The Southeast Florida/Caribbean chapter of the Urban Land Institute honored Neisen Kasdin, Akerman Miami Office Managing Partner and a former mayor of Miami Beach, with the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award for his impact in South Florida. Kasdin was recognized at the 2019 Vision Awards on October 30 in Miami. Since 2006, the Lifetime Achievement Award honors the top leaders and visionaries in the region whose lifetime of work has significantly shaped our communities and changed the industry, according to ULI.
In a moving video, Miami business leaders and former Lifetime Achievement Award recipients spoke of Kasdin’s impact and legacy.
“Neisen deserves the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Urban Land Institute because he has been the dynamic personality in shaping our community,” said Craig Robins, President & CEO of Dacra and the 2018 recipient of the Lifeline Achievement award.
“To be able to accomplish what he has accomplished in the period of time that he’s been here in our community, both as an elected official and as a practicing lawyer, is nothing less than extraordinary,” said Bilzin Sumberg Managing Partner Albert Dotson.
JLL Managing Director Stephen Hurwitz said, “A lot of what happened in the early days before he became the public figure that he was, when he was a commissioner and mayor and even before that, was the renovations along Lincoln Road, the development of the Loews Hotel. Neisen was a proponent, an advocate, and a leader in establishing the historical preservation and initiative, which really was the beginning of South Florida really becoming a much more sophisticated place than it is today.”