Current Responsibilities
Rafael Romero is responsible for business development, landlord and tenant representation, and retail consulting throughout Florida. He brings over a decade of experience to JLL’s dynamic retail team. Rafael is one of Florida’s leading place makers and specializes in creating and executing lease-ups for mixed-use and lifestyle projects. Having worked with some of the most high-profile properties and tenants in Florida, Rafael has helped shape and implement the vision of several projects by procuring and negotiating lease transactions with multiple award-winning chef-driven restaurant concepts, fitness operators, and complementary service providers.
Experience
Prior to joining JLL, Rafael was a Senior Vice President of CREC, one of South Florida’s premier boutique commercial real estate brokerages. At CREC, his signature projects included the transformation and revitalization of Downtown Dadeland in East Kendall, which resulted in a $39 million gain on sale in just 4 years, and the reinvention of The Gallery of Beach Place on Fort Lauderdale Beach, where he was able to push occupancy from 60% to 95% in eighteen months. Other notable projects included Plantation Walk, Miller Square Shopping Center, Suniland Shopping Center, Pinecrest Town Center, and Greenery Mall. Prior to CREC, Rafael worked at Simon Property Group and Terranova Corporation. Throughout his time at both, he leased some of South Florida’s best-known retail projects including Dadeland Mall, and The Shops at Sunset Place, The Falls, and Marlins Park. He has successfully completed transactions with Apple, Estee Lauder, the US Open, The Villagio, Freshii, Mellow Mushroom, Jimmy John’s, REM Riviera, Adore, Aziari and Kara New York, among others. He began his career in real estate as Assistant Property Manager for Icon Brickell Condominium, a $1.3 billion mixed use project developed by the Related Group.
Education and Affiliations
Rafael is a five-year veteran of the United States Navy, having served as a command Rescue Swimmer and Navigation Specialist onboard the USS Nashville (LPD-13) during three overseas combat deployments. Mr. Romero received a BA in Liberal Arts from Florida International University and an MBA from the University of Miami. He is a licensed Florida Real Estate Broker, an active member of Innovating Commerce Serving Communities (ICSC) and the Urban Land Institute (ULI), serves as a volunteer counselor for SCORE, a risk management expert licensed as a Florida General (Property & Casualty) and Surplus Lines agent, and is a graduate and designee of the Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) program.
Representative clients:
- 13th Floor
- Adler
- AMLI
- Atlantic Pacific
- Barings
- Black Creek Group
- Blue Cross/ Blue Shield
- City of Miami
- COFE Properties
- Crown Holdings
- Duncan Hillsley
- El Dorado Furniture
- Encore Funds
- Fortress
- Goldman Sachs
- Hunt Capital Partners
- JBL
- Midtown Realty Group
- Nordstrom
- Nuveen
- Pebb Capital
- Principal Advisors
- RREEF
- Sanitas Clinics
- Seritage
- Starwood
- Thor Equities
