Alumni
Our Alumni
Brandon Zarco ‘09, Real Estate Developer
Brandon Zarco’s passion for building began when he was a child, and his success in real estate has been shaped by strong personal relationships and life lessons.
Where do you live at this time?
I recently moved with my fiancée from Washington, D.C., to Bay Harbor Islands.
What educational path did you follow?
I graduated from the University of Maryland with an economics degree in 2013. Upon graduation, I returned to Miami to work with real estate developer Fort Partners (The Four Seasons at the Surf Club, Four Seasons Fort Lauderdale, Four Seasons Palm Beach and Norman’s Cay in the Exumas). After 4 years at Fort Partners, I returned to DC to get my MBA in Finance at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. Post MBA, I spent a couple of years underwriting commercial real estate transactions and managing EagleBank's commercial real estate loan portfolio at their headquarters in Bethesda, MD. I recently moved back to Miami to join Todd Michael Glaser, a real estate developer and owner's representative for luxury single family properties.
What is your current profession and where do you work? How did you come to work in this field?
I got into real estate after college because I always loved building, construction and design. It started with a passion for Legos as a little kid and transformed into luxury hotels and condo buildings, and now luxury homes.
What is most rewarding about the work you do? What are the challenges?
As a developer of homes, I can facilitate designing and building the space that people call “home,” where they spend their most precious times with friends and family. We have begun to call the new homes we build “Legacy Properties” as they will be magnificent estates that families will be able to pass down through generations. Being able to do that as a career is highly rewarding. The most challenging part is also the most exciting: orchestrating the many moving parts of over 40 ongoing projects while being able to stay at the forefront of design trends and maintain superior quality throughout our homes.
What is one essential academic or life skill you honed at Scheck Hillel?
Developing and maintaining relationships by being honest, direct, open to criticism and trusting the team around you. Through the various sports teams and as Student Council President my senior year, I learned early on that developing genuine relationships are essential in life.
*Note:
Thank you, Brandon, for generously offering to mentor Scheck Hillel students who may have an interest in this field. This mentorship program is currently under development to launch next year.
