Camilla Kodsi didn’t expect to be leading her family’s South Florida real estate investment firm in her 20s, but that's where she found herself after her father passed away unexpectedly last summer at the age of 59.
As CEO of Ark Capital Group, the 27-year-old Kodsi welcomed residents this month to Arbor Residences, a new luxury condominium that her father revived and she completed on a lush, tree-lined street of Coconut Gove, one of Miami’s most desirable neighborhoods.
But while steering a luxury condominium to completion may have been what she terms a “monster” of a start to her real estate development career, she’s found her footing and is ready for more projects using lessons she learned from her father, Kodsi told CoStar News in an interview.
Under the leadership of Isaac Kodsi, Camilla’s father, Ark Capital Group acquired the stalled construction site that would eventually become Arbor Residences in 2023. Deposits were returned to prior buyers, a new name and marketing plan was chosen, sales relaunched and construction resumed in 2024.
Camilla was working in the industry at the time as an agent for Cervera Real Estate, one of Miami’s most well-known brokerages. But with her father restarting construction at Arbor Residences, Ark Capital needed someone who could oversee the work and that’s how she joined the firm as an operations manager.
So when the project lead for Arbor Residences came to her to ask for her help in August after her father died, she said it made sense.
“I had already been on the team and part of Arbor for a year already, so everybody already knew me," Kodsi said.
During the transition, it took a few months to figure out just where everything was, leading to some short delays, but the issues were paperwork, not construction, and easily remedied, Camilla said. “I kind of hired myself a boss,” she joked, after bringing on developer JP Rosenbaum as an owner’s representative on behalf of Ark Capital.
The decision to hire outside help was a lesson she learned from her dad, Camilla told CoStar News, saying that throughout her work with her father, he would tell her that “you put the right team together … we'll build forever,” she said.
In 2005, her father founded Ark Capital Group, a Pembroke Pines, Florida-based real estate investment firm that focuses on debt and equity placements for projects that are under $50 million.
The last project he had started work on, Arbor Residences, received its temporary certificate of occupancy in March, and an official opening celebration was held in May. Featuring 45 two- to four-bedroom residences at 3034 Oak Ave., the 8-story tower is 70% sold, with the remaining units starting at $1.8 million. The building comes with modern amenities, including a rooftop terrace, pool deck, fitness center, 24-hour concierge service, electric vehicle charging stations and valet.
“It didn't really hit me until we had our first owner move into the building," Camilla said. "It's always for the buyer, trying to build them a place and a home that they can grow into in whatever form that may look like."
The Ark Capital team is currently working on several townhouse projects throughout Miami’s Shenandoah and Silver Bluff areas. Situated just southeast of the flashier Brickell financial district, it’s these quietly growing neighborhoods that Camilla is focusing on instead of flashier, more well-known areas such as Brickell's financial district.
“It’s charm and community … the small projects that you get to know your buyers and the owners that are eventually going to move in there," said Kodsi.
But while quieter areas are competitive in their own way — land is pricey — Kodsi notes that’s where she and the team can give buyers their “proper spaces” as her dad would want, she said. “It was always the allocation of space with closets, rooftop pool, whatever it may be … to maximize [the clients’] living space.”
“That's who you build for, you're catering to them. Moving forward, that's what my family and I want to continue,” Kodsi said.