District. The former is being developed by Hong Kong-based Swire Group, and is currently well into its first development phase, and the latter by Miami World Center Associates, which is expected to break ground this year.
North Carolina-born Stephen Owens, President of Swire Properties, arrived in Miami in 1979, after spending two years in Hong Kong at the company’s headquarters. Talking about Brickell City Center, he is quick to counter misunderstandings to highlight the bigger picture, “It is the largest private-sector project currently under construction in the US. I believe that the stimulus, the inertia, and the energy generated by this project will act as a potent boost of confidence for our community and provide an accurate perception of where Miami is heading.”
As evidence of their commitment to creating a high-quality urban space, as opposed to merely pursuing profit, Owens points that “Only 73% of what we are entitled to build is actually being built. Sustainability – and how we affect the communities in which we operate – is a cornerstone of every project Swire does. I want to underline that this is not something that is mandated by the government, for we take the same approach in China or anywhere else we go. We have also taken extra steps to create greenways. In fact, when we started this was the first pre-certified LEED neighborhood project in North America.”
Owens quantifies the company’s financial commitment for the first phase of the project as being approximately $1.2bn, going up to around $2bn with its second phase, scheduled for 2019. “We have 1,700 construction workers operating 24 hours a day and we are putting a floor on each tower every four days, which is a terrific pace”, he underlines. Given the scale of such a project, what is Swire’s biggest challenge? “With all the development that is going on in Miami costs have gone up by 20% in the last 12 months, a figure that is clearly unsustainable,” says Owens. He believes however that that is going to have a positive effect on the market, as it will keep the number of new developments to more rational and manageable levels. “The staggering numbers that are circulating with regards to pre-sales figures, around 70% in some cases, are simply not realistic. If all the new condominiums that have been proposed were to actually break ground, the market would simply be unable to absorb them.” As is often the case, the reality of what is announced and what eventually goes up are two very different things.
Few cities in the world have the power to evoke as vivid the image of a multi-layered playground for the rich and famous as Miami does.
To many a glittering parure of exotic beaches, iconic art deco structures, sizzling nightclubs, posh hotels and avant-garde cultural spots, this urban patchwork of accents, flavors and colors has indeed more to offer to visitors and residents alike, than mere glitz and glamour. After all, it did not get nicknamed “The Magic City” without a reason.
Incorporated as a city as recently as 1896, Miami is still young and bold; a lady in her prime, bursting with confidence and sex appeal, out on a date with stardom.
The city has indeed come a long way from the spring of 1980, when Cuban President Fidel Castro opened the Port of Mariel to those who wanted to flee the island, unleashing over 100,000 “Marielitos” to the Sunshine state, and quickly turning Miami into one of America’s most crime-ridded urban conglomerates.
Throughout its history, Miami’s evolution process has been one studded with challenges. So much so, that the city is viewed by many as a role model of resilience and seemingly inexhaustible vitality. Three Seminole wars, the Mexican-American War, two mass influxes of Cuban refugees in 1959 and in the 80s, a savage drug war at the end of the 90s that caused nearly two dozens fatalities, multiple real estate bubble bursts, riots and devastating hurricanes are just some of the hurdles the city had to overcome to secure its survival.
In just over three decades, it has championed a spectacular turnaround from being one of America’s most dangerous urban centers to one of its most sought-after destinations. While it may be hard to assess where such seemingly inexhaustible vitality comes from, most of its inhabitants would agree that both its core identity and its adaptability, are a by-product of its Cuban component.
“Cubans were the first immigrants that started shaping Miami into the cosmopolitan and multilingual community it is today. One of the things they gave us was a very strong work ethics, as well as a very pronounced Latin soul, with all the color, flavor, music and style that that entails. It is very much thanks to the Cubans if Miami has become one of the most diverse and welcoming places in the world”, says Ron Shuffield, President of EWM Realtors, one of South Florida’s premier Residential firms.
Among its many accomplishments, Miami has succeeded to carve out for itself a reputation as one of the world’s ultimate destinations for luxury living.
Again, Schuffield notes, “When it comes to upscale real estate, Miami remains one of the world’s best deals. If you compare us to London, which averages $3200 Per Sq Ft for a downtown condo, Miami is selling at just $735 Per Sq Ft. So on a per-square foot basis we are 4 times cheaper, which means that you can buy 4 condos in Miami for the price of one condo in London. Not to mention a market like Montecarlo, which is up to 12 times higher than us”. With these figures on hand, Shuffield makes his argument a hard one to debate. With nearly four decades of experience in Miami-Dade’s upscale property market, Shuffield can certainly speak with some authority about the subject. “Today around one third of buyers are foreigners, a clear indication of how global a brand Miami has become”, he concludes.
With this shift in its perception, Miami’s other labels of “Gateway to the Americas” or “Latin America’s US capital”, are perceived by an increasing number of people to be limitative of its ever-expanding global horizon and ambitions.
While in fact the above definitions reflect the city’s undeniable role and socio demographic makeup – Miami remains THE hub of choice for those who wish to effectively penetrate the Caribbean and Latin American region – the city is now ready to move past the trite stereotypes and clichés of the past, and let the world know it.
But, all perceptions and aspirations aside, is Miami truly up to the task?
How would the city fare as a serious contender to some of the long-established centers it often likes to compare itself to, such as Hong Kong or Singapore?
Or to places like London, Paris or New York? How close or how far is Miami to claiming its seat at the table of the world’s great cities?
The city is just beginning to recover from one of the most severe housing bubbles of its history, which saw the economy nearly succumb under the whiplashes of mass foreclosures and bank repossessions.
While most local developers are still wearing the scars from the last market crash though, they all declare to feel bullish about the prospects lying ahead. Miami is once again in the running, and it appears to be enjoying every minute of it.
“We are in the middle of a renaissance in real estate that is coming back with a vengeance, following the downturn in our economy and the bubble burst”, says Barry Johnson, the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce’s CEO.
Johnson’s statement may be a well-founded one; the recent development of a number of cutting-edge luxury developments and oceanfront projects north of South Beach, and the addition of over 23,000 condos and 78 buildings in greater downtown, have accelerated Miami’s gentrification process to unprecedented levels, opening the way to a new flow of fresh capitals from the four corners of the globe.
Christie’s International Real Estate (CIRE), the luxury real estate arm of fine art auction house Christie’s, recently ranked Miami among the world’s top 10 luxury destinations. And real estate consultancy firm Knight Frank, in its “Wealth Report 2013”, once again headed by London, places Miami at No.8, one spot ahead of Paris. The fourth-largest urban area in the country and the most populous metropolis in the Southeastern United States after Washington, D.C., greater Miami is currently home to approximately 5.5m inhabitants and still growing. Its ongoing cultural hybridization has given birth to a new concept of global city: a salad bowl of intersecting cultures, constantly struggling to merge the need to reinvent and redefine itself with the desire to safeguard its core identity. FDI Intelligence, a specialist division of the Financial Times, recently ranked Miami No9 among the leading North American cities of the future.
While some may wonder what the future holds in store for this chameleonic community, few question that the in coming decades Miami will be the region’s leading center for urban research, development and innovation.
Indeed, the city is no longer just a playground for the rich and famous, but also for an increasing number of starchitects who have chosen to leave their signatures in the Miami of the future. As it is, the city boasts already one of the highest concentrations of star architects in the world; internationally acclaimed names of the caliber of Rem Koolhouse, Carlos Ott, Robert Stern, Philip Stark and Zaha Hadid, among others, have chosen Miami as the ideal platform to showcase the best of their exterior and interior creations. This has enhanced the city’s perception as the ultimate urban laboratory of the 21st century, drawing the interest of an increasing number of foreign buyers who are willing to bet on Miami’s future.
The environmental future of Miami however, it must be noted, lies on a frail ground; rapid urban growth, rising water levels and a number of weather threats have been placing the community under increasing pressure over the years.
First of all, Miami must look at ways to reduce its vulnerability to nature’s, both predictable and unpredictable, course. A number of resiliency goals and climate-related regulations have been set, with the adoption of stronger building codes. The sprawling, low-lying developments that characterised the second part of the last century are likely to get gradually replaced with more solid and more energy-efficient vertical constructions. As real estate expert Peter Zalewski observes, “We have hit our Urban Development Boundary line (UDB) so we can only go vertical. We are a bit like Manhattan if you will, we are an island with the Atlantic on one side and the Everglades on the other, so we have no choice but to go vertical“.
One thing is sure. If Miami truly aspires to become the ultimate 21st century metropolis and the role model of urban development it claims it is, its key administrators, entrepreneurs, developers, architects and activists will need to come together and embark on the common, long-term mission of getting Miami fully suited for its new role, without stripping it of its core identity.
As one of Europe’s most exciting yet largely underrated ‘biodiversity hotspots’, Albania offers discerning tourists the opportunity to appreciate a wide array of species and rarities in a conveniently packed geographical area. Indeed, when it comes to the environment, the country’s array of assets is one that should command full attention: mountainous for 60% of its territory with 1m hectares of forests and woodlands, it boasts 700 protected areas, 30% of the continent’s flora and 42% of its mammals. Albania is also one of the world’s top 15 exporters of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) with over 3,250 different specimens, 27 of which are endemic. It also ranks second in Europe in terms of per-capita freshwater resources.
With so much potential at hand, it is regrettable to note that, to this day little has been done to capitalize on it. In fact to the contrary, Albania records one of the highest rates of biodiversity loss in Europe. Indiscriminate land exploitation by construction companies and farmers, soil and subsoil erosion through deforestation and oil drilling, and industrial pollution, not to mention unsustainable levels of hunting, fishing, and grazing, are taking an alarmingly heavy toll on its precious biodiversity. Today, many of its ecosystems are at risk, from river deltas to lakes, coastal lagoons, woodlands, dunes, etc.
Albania is located on an important bird migration route with coastal wetlands and lakes lending a providential shelter for the wintering of migratory species, including the globally endangered Dalmatian pelican. Furthermore, Its 3 million-year-old Ohrid lake, a UNESCO World Heritage protected site, is a true “museum of living fossils”, featuring among others a rare trout species known locally as “Koran”, whose closest relatives “survive” only as fossils in natural history museums, and harboring 90% of snails that cannot be found anywhere else on earth.
One may wonder then, with so much going for it, how Albania got into such a situation? Certainly, its troubled post-1990 transition caused it to lag behind in standards and fall out of step with European initiatives and developments in this area. Furthermore, awareness from the local communities, lack of sustainable platforms for public-private partnerships coupled with a lack of proper coordination and cooperation among key stakeholders (both at a domestic and regional level), have all played their part in the loss of biodiversity we witness to date.
Albania today needs to convince local, regional and European actors to take stock of their shared duty, and to cultivate interest in preserving this unique “bank of species”. It also needs to set in motion the required mechanisms for its safeguard and promotion.
With this goal in mind, the country has developed a groundbreaking “Protect & Profit” approach to the pursuit of its sustainable economic growth and employment generation, precisely through the focused preservation of its ecosystem. By effectively branding this new business niche as “biodiversity tourism”, and enabling a synergic relationship between its natural resources and its local know-how, hopefully, this area of business will soon be perceived as profitable and finally, get the attention it has so far undeservingly been denied.
Key to the achievement of this goal is the development of a customized portfolio of tourism services, including bird-watching, guided explorations of medicinal and rare endemic plants, research and academic tourism on “living fossils”, as well as various other areas of interest related to endangered flora and fauna species.
The world is at long last coming to terms with the wide-ranging tantalizing beauties that Albania has to offer. Aside from its historical and cultural heritage, biodiversity is the latest sizzling entry in its rich tourism basket!
At the time Enver Hoxha’s totalitarian rule was overturned, in 1991, Albania’s international credibility had reached a historical low. It took nearly two decades of structural reforms and macro-prudential policies for the country to see its efforts recognized and start reversing the situation. In mid-2008, it graduated from the International Development Association (IDA) – the World Bank’s soft financing arm dealing with poor nations – to the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), which deals with upper-middle-income economies. This means Albania can now get loans from international banks, as opposed to relying mainly on handouts from funding bodies. A tangible sign of its hard-earned maturity.
To its credit, the country has emerged relatively unscathed from the worldwide financial turbulence of the past few years. Not only has it weathered the storm better than the rest of Europe, preserving a stable financial system, a low external debt, and sufficient foreign exchange reserve buffers. Most importantly, FDI has kept coming in. During the period 2007-2013, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) recorded cumulative FDI inflows in excess of $6,6bn, nearly quadrupling the $1,6bn of 2000-2006. Moreover, inward FDI jumped from $247m in 2000 to $6,1b in 2013, roughly 50% of GDP, making it the number one recipient of FDI in the Western Balkans that year.
All this did not come about by chance, Albania’s investment regime is indeed quite alluring. To begin with, it takes a mere four days and five procedures to establish a foreign-owned limited liability company. A timeframe that is well below the region and OECD-wide average. Furthermore, foreign investments are not subject to restrictions, need no prior government authorization, and may not be expropriated or nationalized, except in special cases. Finally, both full transfer of capital and full repatriation of profits and dividends are allowed, as well as 100% ownership of a local company, excluding the transportation and the media sectors; the former being limited to a maximum share of 49% for both local and international air transportation (though these equity ceilings apply only to investors from countries outside the Common European Aviation Zone) and the latter to no more than a 40% stake in a television company.
And there is more good news. For the past year or so, the government has been fine-tuning a strategic investment law designed to provide investors with a quicker response to their needs, regarding permits, authorizations, documentation, and any administrative procedures they are required to go through. The Minister of Economic Development, Arben Ahmetaj, outlines a couple of important innovations, “We have split investors into two categories: special investors and assisted investors. They are both subject to the same regime, be they domestic or foreign investors, though those investing more than $5.5m will get the status of ‘special investors’ and obtain fast-track treatment, while the others will have to go through the regular procedure. Additionally, for investments above $55m, we are discussing the possibility to turn their contract into law in Parliament, in order to grant them maximum legal security. Of course, they will still go through regular tendering and procurement processes as any other investor would.”
Albania has yet more to offer. In terms of natural resources, it is one of the wealthiest nations per square kilometer in the world, although hydropower has been its only source of electricity so far, hence the need to diversify and beef up its energy portfolio. Minister of Energy and Industry, Damian Gjiknuri, sums it up in a sentence, Albania is blessed with energy resources; the time has now come to put them into use, in order to unleash our full potential and attract higher volumes of FDI”.
Ever since taking office, Gjiknuri has been grappling with a bundle of challenges, including chronic resource mismanagement – amounting to roughly $150m a year in losses; an outdated and largely inadequate tariff structure and widespread electricity theft, a nationwide phenomenon he intends to stop once and for all. As a measure of his commitment, over the next five years around $450m will be invested in the power sector alone.
Along with energy, Gjiknuri is also in charge of industry, a sector that has maintained a GDP share of approximately 14%, fuelled by strong demand for construction-related materials and chemicals, as well as textile and shoe products, where Albania retains a leading position worldwide. Today over 1,000 foreign companies – mostly from Italy, Greece, Germany, Turkey, the US, and Great Britain – are operating in Albania and benefitting from its comparatively good fiscal terms, such as corporate tax at only 15%, a VAT at 20%, a minimum wage of around $180 per month and an abundance of skilled workers in a variety of industries. With leading UK brands such as Vodafone, British Airways, British Petroleum, Glaxo Smith Kline, Lalzit Bay amongst others, already having a stronghold in the market, the conditions look ripe again for more UK companies to place their lucky bet on Albania.
Certainly, the government’s pro-business and pro-investment attitude is a relevant consideration when weighing up the nation’s benefits and opportunities. “Albania is a partner that is eager to cooperate and has an open-door policy towards foreign investors,” remarks emphatically Albania’s Ambassador to the UK, Mal Berisha, and concludes, “Here they can easily access the highest level institutions, up to the Prime Minister.” If his words hold some truth, in the case of Albania short-term risks may very well be outweighed by long-term rewards.
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