Turnberry

Above, Turnberry Towers, Las Vegas At right, Bruce Weiner

Developer Turnberry ventured beyond Miami a decade ago with a tower in Las Vegas. Since then, it has built 3,600 condo and condo/hotel units there. It has two projects in Vegas — one includes two 45-story towers, and another includes three 40-story towers — a 25-story tower in Arlington, Va.; a 36-story tower in Houston; a 40-story tower in San Francisco; a 495-unit condo/hotel in the Bahamas; and is scouting the Los Angeles market. Turnberry President Bruce Weiner says as much as 70% of the company’s revenue comes from outside Florida.

Ginn Resorts

Above, Ginn sur Mer, Grand Bahama’s West End At right, "Bobby" Ginn

Edward Robert “Bobby” Ginn’s Celebration-based company lays claim to 40,000 acres from his native South Carolina, his adopted Florida and up through the North Carolina mountains — where he’s developing the 6,000-acre Laurelmor — to a Vermont ski resort. One of his largest projects is the
1,957-acre Ginn sur Mer on Grand Bahama’s West End,
where he’s committed to building 4,400 condos and
hotel units, 1,800 single-family home sites, a private airport, marinas and golf courses.

The Related Group

Above, Icon Vallarta, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico At right, Jorge Perez

Jorge Perez’s Miami-based The Related Group, the nation’s largest luxury condo developer, plans to invest $1 billion in Mexico over the next two years, first with a 343-unit oceanfront condo project in Puerto Vallarta and then onto Acapulco, Cabo San Lucas, Playa del Carmen and Zihuatanejo. It’s looking into Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Argentina and Uruguay.

Jack Parker Corp.

Above, Pacifico, Playas del Coco, Costa Rica At right, John Reisman

In 2004, John Reisman, president of Fort Myers- and New York-based Jack Parker Corp., visited a retired friend in Costa Rica and saw an opportunity for the company’s first venture outside the U.S. The company had plans for a 1,000-unit De Soto County development but put them on hold and concentrated on Pacifico, its 175-acre community in Playas del Coco, Costa Rica. Residences run from the $180,000s to the mid-$600,000s. The project through early August racked up $29.9 million in sales and is well ahead of its projected pace of 100 sales a year, says Senior Vice President Kerry Trowbridge. Floridians account for 14% of Pacifico sales.

JMC Communities

Above, Patrick Square, Clemson, S.C. At right, Michael Cheezem

“It wasn’t a case of us making a strategic decision to leave the state” to focus elsewhere, says Michael Cheezem, president of St. Petersburg-based JMC Communities, about Patrick Square, the $190-million traditional neighborhood development JMC will build in Clemson, S.C., over the next six years to cater to faculty and to the trend of empty-nesters and retirees who want to be near a major university. Cheezem bought 173 acres from his father, a Clemson grad semi-retired there. In Pinellas, meanwhile, JMC in August opened the Sandpearl and has under way Ovation, a downtown St. Petersburg luxury high-rise.

Jose Rosado

Above, Great Camps of the Smokies, Santeetlah Lake in western North Carolina

“I swore to myself I would never work here — famous last words,” says Coral
Gables developer Jose Rosado of Santeetlah Lake in far western North Carolina, which he found in 1998 and made his second home. It also now will be home to his Great Camps of the Smokies, several small-scale, geographically spread out projects around a national forest. Rosado aims to restrict building and clear-cutting to preserve woodlands at his high-end retreats. One project has a marina and lakeside living — 35 lots starting at $425,000. Another has 50 estate lots and a 30-unit village on a nearby mountainside. Still another has 12 cottages, starting at $320,000, clustered in the forest.

Core Communities

Above, Tradition, near Hilton Head, S.C. At right, Pete Hegener

Core Communities, developer of the huge St. Lucie County projects St. Lucie West and Tradition, is at work on a new Tradition, a 9,500-home project near Hilton Head, S.C., and Savannah, Ga., where homes will range from $285,000 to $850,000. Core President Pete Hegener says South Carolina doesn’t have the same market factors slowing Florida’s development.