On the latest episode of The Long Game, I sat down with Michaeljohn (Mj) Green, Chief of Economic Development and Strategy at the Miami Downtown Development Authority, an organization focused on shaping the future of this city.
After graduating from college, he landed at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, spent time at Microsoft, and eventually moved to Miami to build a community development fund from the ground up - building financial instruments that still run without him. That’s the kind of builder he is.
Today, he’s at the center of something much larger. The Miami DDA district, which encompasses Brickell, the Central Business District, and the Arts and Entertainment District, has more active construction cranes than the entire state of California, with roughly 60% of those cranes inside the DDA boundary.
What was once a seasonal, tourism-driven economy is transforming into something more durable: a global business hub with 300,000 daily workers, 160,000 full-time residents, half a million monthly cruise passengers, and the largest and most diverse college in America sitting at its core.
The infrastructure is catching up to the ambition. Flagler Street is reopening. A connected Bay Walk is coming. The DDA is deploying grants of up to $75,000 to accelerate the businesses that make a city feel alive.
When I asked Mj to make the case for Miami, his answer was one word: timing.
The people paying attention right now, not just visiting, but committing, are the ones who will define what this city becomes next.
