"If I said it, maybe I had too many drinks that night."

When author Jeff Goodell approached developer Jorge Pérez during a party at the Pérez Art Museum to ask him if sea level rise had changed his approach to building, the chairman and CEO of The Related Group replied: "In 20 or 30 years, someone is going to find a solution for this. Besides, by that time, I’ll be dead, so what does it matter?”

During an interview with the Miami Herald to celebrate the upcoming opening of Related's latest project — the 57-story SLS Lux Brickell condo hotel at 805 South Miami Avenue — Pérez called his comment "idiotic," although he also says he doesn't remember saying it.

Read more at the Miami Herald.