Robert Swedroe has been designing leading-edge resort and residential projects since joining Morris Lapidus, the acclaimed architect of Miami Beach's Fontainebleau Hotel, in 1962 as a senior designer.
 Swedroe-designed Marbella in south Jacksonville Beach |
One of the firm's largest projects is a master plan for Briny Breezes, a 43-acre oceanfront Palm Beach County mobile home park recently purchased by Ocean Land Investments. "Our conceptual master plan includes a five-star hotel, luxury residential towers, a beach club, marina and public gathering areas," Swedroe says.
By design, many of Swedroe's current projects are outside of south Florida, with an emphasis on the Panhandle and Jacksonville markets. "We didn't want to get caught in south Florida's mammoth building boom because we saw that the cycle would come to an end," Swedroe says.
Swedroe has focused on cost-effective, low- and midrise residential designs with units from 500 to 1,500 square feet.
"Although these units are smaller, the majority of these projects utilize private-entry and semi-private elevator concepts," he says. "And both our clients and residents like this approach. When one New York developer saw our private elevator concept, he ripped up three previous sets of plans. As a result, we've added a very nice eight-story building on Long Island to our firm's portfolio."
 Robert Swedroe Title: Founder and principal, Robert M. Swedroe Architects & Planners, |