(Left to Right): Brandon Zarco & Todd Glaser

Todd Michael Glaser is a renowned real estate developer, owner’s representative, and business connoisseur. Starting his career as a fire sprinkler designer gave him a foundational understanding of building construction and developments, and now he sells multimillion-dollar properties, owns some of the largest real estate developments in South Florida, and has worked with A-list celebrities such as DJ Khaled, A-Rod, Lil Wayne, Chris Bosh, Hulk Hogan, Randy Frankel (owner of Tampa Bay Rays), Kevin Douglas (IMAX board member), and Stephen Levin (founder of Gold Coast Beverage Distributors).

Though originally from Miami Beach, Glaser has most recently brought his expertise to the Palm Beach market. Of course, the area has always been known for its beautiful estates, upscale resorts, and palm-tree-lined shopping district of Worth Avenue. Since 2020, the real estate market in Palm Beach has grown rapidly. Whereas a decade ago a $20 to $30 million house was considered top of the market, that price is now considered average, with $100 million homes in the mix.

“It’s a generational change in 2017 that I caught,” Glaser says. “A lot of stuff that had not come on the market for at least 50, 60, 70 years is starting to bubble up. They are big, expansive estates, and Miami Beach does not have that. The Palm Beach market, like Tarpon Island, really does not exist in Miami.”

Tarpon Island is a one-of-a-kind private island estate a block from Worth Avenue that Glaser bought this year and is currently renovating and developing. It has only one single-family home, accessible via its own bridge. The home has 1,300 linear feet of waterfront and will boast almost 25,000 square feet once completed. It will be brought to market by Lawrence Moens and will be listed for sale as-is for $120 million. If the buyer would like Glaser to complete the renovations, the cost will be $200 million.

Glaser recently sat down with Haute Residence to discuss his success in the new market, his favorite projects, and why Palm Beach is stealing the limelight from Miami Beach.

Tarpon Island, Palm Beach County, Florida

Haute Residence: What are some of the projects you’ve worked on in Palm Beach?

Todd Michael Glaser: I went into the market and purchased some landmark homes, renovated them, assembled a team of subcontractors, and once I felt comfortable, I started building. I did 125 Via del Lago, 121 North Lake Way, and 127 Dunbar Road, which are all landmark homes. I bought 127 Dunbar Road for $17 million and sold it for $27.5 million in under 10 months.

The reason we’re renovating right now is to get products on the market. In Palm Beach, there are only about 18 listings right now, whereas there are usually about 190. So we decided to buy some properties in April and May that we could fix and have on the market by October 15 to capitalize on the upcoming season.

HR: How has the real estate market in Palm Beach changed recently?

TMG: The real estate market, in general, hasn’t gone up so much in the last 15 years, and I attribute a lot of it to what somebody’s net worth is versus what they’re buying house-wise — it doesn’t correlate. Before, people used to buy a $150,000 house and you were only making $30,000 per year — one-fifth that amount. However, to flip that ratio, if somebody is worth $3 billion, why wouldn’t they buy a billion-dollar house valued at around a third of their worth? The correlation is off. In 2001, we started seeing $3 million houses. In 20 years, pricing has gone up, but not as much as what people’s income and net worth have risen. The graph of people’s income and net worth is vertical, and real estate has seen a slow rise. I think real estate is way undervalued.

But for Palm Beach, let's go back four years. Four years ago, when I bought 125 Via Del Mar, Miami Beach and Palm Beach properties were actually the same prices. That shocked me. I paid $6 million for a property and we later sold it for $16 million. That's what really caught my eye — I could finally buy in Palm Beach for the same price as Miami Beach. There have been eight single-family homes that have sold for over $100 million in the last 18 months in Palm Beach. It's a new trend, and a $50 million house in Palm Beach is not that big of a deal anymore because the sale prices have gone up to $100 million.

HR: What do you and your team hope to accomplish in the fourth quarter of 2021?

TMG: We own several properties that can be sold as land, and we’re looking to see if we can sell them simply for an appreciated land value. There's been a big increase in land values in the last six to eight months. There are a lot of people out there looking for land, and there’s nothing out there. We currently own a lot of property in Palm Beach. We’re also building some new homes because there’s no inventory in Palm Beach. We’ve never seen anything like this.

HR: What makes Palm Beach better than Miami Beach?

TMG: Palm Beach has the highest elevations on the east coast of Florida, and that’s why people picked it. The size of the parcels, when they were subdivided, was done in a resident-oriented way. They do everything for the residents in Palm Beach.

On the other hand, Miami Beach seems to be increasingly catering to tourists. I’ve lived here my whole life and have watched the city grow out of its small beach-town environment and into this booming metropolis. It used to have small-town vibes where everyone knew their neighbors, but those days are gone. I’ve renamed Miami Beach the city of Miami Beach — it’s not a town anymore, it’s a full-blown city. So many of us are gravitating up to Palm Beach, and a lot of young families are moving there, which is fantastic.

For more information and available properties, please visit toddmichaelglaser.com.

The post Palm Beach Paradise: An Interview With Todd Michael Glaser appeared first on Haute Residence by Haute Living.

Brandon Zarco, Todd Michael Glaser

Photo Credit: Romain Maurice

Glaser’s success throughout the decades required him to find the right individual to help him with the next phase of his business, which he found in Zarco. “Brandon is here to help me manage and grow my development and owner’s rep company,” he said. In just the first four months of 2021, the team has transacted on $170M of real estate.

Zarco added, “Todd’s expertise is in very high demand. Our process is intentional and systematic. We don’t build fast; we build efficiently.” Glaser said, “We would like to take on more projects, but we are nearing capacity. We need to grow.” This is where the Glaser-Zarco dynamic comes in.

If the last name of Glaser’s new deputy sounds familiar to Haute Living readers, it’s not a coincidence: he’s the son of a long-time Haute Partner, attorney Robert Zarco.

The interview session was a short glimpse into the day-to-day rapport Glaser has  developed with Zarco, each of them complimenting and complementing the other’s talents and sentences, respectively.

Glaser saw the development experience Zarco acquired with the builders of The Four Seasons at The Surf Club, The Four Seasons Fort Lauderdale, and The Four Seasons Palm Beach as he considered and promptly brought him into the fold. Zarco achieved his MBA at the Robert H Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park with a focus on Finance, and later honed his skills in Washington D.C. where he spent a few years in real estate banking.

Photo Credit: Romain Maurice

“I saw a lot of me in him,” said Glaser, as he identified Zarco’s qualities. “There’s a lot of serendipity between us. His grandmother, an interior designer that predominantly worked with one wealthy family her entire career, gave Brandon his first design book for his Bar Mitzvah when he was 13 years old. It was a Zaha Hadid book. Years later, I co-developed the building, [One Thousand Museum by Zaha Hadid Architects in Downtown Miami].”

On that building, with a little prompting, Glaser added proudly, “It’s the best building in the world. There’s no residential building like it.”

Looking into the future, “The next chapter of Todd Michael Glaser 2.0 will focus on ‘Legacy Properties’,” said Zarco. “Our Palm Beach acquisitions approach is currently centered on procuring and developing uniquely positioned legacy properties. There are a few in the pipeline that we are excited to bring to market throughout 2021 and early 2022.”

Famous for purchasing historic estates in Palm Beach, Glaser and his wife, Kim, bought Villa Fontana, located at 127 Dunbar Road, for $17 million in mid-2020, and sold it in March of this year for $28 million. Keeping up with the efficiency rate he employs, Glaser added that they already have new, “Haute Living spectacular,” projects to acquire into their growing portfolio. To start, Glaser recently put under contract 10 Tarpon Isle, a 2.26 acre private island accessible via private bridge in the heart of Palm Beach with 1300’ of waterfront located just 0.5 miles south of Worth Avenue.

Tarpon Island, Palm Beach County, FL

Photo Credit: Jay Bruns

An impressive detail to highlight about Glaser is that he knows the addresses of every one of his projects, radiating a paternal tone in his approach to each of them. More directly, he said, “I’m good with numbers and making my partners money. We have a great track record. I’ve been fortunate to have great partners throughout my life, including Alan Lieberman, Scott Robbins, Craig Robbins, Jerry Robbins, Armin Mattli, Jared Posner, Sean Posner, Rony Seikaly, Jonathan Fryd, and David Lombardi to name a few.”

One of Glaser’s top projects at the moment is a collaboration between architecture firm Kobi Karp, high-end furniture brand Artefacto, and Todd Michael Glaser, located at 394 S Hibiscus Drive. It’s the first endeavor between the three companies.

On their goals for the rest of 2021, as an active third of the year is in the books, Zarco said, “We’re in the process of restructuring and streamlining the operations of the business in a way that invites scale while maintaining the highest level of quality and unmatched style. Over the years, Todd has built a tremendous brand for himself. We want to take that brand, and coupled with newly envisioned legacy properties, be able to expand, so when people from anywhere in the country hear ‘Todd Michael Glaser’ they know the type of business and excellence of product that we provide.”

As the dialogue was coming to a close, the last question for Glaser generated his fastest response: Would you choose one of those $50 million waterfront homes in Palm Beach or the $50 million estates in The Hamptons? His answer, “I’m a Palm Beach guy.”

The post Todd Michael Glaser 2.0: Shaping a Legacy appeared first on Haute Residence by Haute Living.