The Lennar Foundation Medical Center and University of Miami Hillel’s home at the Braman Miller Center for Jewish Student Life were among the outstanding commercial projects recognized by the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce’s City Beautiful Awards.

The lobby of The Lennar Foundation Medical Center brings the outside in.

With its open, airy, light-filled lobby complete with soaring ibises, The Lennar Center was recognized for its outstanding interior, while UM Hillel, which underwent a major expansion to provide an inviting space for all students and the community to study, pray, eat, and spend time with friends, received the award for outstanding restoration.

The 200,000-square foot ambulatory care center, which opened on Ponce de Leon Boulevard last December, was made possible by a $50 million gift from the family of Leonard M. Miller, the namesake of the medical school.

The Braman Miller Center expansion on Stanford Drive was made possible through another generous gift from the Miller family and from another of Miami’s most philanthropic families, the Bramans, along with Hillel International.

The City Beautiful Awards, which celebrate the unique architecture and outstanding aesthetic found among Coral Gables’ businesses, “serve to strengthen our community through the recognition and celebration of our city’s top businesses,” Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli said.

Also honored this year were 8/18 Fine Men’s Salons on Miracle Mile, for it outstanding visual merchandising, and Zucca Miami, the new restaurant in the Hotel St. Michel on Alcazar Avenue, for its interior dining space.

This year’s judges included Dona Spain, Coral Gables’ historic preservation officer; Ahmed Alvarez, principal at Zyscovich Architects; and Robert Chisolm, chairman of the board at R.E. Chisholm Architects, Inc.

Peruvian economy highlighted in annual Americas Conference, focusing on the future of Latin America.

By Jessica M. Castillo
UM News

Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, left, visited UM for the annual Americas Conference, moderated by The Miami Herald‘s Andres Oppenheimer, right.

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (September 22, 2016)—In a visit to the University of Miami organized by the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald last week, newly elected Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski discussed the need for diversifying the Andean nation’s economy and the future of Latin America.

Hosted at the University’s Braman Miller Center for Jewish Student Life and moderated in Spanish by The Herald’s Andres Oppenheimer, the annual Americas Conference Series reflected University of Miami President Julio Frenk’s hopes and aspirations for the University as it approaches its centennial.

“The University of Miami is in a unique position to become the hemispheric university, in other words, the pole that unites the huge intellectual capital of the entire region with collaborative platforms aimed at finding solutions and with resources for innovation,” Frenk said in his opening remarks.

It was fitting for the series, which focuses on discussing economic, political and public policy issues facing the U.S. and Latin America, to feature Kuczynski. Nicknamed PPK for his initials, he is an Oxford- and Princeton-educated economist with decades of experience at the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and in private banking on Wall Street and in Miami. He also has served as Peru’s prime minister, economy and finance minister, mining minister, and head of the Central Reserve Bank.

Attended by Latin American business leaders and members of the media and broader South Florida community, the discussion focused on Kuczynski’s seasoned perspective on how to continue growing the Peruvian economy and make it another beacon of opportunity in Latin America. Kuczynski, whose second vice president is Mercedes Araoz, an alumna of UM’s School of Business Administration, called for greater investments in key sectors including tourism, agribusiness, and infrastructure to support irrigation projects and the raw materials industry.

“We need to have a diversified economy,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if that includes raw materials. To think that exporting raw materials is bad is a huge mistake. Look at Canada and Australia. But raw materials or not, it should still be diversified.”

Kuczynski echoed his call from his presidential campaign to lessen bureaucratic hurdles. “We need to allow the economy to grow and not let government get in the way of growth.”

He also fielded questions about Venezuela and Cuba and their respective changing political, social, and economic landscapes. Most vocal about Peru’s continental neighbor, Kuczynski called for the need for a humanitarian aid group, composed of Peru and other Latin American countries, to provide Venezuelans with much-needed food, health care, and other basic services which so many have so little access to.

“From one day to the next, the country will face total collapse and there will be blood in the streets,” warned Kuczynski. “But, Peru is a middle-income country,” he said, “and this can’t be done without Brazil, the leading Latin American economy.”

Yet Kuczynski expressed optimism about the future and the importance of opportunities for starting over. “We’ve hit rock bottom before and I know we will get back up.”