Fueled By Latin American Strength Victor Ballestas Leads St Miamis Fasterthanforecast Upscale Towers Sellouts

Victor Ballestas is leading the sales of several high-end condominiums in South Florida, including Paramount Bay, Mint at Riverfront and Infinity at Brickell in Miami.

Mr. Ballestas serves as regional managing director of ST Miami, the managing entity that controls the South Florida assets acquired by multiple private equity groups, led by Starwood Capital Group and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Initially, the group thought it would take more than five years to sell these condominiums, he said, but because the Miami market has been active with international buyers scooping up units, several properties are already making sales.

Units at Mint and Infinity are closing and a sales plan is in the works for Paramount Bay.

"Everybody underestimated Miami and the Latin American community in Miami and how powerful Miami is for the Latin Americans," said Mr. Ballestas, who has been in the position about seven months. "They underestimated how much of the Latin American market was interested in owning a condominium in Miami."

Today, ST Miami hopes to sell its condo inventory, encompassing nine South Florida condominiums, within three to four years.

The private equity conglomerate is eyeing opportunities to acquire more condominium projects in South Florida because of the success it’s experiencing so far.

Mr. Ballestas discussed the plans for ST Miami’s property portfolio and the opportunities ahead with Miami Today reporter Yudislaidy Fernandez at the 459-unit condo Infinity at Brickell. To read this profile article in its entirety, subscribe to Miami Today’s E-paper. With the E-paper you will be able to read the entire contents of Miami Today online exactly as it appears in print. Or order this issue, to receive a regular printed copy of this week’s Miami Today. You may also subscribe to the printed edition of Miami Today to receive the newspaper every week by mail. If you are reading this in Miami Today’s “Online Archive” as an archived web page and would like to see the entire article that was published, call Miami Today, 305-358-2663 and ask for the Circulation Department.   Top Front Page About Miami Today Put Your Message in Miami Today Contact Miami Today © Copyright 2010 Miami Today designed and produced by Green Dot Advertising and Marketingvar gaJsHost = ((“https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://ssl.” : “http://www.”);document.write(unescape(“%3Cscript src='” + gaJsHost + “google-analytics.com/ga.js’ type=’text/javascript’%3E%3C/script%3E”));var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(“UA-4990655-1”);pageTracker._initData();pageTracker._trackPageview();