Craig Robins is an entrepreneur, real estate developer and art collector. As one of Miami’s leading real estate investors and the CEO and President of Dacra, the real estate development company that he founded in 1987, Craig focuses on developing creative communities that integrate art, design and architecture to enrich urban life and accelerate asset value creation. Dacra has spearheaded some of the most successful and transformative projects in Miami’s history, including South Beach, the Lincoln Road area, Allison Island and the Miami Design District, an 18-square block neighborhood dedicated to fashion, design and art that incorporates the work of emerging and established architects, site-specific public art and the stores by the world’s most significant luxury brands.
In the late 1980s through early 1990s, Robins played an integral role repositioning and revitalizing Miami’s South Beach through the restoration of Art Deco landmarks and the creation of new commercial and cultural opportunities. Dacra later acquired an 8.5 acre parcel of land on Allison Island where they created a New Urbanist residential community, AQUA featuring contemporary art and modern architecture. The rapid appreciation of the asset value of the Miami Beach properties was attributable in part to Robins’ strategy of defining Dacra’s projects as destinations in the national and international conversation, a strategy he continues to employ today.
Robins began acquiring property in the once-abandoned Miami Design District almost twenty years ago, and in 2000 set about transforming the neighborhood into one of the most important global centers for cutting-edge design, fashion, food and art. In 2005, the neighborhood’s rapid renewal inspired the creation of Design Miami/ and subsequently Design Miami/ Basel, design fairs that have evolved into the premier global forum for collectible design. Robins is the show’s Chairman, which he owns in partnership with MCH Swiss Exhibition, the producers of Art Basel.