If you want to learn about the preeminent projects rising in Miami and shaping the city's neighborhoods, a sure way is to go on a tour with Iris Escarra.

She is not a professional  tour guide. Escarra is a Greenberg Traurig shareholder who has represented big-name developers in bids to build in Miami.

“I love to be able to go down a street and say, 'Oh, I could tell you about this building. This building had an easement, and this building had this, and we did this on this site.' I could totally do one of (those) tours with a microphone on a bus. I would love it,” said Escarra, whose office is in the city. “I would love to tell everybody about how Miami has changed, where it's going. I have been fortunate enough to work on a lot of big projects.”

Escarra represented Jorge Perez's Related Group on its four-tower Paraiso condominium development in Miami's Edgewater neighborhood, which will add about 1,400 units. She also represented the developer on its Wynwood 26 and Wynwood 29 projects, residential and mixed-use buildings that Related is building in partnership with other developers.

She represented Terra Group LLC on its twin, twisty 20-story Grove at Grand Bay condo towers in Miami's Coconut Grove. She represented Moishe Mana in obtaining a special area plan — city zoning for projects bigger than 9 acres that allows for denser development in exchange for public benefits — for his Mana Wynwood project last year. And she represented the Melo Group on its four Omni residential projects: Melody, which is finished; Square Station, twin towers that have topped off; Art Plaza, twin towers approved by the city; and Miami Plaza, which has city zoning approval.

Most recently, Escarra represented Miami Jewish Health Systems in obtaining a special area plan for its campus at 5200 NE Second Ave. to add, among other things, a facility for Alzheimer's and dementia patients. The City Commission approved the project Dec. 14.

“They are all different children. They all take their own special work,” Escarra said of theprojects.

Indeed, her work for Miami Jewish Health Systems took about two years.

“You do a master plan and everything from sidewalks, how the buildings are going to look, and you enter into a development agreement with regards to what can and cannot be built in the future,” she said. “The special area plan is a very in-depth look at your site. … These are in-depth analyses of the sites and the development.”

 

WORKING HARD 

Becoming an attorney wasn't something Escarra stumbled upon. She decided to join the profession when she was a student at South Miami Senior High School.

At the time she was in the debate club and a nominee for a Miami Herald's Silver Knight award for speech and debate, she said.

“People always tell you that if you debate, you should go into law,” Escarra said. “It's something I just had a passion for and continued with it.”

For a while she wanted to be a litigator after working as a secretary at a litigation firm while studying law at St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens. Escarra took more classes and loved land use practice.

“It's an area that's engaging because you get to see the fruits of your labor,” she said.

She worked for two years as an assistant city attorney in Miami before joining Greenberg Traurig. She still feels as if she works for the city, she said. Her work for developers includes representing them in front of city boards and the City Commission when developers are seeking project approval. Often, she is at City Hall but representing someone in the private sector.

In the end, the goal is the same: Build in compliance with the city code, she said.

Escarra never expected she would work for Greenberg Traurig, she added.

“They gave me an opportunity by believing in me and believing in my work product to get into a big law firm,” Escarra said. “I am thankful every day for that. I earned it because I worked hard. And I have been able to maintain it because I work hard.”

 

IRIS ESCARRA

Born: Miami, 1974

Spouse: Anthony

Children: Ian and Luke

Education: St. Thomas University, J.D., 2001; Florida International University, B.A.B.A., 1997

Experience: Greenberg Traurig, 2005-present; Assistant city attorney, Miami city attorney's office, 2002-2004; Law clerk for Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Eleanor Schockett, 1999