South Florida Webinar: Workforce Housing

Nelson oversees the operational aspects of the company, including accounting, finance, underwriting, construction, legal and risk management. Since co-founding Integra in 2009, he has managed the development of more than $375 million dollars of construction throughout Florida and has grown the company’s portfolio to more than $500 million dollars across 8 different asset classes. Nelson has a Finance and Marketing degree from University of Miami and a Master’s in Engineering from Florida International University.

The Astor Companies Founder and CEO Henry Torres took an unconventional path to real estate success. When he was four years old, Henry came to the United States from Cuba with his parents. The family lived in Hoboken, New Jersey for about a decade before relocating south to Miami. Settled in Miami, Henry’s father established and grew a successful seafood distribution business that dominated the Miami-Dade and Broward County markets. In his early years, Henry developed a tireless work ethic that shaped his approach to building and scaling a business. It culminated in the successful creation and growth of companies in multiple industries, with Astor as the most recent example. In 1974, Henry started Empire Seafood, a seafood distribution business covering western and central areas of Florida. Consistently working 126 hours a week, Henry eventually took over the Miami-Dade and Broward territories after his father decided to leave the seafood business in 1988. Henry took Empire to even greater heights, as the company grew to 100 employees, several warehouses and related facilities and a fleet of trucks by 2001. At that time, Henry agreed to a compelling offer from industry giant Performance Food Group, which took over Empire’s Florida distribution network. After completing the transition of Empire’s business to Performance, Henry realized his construction and management experience, vast database of business contacts and relentless passion and energy would make for an ideal fit in the real estate development industry. That resulted in the 2002 launch of Astor. Throughout the 17-year history of Astor, Henry has operated with the motivation that everyone should be able to afford a luxurious new home in an appealing location. With that in mind, Astor has been a pioneering developer, identifying emerging and untapped Miami neighborhoods like Little Havana, The Roads and South Miami – among others. That visionary approach has resulted in Henry – and Astor – gaining a reputation as one of the most renowned developers in the Southeast region.