duPont REGISTRY Talks: DRIVEN Luxury Event with Turnberry and Prestige Imports

This is Dupont Registry Talks, the exclusive podcast from the home of driving luxury since 1985.

Hello everyone and welcome to this episode of Dupont Registry Talks. I'm your host,

Charles Bradley and joining me today are another two eminent guests from our wonderful world

of luxury lifestyle and I'm delighted to say I'm joined by Brett David from Prestige Imports

and Harrison Sofa of Turnberry Associates. Welcome to the show guys. Thank you for having us.

Thank you. So today we're going to talk about an exciting new venture, a car show called Driven,

which is a new collaboration between Aventura Mal and MD-DDA car show team, which is of course

Miami Design Distress, Prestige Imports, Curated and of course Dupont Registry. Of course.

Let's just talk about how this idea first came together. Can you explain the vision behind

launching this new series of events? So it's been pretty interesting and it's a story that I think

has started many, many, many moons ago and I say that because individually my family and Harrison's

family have gone back in South Florida for probably 40 plus years. So it's really interesting that

when Harrison and I have an opportunity to now sit up here as the young guns and the new

matriarchs of our era taking over the family businesses, this has always been something

that I think was eventually going to happen, not just because of the proximity of where our main

headquarters is or where Harrison's main headquarters is, but there's always been this

incredible synergy between the families. As a young youth, my father had always taught me a word

legacy and when he had always concept the word legacy and talked about aspirations of a specific

family, he had always turned to me and utilized Harrison and Harrison's mother and his uncle

and of course his grandfather who came in to a city and didn't just make a dent,

his family had come into a city of Aventura and legitimately created Aventura and the city we

know of today and it started with passion and dreams. Many people at the time told him that he

was absolutely crazy who would do this. It was a swamp land at the time and there had been some

very, very big key elements that were brought to the city. One of those key elements became the

Aventura Mall and the Aventura Mall, being there for so many years and going through so many

different changes and redevelopments over time, Aventura Mall and I'll allow Harrison to tell you

has now become one of the most, if not the most prominent mall in America for so many different

reasons. So for us, when we think about doing these car shows and obviously we've talked in

the past about what we've done at the Miami Design District with the Miami Concourse, we saw something

that was very unique and very different for an incredible backdrop. Art meets fashion, meets

automotive, the streets being ripped with red carpet and clients from all over the world coming.

There is still a need for a redeveloped car show, cars and coffee to be done where the community

can activate in one place and what's really funny and ironic is everybody that we know, all of our

clients are constant, constant individuals that would go to the mall and they would see through

the different elements of the mall's growth and the different wings that have been redone

and the great food and beverage options that have been presented. But for a car show, what is the

biggest issue with a car show is finding a location that has enough space for us to really bring out

the automotive individuals that love and are passionate about cars but also give us enough

space where the community that are just bystanders that appreciate the love for performance and design

can come to, there is no better place that we had thought about other than Aventura Mall.

And the idea of this concept is cars and coffee or car shows have been around for many years.

But as these car shows have sort of grown, there has been a lack of luxury. There has been a lack

of a specific curation of clients from specific markets, cars being identified in certain ways

and also a lack of, I would say, entertainment and hospitality where these individuals can come to.

You know, when you think of a car show today, many people think that a car show is just putting

a car in a parking space. But when a family joins that same passion and joins the husband or the wife

and then they bring the children, we want to make sure that the ambiance and atmosphere

at the campus can serve an entire family. So when you think of what Aventura Mall as a whole has

built over the last several years and now under the directive of Harrison, you have seen something

that has grown to become an icon of its own. So by doing the show, this wasn't just about putting

cars together in a community and unveiling it. This was about really creating a nucleus of luxury,

automotive and making an afternoon out of it. And other car shows in South Florida,

they tend to each individually be lacking some sort of DNA to do exactly what we want to do.

And when Harrison and I and the MDD team spoke and we originally sat down with DuPont and we said

there is an option for us and there is a way for us to drive a great amount of traffic to the mall.

But doing it in an elevated way, I think we have the way to make this happen. And that's kind of

how the idea started. But this idea could have never, ever, ever occurred without Harrison and

his team believing in it and welcoming us to their beautiful campus. Yeah, give us your take, Harrison,

on this exciting project. Yeah, I mean, for us, Brett spoke really, really well.

He does, doesn't he? I had stuff to follow that up. But I mean, for us, we only work with partners

that are best in class and what they do. And with DuPont and MDD and Prestige, we're really excited

about what the potential of this partnership can do, not only for our property, but for the city.

And I was just with actually the mayor this morning and telling him about what we have going on.

And they're thrilled. I mean, Aventura labels itself as the city of excellence. And we truly

believe that the positioning of the property along with the caliber of event and eventually

vehicles that come to this property with this will be tremendous. So yeah, we're really excited.

Brett, tell us a little bit more. Obviously, it's going to be ultra curated, this car show. What

will make this show say this can only happen at Aventura? So it's really interesting because

when we look at the campus within Aventura Mall, it's obviously beautiful. Many of us and many

that are watching have had the opportunity to be there. I mean, when you start looking at the

statistical data of those that come from out of the state, city, and even the country, Aventura

Mall becomes one of those destination points. But something interesting about what Harrison said

is that located in the city in which the family kind of founded and started and created, it's

dubbed the city of excellence, which means that the curated roads, the beautiful backdrop scenery,

and we don't want to give up too much, but we're going to be working very, very deep with the city

to create some really iconic moments that could be seen possibly by drone shots. We could be seen

by possibly a snake or a caterpillar of Skittles vehicles driving around some of the city as we

enter in. So instead of it just being a car show, we really want it to bring in the community. And

like Harrison said, getting the support from the local municipalities and the mayor and

all of the boards to say, we really want this, we want to get away from the typical car show you

would think of and the some of the individuals and the cars that would be presented at a car show.

We want to welcome it customers in to be offered to come in, host an area within the campus where

we will have sections of Ferraris where it just won't be vehicles that let's say prestige or curated

or DuPont brings. It's going to be an opportunity for the customer themselves to become part of the

show and the customers by bringing their own cars. That seems like a typical cars and coffee.

But when you're sitting there and you're in a cars and coffee, you find yourself restricted just to

that one area. Now as you sprinkle in the element of what Aventura Mall has to offer, this isn't

going to become a two, three hour car show. This will become an entire afternoon or day,

not just for the automotive connoisseur or the passionate one that's driving the vehicle,

or the kids that are with mom and dad in that car, but also for the family to go out and have

an incredible day. So you're going to see a completely different heightened car show,

a heightened cars and coffee, and that's going to be something fantastic. And I will dribble

you a little bit of a secret. We are planning to do a few smaller events as we build up to a

larger yearly event, which is going to be very incredible. And it's something where we've decided

we want to just tease the market a couple quarters first before we come out with our big one at the

end of the year. And hopefully this will be something that lasts for years to come.

So now we can reveal the exact location of Driven. Harrison, how excited are you to bring this

exclusive car show to the Abbey Aventura? Yeah, the Abbey is a really incredible opportunity

for us as a company. We're very excited in purchasing it with our partners in Simon Property Group.

It's a 216,000 foot lifestyle center and we don't really have, we don't have an open air

component of our center. And so this really lends us the opportunity to program it in a unique manner.

Our positioning here is going to be continuing to deliver best in class food and beverage.

There's a real component for lifestyle. We've got anatomy that just opened this past November,

25,000 square feet. It's their best facility to date. And as we continue to slowly unveil

new tenants that we'll be having here, I think the positioning is going to be great just because

all these F&B tenants, whether it be SDK, Amalfi Lama, Harana, Joey's out of Canada,

these are brands that deliver high quality F&B that are going to be really excited

to create these VIP experiences and curate something that I think is going to be unique

to our property. So the Esplanade previously and now the Abbey is going to be, I think,

a pretty iconic venue to host the show. Seconding to what he mentioned, I think that

when you go in and you experience what the Abbey is going to be, it is a mix of how Aventura had

the elements of certain open spaces, but it was really a mall. This gives and really solidifies

now every point of luxury when you have an exterior element. So if there's outdoor events

to be had at the mall and there's opportunities for the mall to activate in certain things,

this gives such a beautiful grand, ironically very similar to those that have experienced what the

grand depths and heights are of, for example, the design district as you're walking in the middle,

it really screams this beautifully architecturally sound element with great food and beverage,

great spots. I'm a member of Anatomy. I can raise my hand and say it's one of the best,

if not the best, it's incredible. But we're also excited for it as well, because I think

that is going to add such a very cool complimentary piece to what Driven is and the location.

But just on behalf of the mall and what they are going and the patrons are going to experience,

it's something that I am thrilled for the entire Sofa family to be able to work this out.

We really see it as kind of the front porch for our property.

Perfectly said.

It's very visible off Lehman Cosway, but with the opportunity to program with vehicles

in the outdoor shopping areas, I think it's going to be something that's

really unique, similar to design district in a lot of ways. But I think this show will obviously

be a bit more extensive, so we're very excited about that.

How do you see Driven appealing to not just car enthusiasts, but also to your luxury shoppers,

collectors and the families visiting the mall?

Yeah. I mean, our visitation just in July was up 11% over last year. We have 20 million visitors

annually that come and that doesn't include international visitation.

The mayor likes to say we're the number two photograph destination outside of Disney World.

I don't have any credible source behind that, but I'm going to take that sound bite.

But I think for us, we have the demographic already on property that will be interested

in attending. And I think obviously we have a variety of brands. We've got over 50 food and

beverage operators and 300 consumer brands on property. They'll all be very excited to collaborate

with Brett, with all these various brands, the car brands that we're bringing in to really create

a unique experience that feels kind of hyper-local to our property.

So I think that's perfectly said. I think the destination of what we're going to create here

is something more than just a car show. And I think, look, at the end of the day, cars really

do unite people. And when you see what Harrison has done under his directive in the mall, you're

through the last 15 years, 20 years, we don't live under a rock. We know that there's been many

retail centers across the world that have struggled. We've seen many retail centers struggle because

of elements like online shopping and mammoths like Amazon. But it's ironic that when you see

Aventura grow into what it's grown into, they have not skipped a beat. They have not taken

their foot off the gas. They are running on all 12 cylinders. And I have to give kudos to Harrison,

his family, and their team, because as a young man born in Aventura, I watched him take over this

and turn this into what it is. And it is not anymore just a shopping center. It is literally a mix

of art and incredible curated art installations and incredible opportunities for children to go

into the mall and become just fully immersed with this Aventura mall experience, making the

shopping experience easier for families. I've noticed this increase of security, not that

Aventura needs it. We're in probably one of the safest areas in the world. But it gives clients,

it gives patrons an opportunity to walk in and feel comfortable and safe. So when you see all

of this that was created, and then you see the sprinkle of walks of life and brands from all

over the world, and brands that we would have never expected to be in Aventura mall are knocking on

their door saying, no, no, no, no, no, we need to be here. You're seeing stores like, for example,

the Apple Store has grown from so many different locations into now, them having this breathtakingly

architectural designed exterior Apple Store as a flagship in the Miami market.

It's Norman Foster. It's incredible. So you see all these things and then you quickly realize

this is not a mall. This is a destination. This is a mix of so much.

In our opinion, just, well, it's really Jackie, my mom and our CEO's opinion, is that humans are

inherently social creatures. And so while the market and everybody was going in one direction

on retail, we took the opposite. We expanded the mall in 2018. We built an additional 300,000 square

feet with the Apple, with 12 different vendors in our new state of the art food hall. Largest

Nike store in Miami, we have a 30,000 square foot Zara. And so part of the direction we've taken is

really creating spaces for people to congregate and also interact with the property. We have a

four hour art tour that we have that you can take with public art because we feel like we have an

obligation, whether or not people want to interact with it, to give them the opportunity to see

museum quality art in a place that they frequent. And I think this will just be

a further extension of that approach. You see, when you go to the mall and you see a few vehicles

that the mall has the opportunity to possibly advertise for corporate brands, not necessarily

just dealerships, you'll walk in the mall today and you'll see brands like Mercedes and Bentley

and Porsche. And of course, when you're there, you see the children because I was a kid one day.

I remember. I still think I'm 15 sometimes, but I remembered walking into the mall and me

being a car dealer and me having petroleum in my veins, I would still walk up to the car and just

admire and be like, wow, this is great. So what we're doing is adding such an extra complimentary

aspect for the patrons of the mall and the individuals that are there, but also for the

community to come as a drawback. I don't think anybody could sit in front of any of us today and

say, I don't think this is a good idea. I don't want to look at $150 million worth of supercars.

This is going to be wow at what other mall have you had this experience or online shopping. Has

this been able to give you the same feel touch and experience by having to go and return that dress

or pair of shoes three times because it doesn't fit? No, we got to throw that out. There's a time

and place for those products, but there's daily experiences and there's a purpose for everybody

to meet. And just like he said, as families congregate there, the communities congregated

there. And instead of him and the family looking at the difficult things of what could have been

on the horizon, like many people did and try to double back, they actually doubled down and they

continued to move forward. And that's one of the reasons why I respect Harrison and his family so

much because I've been able to watch it, which started with his grandfather all the way up under

the leadership of Harrison. For me, this moment is iconic because this is several Titan brands

working together, not for profit. We're not looking at this because we want to create these grand

businesses. We solely want to do this for the greater good of the city of excellence, for the

greater good of what the Aventura Mall is, our brands. And we just want to be the best at this,

which is why whatever car show exists in South Florida after ours, I truly feel bad for.

Will it feature any lifestyle or hospitality elements to it, VIP lounges, partner experiences,

showcases, activations? Like I said, we've got 50 restaurants within the property. Some of them

are local to the community. Some of them are national brands. All of them, once we tell them

about this opportunity, will be eager to work with us here. So we're looking forward to curating

a real variety of VIP experiences that will be obviously unique to the property.

And retailers as well. I think we do a ton of pop-ups, whether it be a large Christmas

pop-up with Dior during the holidays. We consistently work with our brands. And so

I think this will be another opportunity for them to flex their muscles and align with who

wouldn't want to align with the Ferraris and Bentleys and Rolls Royces of the world. So it provides

them a great opportunity to further that luxury cache. And the proximity of where the location

is of the mall. We have so many great, let's just say, for the folks. And there will be many that

will come in just to experience it for the weekend. Maybe they ship their car. Maybe they don't.

Maybe they just want to be a part of it because their children have seen it. And other times,

they'll come, you know, one quarter and then the next quarter say, I need to be a part of this.

I want to make, and this is part of what we're going to program. We don't also just want to make

this just for the South Florida market. We want to curate an opportunity for clients to ship their

cars in the Northeast and make a weekend in Miami. Have the true Miami experience like we would.

And there's so many great hotel elements close by. We have a turnberry directly across the street,

which is also part of the family. And that's super close to the Aventura Mall and walking distance.

You have the iconic fountain blue on Miami Beach. You have all of these really unique

elements in Miami. So we want to look at this not just as that car show during the quarters and

when we did it, which is one of the reasons why we didn't want to make this an every Saturday thing.

We want to make this where people look forward to this. They put this on their calendar and they

start to dismiss the other noise of other shows that may be going on because they know they want

to put their effort and emphasis on coming to driven because there's a reason and a purpose to

be here. People are going to make weekends out of this. And just one other thing is our

dwell time with 20 million people that come, our average dwell time on property is four hours

plus. So when he talks about family spending their afternoon here, I mean, your kids,

you're probably already spending time here, a lot of these visitors. And so this is a place where

you could spend half the day at the car show and spend the other half of the day in the mall on

property. So we're really looking to curate an experience that can be something where you

come for lunch and you stay for dinner. And I think that's really going to lend well because

we're already a place for families. And that's really what I think is aligned in terms of positioning

for this show. So this is going to be the place to be obviously weather wise January, May, November,

where else? I think I've gotten down pat the rain dance. I bought the outfit and everything. So

I've gotten my cha cha down. It's worked time after time. But I got to tell you, it's it's

really interesting. And the more you know, we even sit here and we talk about it when you really

think about the nucleus of what's created. It's incredible. And for those that have never been

to Aventura past the mall, and if people obviously you have to be living under a rock, if you've

lived in South Florida and haven't gone to the mall at least once. But if you haven't been recent,

your your jaw is going to be on the floor. And if you take time to drive the surrounding areas

directly, I'm talking within feet of the mall, you have one of the most beautiful Don Sofer

nature walks three and a half miles where the entire city congregates and gets together on,

you know, Friday, Saturday and Sundays and goes on a beautiful nature walk, you'll see guys riding

road bikes, you'll see families jogging, you'll see kids feeding the ducks. Like I mentioned,

a hotel that's across the street also has one of the largest aqua pools and water slides and a

wave rider. So when I say that the reason this is going to become bigger than just a show,

we are going to make this a destination. And the truth is, Aventura mall and the team doesn't

even need this because they already are such a great draw. But this is almost so synonymous,

it just it just flows, it sinks, it's a piece of Legos that works, no pun intended, like in the

perfect fit to bring this to become probably one of Miami's most successful car shows.

And the irony also is one thing our team has been focusing on is creating annual events that

don't coincide with citywide events. So, you know, you've got Basel, we'll do pop ups and

activations for Basel, but you know, unique activations that can be for our property, for our

city. And I think this is really going to be something where, you know, potentially people

would want to fly in for our November event, because I think it's going to be something

really sophisticated and incredible. So sounds like an amazing project. Best of luck with it.

And thank you so much for joining me today. Thank you too for joining us. We'll see you next time

on DuPont Registry Talks. And remember, drive safely.

duPont REGISTRY Talks: DRIVEN Luxury Event with Turnberry and Prestige Imports

About this episode

Dupont Registry

Turnberry Associates

Prestige Imports

Driven

Aventura Mal

Curated

Miami Design Distress

car shows

Miami Concourse

Miami Design District

cars and coffee

MDD team

Ferraris

Simon Property Group

hyper-local

Amazon

Apple Store

Norman Foster

Mercedes

Bentley

Porsche

Rolls Royces

ship their car

fountain blue

dwell time

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