Arthur Falcone

With a career in the real estate industry that stretches back 35 years and executive-level leadership experience that goes back even further, Arthur Falcone is able cite countless examples of profitable ventures that have reliably yielded overwhelmingly positive results. As a real estate and land developer, Mr. Falcone has earned a reputation as one of the most prominent professionals in the industry through his ability to consistently read market trends in order to capitalize on opportunities that others simply fail to recognize.

Through his leadership with organizations that include Miami Worldcenter Associates, The Falcone Group and Encore Capital Management, Mr. Falcone remains an active player in the real estate and land development industry. Each of these organizations is currently involved in projects with the sort of grand scope and ambition that have become emblematic of Mr. Falcone’s long professional career in the industry, with each project poised to create a wealth of valuable opportunities for a great deal of people.

The most ambitious of these projects may be the undertaking being handled by Miami Worldcenter Associates, an organization founded by Mr. Falcone in which he also serves as managing principal. The project has thus far led to beautiful architectural renderings for the downtown area of Miami that would revitalize an entire community that has suffered from years of neglect. It is Mr. Falcone’s vision that the 30 acres included in the project would be used in creating the type of mixed-use commercial and residential real estate that draws in businesses from a number of varied industries while also attracting new residents to the area.

While the project is undeniably vast, Mr. Falcone has a great deal of experience in transforming overlooked and undervalued properties into thriving, in-demand communities. He entered the real estate industry after founding Transeastern Properties, Inc., in 1988, a company he built from the ground up by focusing on homebuilding and land development. With a keen eye for undervalued properties possessing the potential for significant growth, Mr. Falcone got his start by targeting foreclosures and other distressed properties.

Mr. Falcone continued to accumulate assets in this way, leveraging the increasing value of his vast asset base into the tremendous business expansion of Transeastern Properties as the economy began to recover. It was through this strategy that Mr. Falcone was able to grow Transeastern Properties to such a significant degree that it became the largest private homebuilder in all of Florida and one of the most prominent in the entire nation. Though the company had continued to grow and had been increasingly prosperous, Mr. Falcone recognized the oncoming downturn and moved to sell his company at the peak of the market, agreeing to terms on a sale worth $1.6 billion in 2005.

Never one to rest on his laurels, Mr. Falcone again engaged in shrewd investment strategies by using the capital from the sale of his company to acquire countless real estate holdings that would eventually bring him a return of $480 million when he moved to sell the many properties in which he had acquired an interest. It was around this time that Mr. Falcone founded The Falcone Group, an organization in which he continues to serve as chairman and CEO. In addition to this organization, Mr. Falcone also founded Miami Worldcenter Associates and co-founded Encore Capital Management, organizations with which he continues to hold positions of leadership to the present day.

Mr. Falcone’s business acumen is certainly not limited to matters of real estate development and investing, as his professional experience began at an early age in the restaurant industry. At 22 years of age, Mr. Falcone became the youngest owner of a McDonald’s franchise, enjoying such immediate success in this role that he was able to acquire ownership in more than 100 restaurants in three different states while also venturing into the hospitality industry. It was these experiences that eventually led Mr. Falcone to real estate and land development, as these varied experiences in business ventures certainly helped to shape his philosophies with regard to leadership and investment.

Through Encore Capital Management, a firm he co-founded along with Tony Avila, Mr. Falcone is able to continue to put his real estate and land development expertise to good use. The firm functions across a variety of investment platforms and relies on Mr. Falcone through his role as managing principal and as a member of the investment committee. Diversified, vertically integrated and functioning as a multi-fund investment and development firm focusing on real estate ventures, Encore Capital Management has more than $1 billion currently under its management, and it is clearly poised for continued growth.

Of course, Mr. Falcone is also committed to a number of charitable endeavors, as the prominent real estate and land developer has served as a benefactor to a number of charitable organizations and foundations. A consistent and active donor, one of Mr. Falcone’s sizable contributions enabled Junior Achievement BizTown to debut a state-of-the-art educational facility now known as the Falcone Family JA BizTown, where experiential and hands-on learning techniques are used to instill financial literacy while also encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit that has served Mr. Falcone so well over the course of his prosperous career.