Building Aventura: A Community Success Story

This chapter explores the transformation of South Florida's underwater landscape into Aventura, focusing on the development of its iconic mall. The discussion highlights strategic retail decisions, family influences, and the challenges of blending personal and professional lives in community development. Personal anecdotes provide insight into the speaker's entrepreneurial journey and the lessons learned from family dynamics.

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What kind of man looks at 800 acres of mosquito-infested swampland and sees high-end apartments, a golf course, and a luxury shopping mall?

In 1967, Don Soffer made the biggest bet of his life: transforming undeveloped wetlands into what would become Aventura, one of Florida’s most iconic and extravagant communities. In this episode of Big Shot, Harley and David sit down with the 92-year-old visionary to hear how it all happened—straight from the source.

From convincing the Florida governor to back his development plan (after a well-timed flight to Tallahassee) to bringing in golf legend Robert Trent Jones to design a course, Don sold a dream that turned into a $4 billion reality. He built Turnberry resort, launched Aventura Mall, and packed them with celebrities—from Elton John to Madonna and John McEnroe.

Decades before “influencer marketing” was a thing, Don was using star power to shape a city.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• The environmental pushback Don faced after buying swampland—and how he got the green light from the governor of Florida after chartering a jet and flying to Tallahassee

• Don’s celebrity-packed playbook: how he used influencers before we even had a word for it

• Don’s take on why Jewish people have become such successful entrepreneurs

• Don’s definition of common sense—and approach to solving complex problems with simplicity

• Why he says it’s a privilege to have a hard problem to solve

• His advice for the next generation of Jewish entrepreneurs

• And much more!

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In This Episode We Cover:

(00:00) Intro

(02:07) How Don accidentally swallowed his dad’s glass eye

(03:03) Don’s early work building shopping malls with his father

(05:01) Why Don trusted his intuition and took a chance on developing swampland in Florida