Ben Hoffman & Felipe Azenha

Built World Advisors Podcast: The Definitive Biography of the People Building Our Cities

Business EN ↓ 136 episodes

The Built World Podcast is the premier biographical series and educational resource dedicated to the visionaries, risk-takers, and Institutional Operators shaping the landscape of Commercial Real Estate (CRE) , Urbanism , and Property Development . Hosted by Felipe Azenha and Ben Hoffman , active Commercial Real Estate Brokers and Co-Founders of Built World Advisors in Miami , this show is more than a market update—it is a deep-dive exploration into the life stories, personal philosophies, and investment strategies of the industry’s most influential leaders. Each episode is a professional mast...

Author

Ben Hoffman & Felipe Azenha

Category

Business

Podcast website

www.builtworldadvisors.com

Latest episode

Jul 7, 2026

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Episodes

Built World Hot Shots - Featuring Marcia Martinez Laas 12.01.2026

This is Built World: Hot Shots , recorded live at The Real Deal Forum, where every guest takes a shot of tequila or espresso before diving into some rapid-fire questions. Today, Marcia Martinez Laas joined us for an espresso shot and quick-hit conversation. Connect with us Want to dive deeper into Miami’s commercial real estate scene? 📧 Get in touch: Built World Advisors 🎙️ Listen & Watch: Ap...

Jimmy Tate - Co-Founder & President, Tate Capital 05.01.2026

Jimmy Tate joins us over a pour of Basil Hayden bourbon for a wide-ranging conversation that traces his journey from growing up in a small-town Miami on Bay Harbor Islands to becoming a key figure behind some of South Florida’s most complex developments. We get into his early hustles, learning real estate the hard way on his father’s construction sites, the decision to strike out on his own, and t...

Built World Hot Shots - Featuring Diego Torrealba 29.12.2025

This is Built World: Hot Shots , recorded live at The Real Deal Forum, where every guest takes a shot of tequila or espresso before diving into some rapid-fire questions. Today, Diego Torrealba  joined us for an espresso shot and a quick-hit conversation. Connect with us Want to dive deeper into Miami’s commercial real estate scene? 📧 Get in touch: Built World Advisors 🎙️ Listen & Watch: Appl...

Built World Hot Shots - Featuring Raymond Jimenez 29.12.2025

This is Built World: Hot Shots , recorded live at The Real Deal Forum, where every guest takes a shot of tequila or espresso before diving into some rapid-fire questions. Today, Raymond Jimenez stepped up to a tequila shot and a quick-hit conversation. Connect with us Want to dive deeper into Miami’s commercial real estate scene? 📧 Get in touch: Built World Advisors 🎙️ Listen & Watch: Apple P...

Jaime Sturgis - CEO & Founder of Native Realty Co. 16.12.2025

Jaime Sturgis made the trip down from the U.S. (Fort Lauderdale) armed with a bottle of Don Fulano tequila, to talk about how he became one of South Florida’s neighborhood-makers.  As Founder and CEO of Native Realty, Jaime has spent the last decade curating emerging districts, from Miami’s Wynwood to Fort Lauderdale’s Flagler Village, completing millions of square feet of transactions and setting...

Chuck Bohl - Director of Masters of Real Estate Development + Urbanism Program, University of Miami 11.12.2025

Sipping on a pour (or two) of Macallan, Chuck Bohl sits down with us to share the winding, unexpected journey that led him to become the founding director of the University of Miami’s Master of Real Estate Development program. We go all the way back to his early years growing up on a farm, where hard work and curiosity first took hold, before jumping into his teenage days shredding guitars and dre...

Built World Hot Shots - Featuring David Moret 04.12.2025

This is Built World: Hot Shots , recorded live at The Real Deal Forum, where every guest takes a shot of tequila or espresso before diving into some rapid-fire questions. Today, David Moret joined us for an espresso shot and a quick-hit conversation. Connect with us Want to dive deeper into Miami’s commercial real estate scene? 📧 Get in touch: Built World Advisors 🎙️ Listen & Watch: Apple Pod...

Gil Dezer - CEO, Dezer Development 02.12.2025

In this episode, we sit down with legendary Miami developer Gil Dezer, the force behind Porsche Design Tower, Armani Residences, and the upcoming Bentley building. Gil opens up about hustling through high school and college, selling condos and timeshares before joining his father’s real estate empire and leading the charge himself.  He walks us through the Dezer family story from his father immigr...

Built World Hot Shots - Featuring Russell Galbut 26.11.2025

This is Built World: Hot Shots , recorded live at The Real Deal Forum, where every guest takes a shot of tequila or espresso before diving into some rapid-fire questions. Today, Russell Galbut joined us for an espresso shot and a quick-hit conversation. Connect with us Want to dive deeper into Miami’s commercial real estate scene? 📧 Get in touch: Built World Advisors 🎙️ Listen & Watch: Apple...

Irwin Raij - Partner & Co-Chair of the Entertainment, Sports and Media, Sidley 25.11.2025

Ever wondered how a stadium gets built, a pro sports team gets bought or sold, or who actually pays for it? Meet Irwin Raij, the sports and entertainment attorney behind some of the biggest deals in modern sports. From advising Inter Miami CF on their stadium, to helping negotiate the record-breaking $6.05B sale of the Washington Commanders, to working on acquisitions involving the Charlotte Horne...

Bob Knakal - Chairman & CEO, BKREA 18.11.2025

The legend of New York City commercial real estate brokerage himself, Bob Knakal, flew down to Miami and joined us over some 1942 tequila to tell his story. From shoveling driveways as a kid to co-founding Massey Knakal in 1987, and ultimately selling it for $100 million, Bob takes us through the highs and lows of building one of the most iconic brokerage firms in the country. With over 2,363 buil...

David Martin - CEO, Terra Group 11.11.2025

We recorded this episode live from Bilzin Sumberg’s office, in front of a packed room of ULI Leadership Institute alumni, sharing a pour of Don Julio 1942 with David Martin , CEO of Terra . David takes us through his Miami upbringing, his early entrepreneurial hustle (including the coffee shop he launched and sold while attending the University of Florida), and how that drive evolved into a career...

Gabe Navarro - Managing Partner, MMG Equity Partners 04.11.2025

Over some Japanese whisky, we sit down with Gabe Navarro to talk about the family legacy behind the Navarro Pharmacy chain, a true Miami institution. Gabe shares what it was like growing up in the business, from sweeping floors and stocking shelves to ultimately helping lead the company through its major exit to CVS. We get into how he and his siblings transformed Navarro from a neighborhood pharm...

David Whitaker - President & Chief Executive Officer, GMCVB 27.10.2025

Hailing from the Napa Valley of Onions, Vidalia, Georgia, David Whitaker joins us over a glass of Bendersky Reserve Scotch to share his remarkable journey. David first arrived in Miami in the 1980s, where his introduction to the city was anything but smooth. He was mugged at gunpoint his first Friday in town, and then carjacked the following week. Undeterred, he stayed, built his career, and event...

Q3 2025 Market Update: Juan Arias, National Director of Industrial Analytics, CoStar Group & Anthony Graziano, CEO, Integra Realty Resources 21.10.2025

This quarter, we poured some Nikka Japanese whiskey and sat down with two of the sharpest minds in the CRE data world: Juan Arias , National Director of Industrial Analytics at CoStar Group, and Anthony Graziano , Chairman & CEO of Integra Realty Resources. Every quarter, these guys help us dissect what’s actually moving Miami’s industrial market — pricing trends, vacancy shifts, absorption pa...

Daniel Lebensohn - Co-CEO & Co-Founder, BH3 Management 14.10.2025

We cracked open a couple of cold IPAs and went LIVE with Daniel Lebensohn, Co-CEO & Founder of BH3 Management, at Bisnow’s Miami State of the Market - our first-ever live podcast. Daniel brought the unfiltered stuff: building through cycles, spotting distress before it hits the headlines, assembling A-teams, and keeping conviction when deals get weird. We got into how BH3 thinks about risk, ca...

Michael Swerdlow - Managing Partner, Swerdlow Group 07.10.2025

We hit the road and sat down with Michael Swerdlow , founder and managing partner of The Swerdlow Group , in his Coconut Grove office. From his humble beginnings in the Bronx, where he hated school because it was too easy, to buying real estate in the 1970s with $0 of his own money , Michael’s story is a masterclass in hustle and vision. He walks us through flipping apartment buildings, discoverin...

Tadd Schwartz - President, Schwartz Media Strategies 29.09.2025

We cracked open a few cold Peronis with Tadd Schwartz, the man behind Schwartz Media Strategies and one of the sharpest storytellers in Miami. Tadd took us behind the curtain of Miami’s PR machine: the spin, the splash, and the subtle art of making a real estate project feel like the second coming of South Beach. From rebranding neighborhoods to navigating media storms, he’s helped shape the way M...

Neisen Kasdin - Co-Office Managing Partner, Akerman 24.09.2025

In this episode, we sat down with a couple of scotches and a legend of Miami Beach, Neisen Kasdin. Born and raised on the Beach, Neisen has witnessed its transformation firsthand. From his teenage years, he was drawn to politics with dreams of one day becoming president. That passion led him to Northwestern University, where he studied political science, and then back to Florida for a law degree a...

Gerald & Trisha Posner - Best Selling Authors & Award-Winning Investigative Journalists 16.09.2025

From San Francisco to London to New York City, Gerald and Trish Posner have lived lives that are anything but ordinary. Gerald started his career as a young hotshot lawyer, while Trish came up through the fashion industry. Fate brought them together in NYC, and since then, they’ve become an award-winning investigative writing duo with a shelf full of acclaimed books. Their work has taken them ever...

Matthew Baron - President & Founder, Baron Property Group 09.09.2025

Matt sat down with us over a glass of tequila and shared his journey. From growing up in Brooklyn and working early jobs as a club promoter to building a $2.1 billion real estate portfolio , Matt plays chess, not checkers. He discovered early that his superpower was a relentless work ethic; pounding the phones and making more cold calls than anyone else as a young NYC stockbroker. He took us throu...

Ana Bozovic - Founder, Analytics Miami 04.09.2025

Ana sat down with us over a couple of very dirty martinis, and the conversation went just as unfiltered. Ana is as much of a data nerd as we are, and we dug into the strength of Miami’s new development condo market, the macroeconomic forces funneling wealth into South Florida, and why she believes capital and high-net-worth individuals will keep flocking to the 305. We also got into blue vs. red s...

Inside The Built World with Ben Hoffman & Felipe Azenha 27.08.2025

No guests this week, just us, talking shop and sharing what’s really going on in Miami’s industrial market. We get into the story of Built World Advisors, why we’re betting big on Class B warehouses in the urban core, and what we’ve learned building a media-meets-brokerage platform from the ground up. We also break down what’s hot (and what’s not) in East Hialeah, West Hialeah, Allapattah, Opa-Loc...

Hue Chen - President, Saglo Companies 05.08.2025

Hue Chen, President of Saglo Companies, stopped by to drop some serious shopping center knowledge. From his early days as a leasing agent to leading one of South Florida’s most active retail owner-operators, Hue’s journey is a masterclass in grit, hustle, and long-term vision. A fixture at ICSC and a forward-thinker in applying AI to real estate, Hue shares how he’s stayed ahead of the curve while...

Mid-Year Market Update with Anthony Graziano & Juan Arias 28.07.2025

The brain trust is back. Juan Arias (CoStar Group) and Anthony Graziano (Integra Realty Resources) join us to break down what’s shaping up for the second half of 2025 in commercial real estate. We cover the macro trends: interest rates, capital flows, development costs,  and zoom in on how they’re impacting real-world dealmaking in South Florida. Whether you’re investing, developing, or just tryin...

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