20
MAY 2013
•
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
DISPATCHES
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GLOBETROTTING
With his long hair and distressed jeans, Gil
Dezer is the Florida real estate world’s resi-
dent rock star. And he tends to act the part.
Outside his office is an array of luxury cars,
part of a collection that runs to 23 vehicles—
not including the replica ’56 Porsche 550
Spyder mounted on his living roomwall.
“
I’m a construction guy, and I relate to
things that are beautifully put together,” says
Dezer, 38. “I don’t consider it art to spray stuff
all over a piece of canvas. To me, though, a
Porsche is a piece of art.”
Right now, Dezer and his partners are work-
ing on a 60-story condo building, set to open
in 2016, that unites his two passions. They’re
calling it Porsche Design Tower, and its big
selling point is that residents will be able to
drive right up to their front doors—emphasis
on
up
—
via large elevators. There also will be
strategically placed picture windows, so buy-
ers can admire their wheels from the sofa.
Condos start at around $4 million and
top out at $21 million. (Dezer’s own unit
may end up costing a bit more, as he’s
installing a “man cave for cars.”) But Dezer
doesn’t think the prices will deter people.
“
The guy who spends $6 million on
a condo doesn’t want to live next to a
$400,000 guy,” he explains, adding
that, as an avid poker player, he’s
looking forward to meeting his
“
über-wealthy” neighbors. “Imagine
the games I’ll be able to have,” he
says.
—
MICHAEL KAPLAN
LIMERICK, IRELAND
PARK LIFE
A CONDO DEVELOPER PUTS A FRESH SPIN
ON DOOR-TO-DOOR TRAVEL
MIAMI
THE LONGWHEY-HEY HOME
Theworld’s largest and noisiest
family reunion gets under way
Kathleen Fox could have sworn she
heard her late father in the voices of
her newfound Irish relatives,
who’d advised her that the
pub inwhich they planned
to hold their family
reunionwould likely be
knees-up
. “
I remember
my dad saying that
with the same brogue,”
Fox says, referring
to the local
vernacular for
very
crowded.
The pub, inNewcastleWest in County
Limerick, was indeed knees-up that
night. And when everyone in it started to
sing, Fox recalled her dad doing the same
at weddings and other happy occasions.
Fox, whose parents le Ireland in
the 1950s and se led in Erie, Pa., is
planning another trip overseas in the
coming months, making her one of
325,000
people of Irish descent slated to
make homecomings this year for “The
Gathering”—a
campaign
launched by the
tourism board
here to coincide
with the 50th
anniversary of
John F. Ken-
nedy’s 1963 visit to his
family’s hometown inWexford.
Ireland has a population of nearly
6.5
million, but there are about 70million
people worldwide of Irish ancestry. More
than half live in the U.S., including Fox
and her seven brothers and sisters.
“
People in Ireland love to get together,”
says campaign project director Jim
Miley. “The Gathering gives us all a great
excuse.” Not everyone is so enthusiastic,
however: Irish-American actor Gabriel
Byrne has publicly suggested that the
visitors are simply being “shaken down”
for amuch-needed infusion of cash.
Fox doesn’t see it that way. Her Irish
relatives, she says, insisted she stay
in their homes. “It’s all about greeting
people and enjoying life. That’s what our
parents were like too. They’re here with
us in spirit.”
—
JONMARCUS
COUP DE GRAS
THE TALE OF THE BUS STATION, THE TALL STRANGER AND THE MYSTERIOUS PACKAGE
TIJUANA,MEXICO•
Whileants, grasshoppers
and armadillos all have their place in
Mexican cuisine, snails have been slow
to move from the garden to the plate. So
chef Ryan Steyn was taking a risk when
he openedBistrot l’Escargot inTijuana in
2011.
Today, he’s taking another one.
Steyn is at the bus station, awaiting
a delivery from Guadalajara: a cooler of
high-grade foie gras. He had a hard time
finding a local source for the stuff, but
thinks it’ll be easier ge ingpeople toeat it;
a er all, his escargot, with a li le chipotle
thrown in, has been a hit. “You’ve got to
give people something their taste buds
can understand,” he says.
Amore immediate challenge: wresting
the cooler away from the bus driver, who
is suspicious about its traveling unat-
tended in the luggage compartment of
his vehicle. Finally, a er a spirited debate,
Steyn retrieves his prize and heads back
to his bistro, which will have a new item
on the menu tonight.
—
REBEKAH SAGER
