New | Miami luxury property developer finds a little feng shui goes a long way
Miami developer hired Hong Kong feng shui expert to work on its luxury project, which has since found wide appeal among buyers
Ophir Sternberg, a prominent Miami property developer, received an unusual request when work was beginning on one of his latest projects: a famous feng shui master wanted to visit Sternberg's private residence to ensure that he was personally compatible with the building he was working on.
"He wanted to make sure that the energy [in the home] was correct, and that we could produce the right sort of building," said Sternberg, CEO and founding partner of Lionheart Capital, which is developing the Ritz-Carlton Residences in Miami Beach.
Satisfied, the feng shui practitioner - famed Hong Kong master Patrick Wong, who had been flown in specially - then went to work on the Residences, suggesting auspicious plants in the landscaping, making sure the building faced the right direction, and overseeing the overall flow in the units, using the five elements of feng shui: wood, fire, earth, metal and water.
Clearly, something is working. Although the building won't be completed until the end of 2016, 60 per cent of the 127 units are already sold, with buyers from Europe, Latin America and, of course, China.