Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado honors Alicia Cervera with special name day

Last Tuesday, 55-years after fleeing Havana amidst turmoil in Cuba, Cervera Real Estate founder and chairman Alicia Cervera was honored by Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado, who proclaimed October 18th "Alicia Cervera Day" in the City of Miami. The milestone achievement caps an illustrious 47-year career for Cervera, who has been called the "Queen of Brickell," and is credited for pioneering the modern-day, full-service real estate model for development sales.

"Since Alicia Cervera founded the firm in 1969, no other woman has had a larger influence on the development of Miami since Julia Tuttle founded the city in 1895," said Mayor Regalado in the proclamation. "Her sales and marketing efforts on 110 of South Florida's most prestigious condominium residences, combined with her success in brokering landmark deals to bring renowned culinary, retail and hospitality destinations to the city, have played a critical role in elevating Miami to its present-day status as a leading global city."

Mayor Regalado led the proclamation ceremony, which took place during a private event to introduce a new coffee table book authored by Alicia Cervera, titled Visionary: Reflections on a Lifetime of Real Estate. Her daughters and business partners, Veronica Cervera Goeseke, CEO and Alicia Cervera Lamadrid, Managing Partner as well as members of her family stood alongside her. Among the 200 guests in attendance for the ceremony were representatives from the City of Miami, Cervera associates, staff, extended family and some of Miami's most prolific developers.

"Cervera Real Estate is a product of the American Dream come true," said Cervera, a Peruvian native who arrived to Miami penniless in 1961 with her Cuban husband, Javier. "In my relentless determination to be successful, I observed that the developers' sales structures had limited outreach and resources for Miami's potential. This led to my vision of creating a company that would cater to the developer's needs by providing them with a full-service real estate platform that could also effectively market their projects on a global scale."

Cervera first introduced the full-service real estate model for development sales in 1976 while working with New York real estate tycoon Harry Helmsley to build The Palace on Brickell Avenue. Since then, she has played a role in every Miami real estate cycle and helped revitalize areas including Brickell, Miami Beach's South of Fifth neighborhood, downtown Miami and Edgewater.

To date, the Cervera name is responsible for selling more pre-construction condominiums than any other Miami brokerage. The firm's commercial real estate deals have brought some of Miami's most iconic destinations to the city, including: Zuma Restaurant; Coya; Four Seasons; W South Beach; and The Setai.

Part-guide, part-history, Visionary: Reflections on a Lifetime of Real Estate by Alicia Cervera highlights Miami's neighborhoods and the visionaries that helped develop them, including: Mary Brickell, Julia Tuttle, James Deering, the Mackle Brothers, and Carl Fisher, among others. The book also commemorates major milestones achievements by the Cervera family. Visionary: Reflections on a Lifetime of Real Estate will be released fall 2016.