How to Create A Fortune From Scratch


Mountain High Enough.” Just spectacular.
When we finished, the mayor ignored normal protocol–which was to allow the commissioners to ask their questions first–and launched right into me.

“I have a question for you, Mr. Peebles,” said Mayor Gelber.

“Sure, Mr. Mayor,” I said.

“Are you going to… will you… give us the Shorecrest property?”

“Pardon me, Mr. Mayor?”

“If you are not selected, will you give us the Shorecrest property?”

“Well,” I said, “hopefully I will be selected. But if not, I intend to build on the Shorecrest property regardless. My bid to the city was only for what you own, the Royal Palm. I gave you information on the Shorecrest property in our RFP, but for informational purposes only. We submitted for the Royal Palm…”

“If you are not selected, will you give us the Shorecrest property?” the mayor repeated, raising his voice.

“Mr. Mayor, I am only submitting for the Royal Palm, which is what you own. In the Shorecrest I’m going to do a hotel condo, whether you guys select us or not.”

“So,” he said, “you’re not going to give us this property? You would hold up the African American hotel deal for that?”

“I look at it differently. Hopefully you’ll select me, and you’ll have both properties done by one developer. If not, you’ll have two African American-owned hotels, the one I do at the Shorecrest and whoever you pick for the Royal Palm.”

“You’re holding the sword of Damocles over our head!” he yelled.

“Mr. Mayor, you’ve got this all wrong. You should look at this from a different perspective. You’ve got a qualified African-American-owned team, financially qualified, that wants to build your hotel so badly they went out and did something you guys couldn’t do. They bought the adjoining property and have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars doing it. That should be an example of my desire to really build this hotel for you.”

“No, you’re holding the sword of Damocles to our head. You better give us the Shorecrest or else!”

“Mr. Mayor,” I said. “This is America, and I have the right to own property. I own this property
and we plan to develop it.”

“You’re going to ruin this hotel for our city!” he screamed and stormed out.

The mayor had lost his cool completely. People in the audience, including those from the Miami Herald and various community organizations, were shocked. I made it a point to remain calm and polite, and the louder the mayor spoke, the softer and more gentle I had become. I learned long before that you should never get emotional when conducting negotiations. The vice mayor then took the podium, offered an apology, and presided over the rest of the proceedings. The vote was scheduled for a public hearing a couple of weeks later.

The day before the final vote, I received a couple of frantic calls. My office was calling me, my wife was calling me, and my lawyer’s office was calling me, all to let me know that Eugene Jackson, a competing developer, was trying to reach me. He must


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