Wynwood - The Wild West...with David Lombardi

Ever wonder how a place goes from not to hot? Join Thea for a behind-the-scenes look at what really goes into igniting a neighborhood. Thea knows - she's done it. She opened the first groundbreaking restaurants in Wynwood and Allapattah, founded and co-chaired the Wynwood Arts District Association, and generated powerful attention for overlooked parts of Miami. In this premier episode of the brand new hit show, Thea's Neighborhood Magic, Thea talks about the magic of neighborhood creation with David Lombardi, a pioneering developer of Wynwood and Thea’s closest collaborator in Wynwood. David and Thea are close friends from the early days when Thea opened the first igniting restaurant in Wynwood. Thea’s groundbreaking restaurant was the magic oasis, setting the tone and standard for the whole neighborhood. David tells Thea, “You created a bar by which everything else in the neighborhood should follow.” David and Thea talk about the excitement of the first restaurant. Described by David as "the de facto chamber of commerce," where the burgeoning neighborhood and its stakeholders could meet, mingle, and eat for the very first time. "None of us in the neighborhood interacted until you opened Joey’s," David says. "Once Joey’s opened we started feeling like, hey, we are part of something, there’s a community here." David shares why he went 'all in' on Wynwood and tells Thea how he was able to see its appeal and worth before most anyone else. In this episode you’ll get an inside look at the decision making process of a pioneering real estate developer, and hear how he approached the many challenges along the way. David and Thea talk about their work as founders and co-chairs of the Wynwood Arts District Association (WADA), which later became the bustling Wynwood Business Improvement District. Hear how Thea and David took on the neighborhood’s responsibilities - David took on security, Thea took on clean streets. "It was a remarkable moment,” explains Thea about the transitioning period. “There were no basic services. We had no garbage pickup. We had no crosswalks. We had no light bulbs in the streets... we had to lift ourselves up as a community.” Thea Goldman is a Miami real estate expert and entrepreneur, neighborhood igniter, community builder, pioneering restaurateur, mom to Jake, former model, and Pizza Master.