Miami is back on the radar BIG TIME with a single tweet from Miami City Mayor Francis Suarez. On December 9th, 2020, Miami’s rebirth surged by Suarez’s response “how can I help?” to Founders Fund venture capitalist, Delian Asparouhov’s Twitter comment “ok guys hear me out, what if we move silicon valley to miami”. That tweet and the conversations thereafter ignited Founders Fund inking a new 22k square foot, 10 year office lease deal with Atomic at Wynwood Annex in Wynwood Miami.
Elon Musk and Suarez sparked magic resonating waves across the nation with their 3am tweets. These online convo’s led to Suarez flying out to Las Vegas to meet with Musk’s Boring Co. to discuss building a tunnel to alleviate traffic issues between downtown Miami and the Brickell financial district.
We can also thank the Mayor’s tweets for the recent Miami Heat basketball arena’s $135 million branding rights taken by one of the world’s largest crypto traders, FTX Crypto Derivatives Exchange. Sam Bankman-Fried, chief executive officer of FTX says Suarez’s efforts helped persuade him to sign this deal on the previously named AAA (American Airlines Arena).
Suarez’s #MiamiMovement lifted off fashion campaigns too. Not only have his Twitter followers doubled within the last three months but he found another innovative and creative twist to an opportunistic moment selling “How Can I Help?” T-shirts where 100% of the proceeds are donated to iTech Mega Technology Magnet High School in the Miami Dade County Public School District. The Miami Vice colored tee’s help fund the dedicated iTech’s curriculum preparing students for the tech forward future economy.
Miami’s hospitality centered employee bucket is taking a back seat with focused high-earning jobs in technology and finance employment opportunities migrating to the Magic City. SoftBank Group Corp.’s COO, Marcelo Claure recently pledged to provide $100 million in funding to Miami area companies. “The City of Miami produces the most African American and Hispanic engineers in the COUNTRY” Claure noted alongside his commitment to a #MiamiForEveryone.
“In the U.S., Miami is number one for job creation, for startups, and for small-business growth. We’re number five in the nation in population growth”, according to Suarez. His accomplishments speak for themselves even though critics are bashing his efforts. Undeniably the Magic City leap took flight during the pandemic. Thanks to Suarez’s tweets, tech and crypto leaders are watching, listening, and migrating to the Sunshine State. Companies like Founders Fund, led by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, has over $6 billion in aggregate capital and a shiny new Miami Wynwood address. Their investment strategies include aerospace (first institutional investor in SpaceX), artificial intelligence, advanced computing, energy, health, and consumer Internet, including portfolios in Airbnb, Lyft, Spotify to name a few. My prediction is partnering companies will also follow suit to open S. Florida offices.
What does this mean for the Miami landscape? Will we lose our authentic identity? Do our logistically ingrained diverse demographics change?
We are not Silicon Beach.
We are not the new New York.
How about the Riviera of the United States?
Better yet, we are the Original and Authentic Magic City.
We are MIAMI!
A migration mecca, flavor-filled melting pot attracting talent across the globe. “If setting up Miami to be a stronger global competitor is as important to you as it is to me, then please reach out. I look forward to working with you” Mayor Francis Suarez.
#ilovemiamitoo Michelle Gonzalez
