oceandrive.com niche media holdings, llc Gabrielle Union beach patrol Fucci at Artécity She was right, but then again, you might say the resurgence is at least in part thanks to her. Today, Fucci and her company preside over a vast portfolio of properties the company acquired after purchasing a now-defunct bank in Chicago. But rather than unloading the foreclosed units fast and cheap, Fucci and her team continue to pour even more money into the buildings and their facilities. At Mint, a 52-story tower of residential lofts and condos on the Miami riverfront, her company invested millions of dollars into landscaping the surrounding area and finishing half-constructed roads. And at Artécity on Miami Beach—six buildings occupying an entire block west of Collins Park as well as 18 soon-to-be-finished villas located on Park Avenue and on Washington Court— Fucci’s team reconstructed the hallways and finished up the pools and gyms that Travel tip: Nobu the developer had left undone. “We walk Matsuhisa’s new restaurant in Vail through each property and ask, ‘How can is amazing. we make this a special place?’” says Fucci. Weekend luxury: “Buyers know that someone is taking care To cook for my of the property.” family. I make Fucci herself lives in one of Fort a mean miso Lauderdale’s prime oceanfront units, sea bass. which she decorated with clean, conIdeal Miami temporary pieces. Because she leaves moment: Enjoying music while smoking for work before 7 am and returns after a cigar on the Casa dark, she savors her quiet time on the Tua terrace weekends—spending days on the beach and nights cooking. “I love to entertain,” she says. “We go at such high speeds during the week that I value this time to relax.” Born in Peru and relocating to Miami 19 years ago after her father died, Fucci’s real estate career was a lucrative accident that happened while working in the trust department of a Miami bank. There, she noticed the large sums of money being made by the people handling her clients’ property transactions. The real estate powerhouse behind some of miami’s Her first listing after becoming licensed was a Key most dynamic recent triumphs shares her hopes for Biscayne home, which sold for $3.4 million—and an even brighter future. By Brett Graff earned her a commission totaling three years’ worth of those bank paychecks. “It’s so amazing to have these opportunities here in o say Peggy Fucci uses her time wisely is an understatement. Not America, and being in Miami just adds the warmth to it all,” she says. only is the real estate maven constantly ahead of Miami’s gallop- “Miami has the flavors and feelings of so many cultures—it’s like being ing property market, but when it crashed in 2007, Fucci simply in Latin America, except you have the security of the United States. The took those months to have the third child she’d been wanting. “I knew arts community here is exploding and the energy is vibrant and China the market would come back,” says Fucci, now the senior vice president has its eye on South Florida. Some believe we have the potential to become the Hong Kong of the US.” od and director of sales and marketing of ST Residential nationwide. Insight T 84 oceandrive.com photograph by Jim Arbogast peggy fucci