Russell Galbut of GFO Investments: Five Things You Need To Know To Succeed In The Real Estate Industry

An Interview With Jason Hartman

To succeed, you should never accept defeat. Losses are inevitable if you stop there. The only way to lose in business is to give up. If you want to succeed, you must keep trying.

As a part of my series about the ‘Five Things You Need To Know To Succeed In The Real Estate Industry’, I had the pleasure of interviewing Russell Galbut.

In Miami there are few people who transformed the whole city from the bay to the beach for the better. One of those few is Russell Galbut. He is the co-founder and managing principal of Crescent Heights, one of the nation’s leading urban real estate firms. Galbut is also the chairman of the board for GFO Investments, a private wealth management advisory firm. He has been in the business for decades, shows no signs of slowing down, and continues to reach higher. Russell’s professional portfolio spans 100 developments nationwide. In addition to his real estate successes, he is the Chairman of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. As he continuously makes cities and brands better, he also works hard to make the world better with his philanthropy.

Can you share with our readers the most interesting or amusing story that occurred to you in your career so far? Can you share the lesson or take away what you took out of that story?

I started working alongside my father who was not a businessman, but he was incredibly smart. We did my first building together. My father thought that I bought it incorrectly, managed it incorrectly, and sold it incorrectly. I still remember the night vividly when he first came to the building and saw all of the tear downs I did, before we started any renovations. He sat on the stoop and cried. It was very rare for my father to cry but he did that night because he thought I had lost all our money in the project. I had a vision for the building and a belief in myself that I could do it. I had to look in the mirror every single day and remind myself that I could overcome and accomplish whatever I set my mind to. We ended up making back four times our investment in nine months! My father never worried about my business decisions after that. He was a wonderful leader that believed in discipline and hard work. He and my mother raised me and my brothers to have fortitude and perseverance. They both were also tremendously charitable and that is a legacy my whole family and I still carry out to this day.

Do you have a favorite “life lesson quote”? Can you share a story or example of how that was relevant to you in your life?

My favorite life lesson is to follow your heart. It sounds cliche, but I think if you do what you feel is right in your gut, regardless of what everyone else thinks, you can be successful. I also keep close to my heart the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling. I repeat to myself and my children often the line that reads “If you can dream — and not make dreams your master” Because I have learned in life how important it is to do both. As humans, we must dream. We must have vision and always strive for growth. We are stewards of beautifying this planet and we must dream to accomplish anything worthy of attaining. We also must act! We cannot only dream. We have to take those imaginations and add grit to it to create a better world. So follow your heart, dream, and act on those dreams because that is what we are here in life to do.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

Yes! For decades we’ve been working to create a beautiful city here in Miami. We build incredible spaces that offer art, culture and a level of experience where people can feel love, happiness and freedom. I am a third generation Miami Beach native. My grandfather came here in 1930. So I love creating magical spaces and experiences all over the world, and Miami has a very special place in my heart.

We just unveiled a new park in Miami called Canopy Park, which is a new public green space for Miami Beach locals. This park is not your average green space. Canopy Park is the most environmentally friendly park on the eastern seaboard. The park offers vegetation, a dog run, a natural habitat for birds and native bees and of course, a place to gather. It also has weather-based irrigation controllers and rain sensors that limit flooding. Just under the 3-acre park, we are cleaning and filtering up to 61 acres of water, which is cleaned prior to returning to the intracoastal. Just as water, sewer, and public safety are considered essential public services, parks are vitally important to establishing and maintaining the quality of life in a community, ensuring the health of families and youth, and contributing to the economic and environmental well-being of Miami Beach. This park is nothing like you’ve ever seen. I feel so lucky to get to build something that is so cutting edge and will provide so much joy for so many people. Park space is essential for individual wellbeing and community building. It provides peace and opportunity for locals and tourists. This park serves a larger purpose for all of Miami Beach.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

In everything we do, we spend a lot of time thinking about the user’s experience and the global impact of every project. We create incredibly well thought out buildings with outstanding architectural designs. Each project is packed with art, amenities, culture, and services that people are craving. We plan and execute for each project to be a leading example of a new standard for future projects to strive for.

One example of this is the project I just told you about: Five Park. We actually built an incredible 3 acre park as part of what will be the tallest and most luxurious building ever built in Miami Beach at the very entrance to the Beach of 395. We are also building a Buren designed Bridge across Fifth Street directly into the Miami Beach Marina from our building which will solve the communities needs for pedestrian walkways across the fifth street causeway. We considered what the community needs and we answered the call. We decided long ago that when we answer the call of what people need and want we will provide something better than what they could have imagined. It is about the marriage of function and beauty. Satisfying a need while satiating desire and leaving a gorgeous legacy for all to enjoy.

Another project that will stand out is one we are currently building in Downtown Miami. It is directly behind the Freedom Tower on 6th street between the main train station and the Port of Miami. It is a distinctive mixed-use building, incorporating both residential (Natiivo Condo Residences) and hotel components (The Gale Port Miami Hotel) with a very special members-only club called The Social, which includes food and beverage curated by Menin Hospitality, 70,000+ square feet of amenities, and Creative HQ, a 127,000 sq. ft. office building all under one roof. It’s truly something special. After launching residential sales in 2019, Natiivo™ Miami quickly gained attention from international and domestic buyers as the first purposely designed, built and licensed building for home sharing, allowing for a first-of-its-kind ownership experience. Natiivo is another example of innovation that I am very proud to be part of. The project is well under construction with completion expected in the fourth quarter of 2023.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I am incredibly grateful to my parents, to my wife, my business partners, my friends, and my whole family along the way who all helped in countless ways.

The biggest help and inspiration came from my mom and dad. I still ask myself routinely what would make them proud and how can I honor their legacy. This is larger than help one time along the way. This is a beacon of guidance that is always present. My parents instilled this in me by being who they were. My father was an officer who spent 35 years in the US Navy, eventually becoming a captain. He taught me discipline and dedication to a cause in a very grounded way. My mother was a bookkeeper who trained me to think about how to make one and one equal five. She was very ahead of her time and was a very big believer in the power of positive thinking and goal setting. Even in her 90’s she was still writing out goals for herself to achieve. She taught me courage, focus, and determination. They both helped build my willpower and belief in accomplishment. My dad would always say “inch by inch is a synch. Yard by yard is very hard.” There is no way I would be where I am today, yards away from where I started, without the power of my parents’ lessons guiding me in every inch forward I took.

Ok. Thank you for all that. Let’s now jump to the main core of our interview. Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest? Please share stories or examples if possible.

1. Supply chain issues is of big concern because it affects everything that we do. Every industry is seeing that. We need to bring back manufacturing to America to solve some of it. We have such underutilized talent here. Using cutting edge technology to create new ways of manufacturing, building, and fulfilment here would be fantastic.
2. Inflation is concerning. Much of this inflation is not real. Rather it’s just some people and industries taking opportunistic advantage to raise profits. This is hurting everyone everywhere and it is very concerning. If I could, I would ask these people to consider growing their profits while thinking about all of the people their decisions may impact.
3. An issue that we’re all seeing now in every industry is a lack of foresight. Every company needs to get better at planning and projecting future needs. We all need to step up our game in expectations and consider what’s coming. This is partially why we have been seeing such supply chain issues at a global scale. Companies got used to the slowness of the past two years and didn’t plan efficiently for this uptick. Now we’re all suffering. If we utilize technology and exert effort into considering the needs of people we will meet demands. If we don’t, we’ll all fall behind and suffer.

What advice would you give to other real estate leaders to help their teams to thrive and to create a really fantastic work culture?

You have to provide the support to make the right decisions and give your teams the necessary information needed in order to get the job done. You can use this advice across all businesses. The better the leadership, the better the business will thrive. Then, give them the space to do the job well. As chairman of Norwegian Cruise Line, we have 30K people employed with us. We give them the power to move down the line so that we can run the business in a way that makes each individual on the team empowered and motivated to create a wonderful product with the best guest experience in the industry.

Ok, here is the main question of our interview. You are a “Real Estate Insider”. If you had to advise someone about 5 non intuitive things one should know to succeed in the Real Estate industry, what would you say? Can you please give a story or an example for each?

1. To succeed, you should never accept defeat. Losses are inevitable if you stop there. The only way to lose in business is to give up. If you want to succeed, you must keep trying.
2. I think that each of us must choose to turn every loss we endure into a learning experience. I learned answers two and three in my early professional life. I went to school for hotel management, I then got my construction license, became a lawyer, and a CPA… Each time, after so much hard work to get my degree I realized it wasn’t what I wanted. Those moments at the time felt like huge losses and I had to start over again and choose a new path to study. Every single time I went back to school to learn more I had to stay diligent in my belief that all of this would lead to me becoming the man I knew I wanted to be. Each time I got back up, went back in, dusted off my cap and gown and left with a lot of knowledge. To be successful I had to keep on going. What’s funny is, if I could go back in time now I would thank myself, because each of those things I did, that at the time I felt were losses, would actually lead me to being a great businessman. I use lessons from each of those chapters of my life every single day.
3. If you’re going to succeed in this world, which is ever changing, you have to have discipline and the desire to constantly learn new ideas. Always be willing to adapt. You are not here to be stuck in your old ways of thinking. Constantly be open and willing to grow better. Train yourself to see obstacles as opportunities. There is always an inventive way to move forward. It may just be different than what has been done before. Don’t be afraid to consider new possibilities. This is how we innovate. A tangible example of all of this is how technology and the internet has changed the real estate industry so much. I started building buildings before we had cell phones. As time has gone on I learned how to utilize technology to push ideas further. I didn’t let it become a master of us, I expanded my thinking to use it to make every project better.
4. Measure twice and cut once. Do that in everything. Measure and calculate over and over until the numbers on paper make perfect sense. Then do it. This is a practical example of dreaming but not making dreams your master. Think through everything every step of the way, especially before you begin, and don’t let that stop you from starting.
5. Enjoy what you do, because that’s what leads you to success and a meaningful life. Success is not just about an amount of wealth you reach. It’s about living a meaningful life. Only you can decide what is meaningful and successful to you. Once you decide, then go all in for that. That is the secret, because even if you don’t get to where you want to end up, each moment along the way will be full with joy and meaning for you, and that is the real success we all hope to achieve.

So to sum up all the lessons here: Keep trying, be willing to adapt, shift obstacles into advantages, turn your dreams into plans, and remember to enjoy it along the way. Use every lesson life throws at you to make your life meaningful and your business magical. Stay grateful and remember to give back to the world.

Because of your position, you are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

If I could inspire anyone, I would tell them that kindness, respect and collaboration will lead you to success in any sort of industry. In everything we do, no matter what, it’s so important to be kind to the people you are working with, to respect those who you come into contact with and to work collaboratively with all for the common good and objective.

A table stands better with 4 legs than it does with 2 legs. We are not put on this earth to be a lone table. We are here to build community and gather together in spaces we have made special. If we all thought more about our impact on others and the legacies we will leave behind and acted accordingly, I believe the world would be a better place.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

They can follow me on Instagram at @RussellGalbut

Thank you for your time, and your excellent insights! We wish you continued success.