The Soffer Family
The Family
Don Soffer bought 785 acres of northeast Miami-Dade swamp in 1967 and built Aventura — the planned community, its towers, and Aventura Mall, the retail cathedral that became the city's town square. Through his firm Turnberry, he created one of the metro's signature developments more or less from nothing.
The second generation took the enterprise to a new scale and then divided it. After a 2019 split, Jackie Soffer retained Turnberry, Aventura Mall, and Aventura's Town Center, while Jeffrey Soffer took Fontainebleau Development, including the Fontainebleau Miami Beach and the Turnberry resort. Don Soffer died in 2025; the family he founded still owns and runs the institutions that define Aventura. As living figures, this site keeps to the siblings' documented roles.
Why They Matter
The Soffers are the contemporary masters of a recurring Miami feat: building a city from nothing, as Fisher and Merrick did before them. Aventura is, to an unusual degree, a single family's creation and continued possession — a city as closely held as a company — and its choice to organize around a mall is the purest architectural expression of the Latam Capital Era's priorities.
Where You See Them Today
Aventura — the towers, the mall, the Turnberry resort — is the family's standing monument, and the Fontainebleau on Miami Beach is Jeffrey's flagship. The Soffer name remains central to South Florida development and hospitality.
Further Reading
- The Real Deal (Miami) — extensive Soffer and Turnberry coverage
- City of Aventura history materials
Neighborhoods: Aventura · Miami Beach Eras: The Latam Capital Era Movements: The Jewish Migration · The Venezuelan Wave Related people: Don Soffer · Jeffrey Soffer · Jackie Soffer