Edgardo Defortuna

Early life

Defortuna was raised in Cordoba, Argentina, and emigrated to Miami in the late 1970s in order to accompany his sister on her medical school internship at the behest of their father. What was intended to only be three months turned into a permanent move. Though his first degree was received in Cordoba, he attended the University of Miami for his MBA, while investing in Florida real estate alongside his family. After he completed his degree, he founded the real estate company Fortune International Group.

Fortune International Group

Defortuna travelled to Latin America during the first years of Fortune’s existence in order to get people to invest in American and Floridian real estate. Founded in 1983 with 10 real estate agents, the company started as a real estate brokerage for luxury residences, as Defortuna observed how luxury residence developers went about their business and developed their properties. The company worked on the marketing and sales of the properties, as well as advising developers on strategy.

In 1998 the company began developing their own properties, including Jade Residences at Brickell Bay, Jade Beach and Jade Ocean, Le Meridian Sunny Isles Beach, The Grandview, Artech and Oceanblue. Fortune International Group is currently developing Jade Signature, a 57-story, 192-unit residential tower along 300 feet of oceanfront that is designed by Herzog & deMeuron and located in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida. Additionally, the company is partnered with The Related Group of Florida in developing Hyde Resort and Residences (Hollywood Beach) a 40 –story, 407-unit project. The company handled sales for Icon Brickell, and is currently marketing and selling Paramount Bay, 1 Hotel & Homes South Beach, as well as Nine at Mary Brickell Village. Fortune International Group also co-owns Fortune International Realty, which has 12 general realty offices in Coral Gables, Key Biscayne, Brickell, Sunny Isles Beach, and Latin America.

Defortuna’s projects have been described as the driver behind the gentrification of the mid-beach area of Miami. Fortune International Group’s general real estate business currently has 12 offices, around one thousand agents, and annual sales of $1 billion. The company’s sales of development properties has about $1.5 billion in annual revenue in addition.

Personal life

Defortuna has five children, three with his wife and business partner Ana Cristina Defortuna. The couple met due to their fathers’ befriending each other, Edgardo’s father being the founder of the Argentinian Chamber of Commerce and Ana’s father being the founder of the Peruvian Chamber of Commerce. They began seeing each other when Ana was sent in her father’s stead to a Chamber meeting at the Defortuna home. The couple and their children currently live in a home built upon the estate where Richard Nixon’s winter retreat while President previously stood in Key Biscayne, Florida.