Kenco senior vice president "driving" traffic to Mirabella at Mirasol
6/13/2009
PEOPLE ON THE INSIDE - Palm Beach Post - By Chris DeStefano
Real Estate WeeKend Writer
It's funny how the little things in Dean Borg's early life have come full circle.
The first car he drove was a 1972 Buick Skylark. He still drives it.
He said he remembers when he was growing up that the talk around the dinner table centered around constructing buildings way up into the Manhattan sky.
Now Borg, senior vice president of Kenco Communities, is constructing buildings in Palm Beach Gardens as the project director at Mirabella at Mirasol.
"I'm a second-generation builder," said Borg, who has worked for Kenco since 1992 and is overseeing his third project for the company. The others include the now completed eight-story Metropolitan condominium at CityPlace in downtown West Palm Beach. Borg said his father Robert has been building in the metro New York area since 1955. He added that his father's zest for life has greatly influenced him.
"My father is 85, loves his work, and is always excited and motivated," he said of Robert, who also is an accomplished photographer. "He enjoys the interaction with people; he enjoys being productive."
Throw in the fact that Borg's mother, Winifred, is a painter and a sculptor, and it's easy to see why he enjoys getting so involved in developing communities.
"From my mother's perspective, there is color, texture and spatial thinking in what we do ... when working with architects and designers in developing our model homes," said Borg, a 46-year-old married father of two who lives in Boca Raton.
He joined the board of directors at Robert's construction company four years ago.
Borg oversees a staff of 16 at Mirabella. Many have come from previous Kenco communities that sold out. It's a close-knit staff, and Borg credits Kenco co-founders Kenneth Endelson and Richard Finkelstein with keeping them together.
"Our whole company comes down to these two accomplished men, who are very focused," he noted. "They set the entire tone for our company in terms of how we operate and how we treat people."
Judging from Mirabella's success, its residents must be treated very well. This 65-acre community, with a dramatic gatehouse, started selling its 492 single-family homes in spring 2002. Just 19 homes (seven models and 12 lots) remain.
The community features three neighborhoods: Sedona (which has the largest lots), Condado (middle-size lots) and Isle Verde (smallest lots). The residents range from young couples and families to empty-nesters and retirees.
Club Mirabella is where most of the residents interact. The 10,000-square-foot clubhouse features an Olympic-size pool, a fitness center, four tennis courts, two full-time activities directors, and all kinds of programs - from pizza parties and book reading for children to special clubs for adults.
"To take it from just vacant farmland through now, with 470 families living here, we're like a small town," Borg said. "Plus, our location is phenomenal. We're only a few minutes from Florida's Turnpike, 10 minutes to The Gardens mall, 15 minutes to the beach.
"Second, our homes basically are priced from the $400,000s to the $800,000s. If you look in all directions from us, you have Old Marsh at $1 million-plus, Old Palm at $1 million-plus, and Mirasol at $1 million-plus. So we're surrounded by multimillion-dollar homes, which makes us a terrific value. That's a huge plus."
When Borg isn't busy welcoming new homeowners to Mirabella, he likes to coach lacrosse for his son and daughter in the Boca Raton city league.
He and his wife Lisa are six-year members of the Capital Campaign Committee at St. Andrew's, where both children attend school.
Borg also has been a board trustee and an officer at B'nai Israel Synagogue in Boca Raton for eight years.
Another of Borg's passions is restoring cars. A 1972 Buick Skylark convertible - the first car he drove - was tucked away in his father's barn in New York for decades. The car recently underwent a 14-month restoration that included hunting down parts in an auto graveyard in the Arizona desert.
"We tricked it out, and it's in showroom condition," he said. "My wife and I and the kids - it's a lot of fun on Friday night, when we'll cruise down Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach or down (State Road) A1A along the beach.
"I said to my father, 'This is the ultimate family memento.'"
A memento that keeps taking Borg back to his youth. If only we could all experience a little "full circle."
