Nine limited liability companies linked through a Coral Gables real estate network involving developer Alberto J. Perez made contributions to Coral Gables First on the same day in August, adding another cluster of development-related money to the political committee that has supported Mayor Vince Lago.
The nine checks, ranging from $500 to $1,000 and totaling $8,000, were dated Aug. 17, according to campaign-finance reports filed with the Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections.
The contributors were Coral Way Real Estate Partners, LLC; Becker Road Real Estate Partners, LLC; Baldwin Park Real Estate Partners, LLC; Poncecat 57, LLC; Poncecat Mandarin, LLC; Aguadulce R.E. Venture, LLC; AJP CAM Real Estate Group, LLC; TREO MP Cutler Bay, LLC; and Poncecat 151, LLC.
All nine were identified in the campaign report as real estate contributors.
Florida corporate records connect the companies to Perez either directly or through related managing entities and registered agents. Perez is principal of AJP Ventures, a Coral Gables commercial real estate firm that acquires, develops and manages properties throughout South Florida.
The records do not establish that Perez personally supplied the money behind each contribution. They do show that the nine legally separate companies share a common business network and sent their checks to the same political committee on the same date.
Corporate records lead back to Perez
Several of the relationships are direct.
Coral Way Real Estate Partners lists Perez and Juan C. Mas as managers, with AJP Management Group as registered agent. Baldwin Park Real Estate Partners has the same managers and registered agent.
Poncecat 57 lists Perez, Mas and Michelle Zubizarreta as managers, while Poncecat Mandarin lists Perez and Mas. Both operate from 100 Miracle Mile and use AJP Management Group as registered agent.
AJP CAM Real Estate Group lists Perez and Armando Montero as managers.
Becker Road Real Estate Partners lists Perez, Mas and Christopher Coots as managers and operates from the same Miracle Mile address.
Other connections run through corporate entities.
TREO MP Cutler Bay, for example, lists TREO MP Real Estate Partners as its manager and AJP Management Group as registered agent. TREO MP Real Estate Partners, in turn, lists Perez, Mas and Rolando Delgado as managers.
Poncecat 151 lists Ponce Cat, LLC as its manager and AJP Management Group as registered agent. Corporate and other public records have long connected Ponce Cat to Perez and the same Coral Gables office.
Aguadulce R.E. Venture likewise lists Perez among its managers and AJP Management Group as its registered agent.
A separate entity links Perez and Kadre
The Perez network also intersects with another contributor to Coral Gables First. Florida corporate records list two manager-members for Andalusia 42, LLC: MP Real Estate Partners, LLC, managed by Alberto J. Perez and Juan C. Mas, and KC Venture Holdings, LLC, managed by Manuel “Manny” Kadre. Kadre, chair of the University of Miami Board of Trustees, has separately contributed to Coral Gables First, as the Gazette previously reported.
Andalusia 42 owns the commercial property at 2419 Le Jeune Road, at the corner of Andalusia Avenue and home to the Keyes Company’s Coral Gables office, according to property records. The building is adjacent to city-owned Garage 4.
AJP Ventures describes itself as a commercial real estate firm active throughout South Florida. Projects associated with the company have included The Building on Ponce Circle, MedSquare Health, Mandarin Parc, Casa Venti Dos and 26TwentySix Ponce.
Nine companies, one day
The corporate structure itself is not unusual. Real estate developers routinely create separate limited liability companies for individual properties and projects, allowing each investment to hold its own assets and liabilities.
Nor does the amount of the Aug. 17 contributions raise a contribution-limit issue for Coral Gables First.
Florida law generally limits a direct contribution to a candidate in a municipal election to $1,000 per election. That restriction does not impose the same general dollar ceiling on contributions to an ordinary political committee.
The law separately prohibits a person from making a contribution “through or in the name of another, directly or indirectly.” Nothing in the campaign reports or corporate records reviewed by the Gazette establishes that the Aug. 17 contributions violated that provision.
What the filings show is that nine separate companies within the same real estate network contributed to the same political committee on the same day.
Coral Gables First is legally separate from Lago’s campaign, but it has supported him in previous elections. Most recently, campaign records show the committee contributed $1,000 directly to Lago’s mayoral campaign in May. The Gazette has previously reported on development-related contributions to the committee and its ties to Lago.
Development money continues to flow
The Aug. 17 cluster was part of $42,000 Coral Gables First reported receiving between June 27 and Aug. 21.
The largest contribution during that period was $25,000 from Redwood Dev Co, LLC, a real estate company, on July 9. Architect Alberto Cordoves contributed $1,000 on June 28.
The later filings also included $7,500 from real estate developer Alex Pirez and $500 from Hotaling Insurance Services.
Since its creation, Coral Gables First has reported raising roughly $2.33 million and spending about $2.11 million, leaving approximately $206,500 on hand.
The latest contributions follow another development-heavy fundraising period the Gazette reported in July, when Coral Gables First collected $134,500 shortly after the field was set for the city’s November election. That money included contributions from developers, contractors, land-use interests and people associated with projects before Coral Gables City Hall.
Castro has separately proposed an ordinance that would prohibit certain campaign contributions from real estate developers. The proposal appeared on the July 7 commission agenda but was not reached before the meeting ended and has not received a final commission vote.
