Some residents early on objected to the scale of the development, coming at a time when gentrification was already well under way in Wynwood, driving a handful of art galleries to less-hyped Little Haiti nearby. “Gentrification is bad for a community when identity and culture starts to get washed clean," said Books Bischof, a partner at Primary art gallery.
Mana’s company eventually satisfied critics by agreeing to lure institutions involved in dance, painting, photography and other art before building high-rises. Gentrification is “absolutely natural,” he said, “if anything, it really enhances the neighborhood.”
He’s already pledged to offer artists affordable living arrangements and work spaces that would be shared with techies and medical professionals. At the same time, he has a vision of creating a hub of trading-related businesses to sustain the neighborhood and wean it off its reliance on tourism -- which was hit by the recent Zika scare.
"You can build so many restaurants and coffee shops and galleries, but if you don’t have business next to you, it’s not going to hold," he said.
Art, Politics
Miami has afforded Mana with an unusual opportunity to mix art and politics. The Israeli immigrant despises Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rants, offering to give $2 million to charity if Trump would disclose his tax returns. When that didn’t work, he had another idea.
He asked the anarchist art collective Indecline to install an unflattering naked statue of Trump. The piece, titled "The Emperor Has No Balls," was later stolen and recovered but it had no head or legs either. Mana restored it.
That experience pales compared to what he said he endured building his moving business, like people shooting out windows of his offices and trucks. One day, he said, he received a call from a man identifying himself as John Gotti, the now-deceased Mafia boss, who was unhappy with his use of non-union labor.
“I had no idea who he was," Mana said, with characteristic chutzpah. "I said you can kill me but there will be many others behind me too."
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.