Craig Robins is the President of Dacra Development, a company that is an innovator in creative real estate development. Founded by Robins in 1987, Dacra was responsible for the restoration and preservation of Miami Beach Art Deco landmarks including the Marlin and the Netherland Hotels, and for developing projects on Lincoln Road and Española Way. In addition, Robins is Principal of Design Miami and Design Miami/ Basel, exclusive invitational design events featuring the world’s most important galleries that exhibit modern to contemporary museum-quality design. Robins’ long-term commitment to design has most recently earned him the 2006 Design Patron Award from the Smithsonian Institution’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. The award recognizes an individual’s patronage of design within the business and civic sectors.

Over the past seven years, Dacra has spearheaded the redevelopment of the Miami Design District, a previously neglected neighborhood of 1920s and 1930s buildings and abandoned factories. Robins worked with celebrated urban planners and architects to rehabilitate and refocus the neighborhood, spurring both urban renewal and an increased awareness of design. Since 1998, more than 50 showrooms, including Knoll, Kartell, Poliform, Holly Hunt and Luminaire Contract have opened in the neighborhood. In addition, 40 architecture and design firms, including Oppenheim Architecture and Design, Luis Pons, and Alison Spear, are now headquartered in this creative center. Dacra recently announced a $220 million expansion of the Design District, with a master plan by Duany Plater-Zyberk. New mixed-use buildings by Keenen Riley Architects, Craig Konyk, Ali Tayar, Khoury & Vogt Architects and Cure & Penabad Architects are being built. Also, Keenen Riley Architects and Proun Space Studio have designed two Mies van der Rohe-inspired courtyard houses as part of the expansion project.

Dacra’s mission to build and revitalize communities is accomplished by merging forward thinking urban design and architecture, and cutting edge public art projects. AQUA, Dacra’s just completed new urbanist-inspired residential community on Alison Island, is a new model for luxury living on Miami Beach. Envisioned as an alternative to the high-rise condominiums that crowd the city’s shoreline, AQUA consists of 151-units, both houses and mid-rise condominiums (The island has personal significance for Robins—AQUA stands on the former site of the St. Francis Hospital, where he was born.) Designed by urban planners Duany Plater-Zyberk and a group of outstanding architects including: Walter Chatham, Alex Gorlin, Alison Spear, Hariri & Hariri, Emanuela Frattini Magnuson, Brown Demandt, Suzanne Martinson, Albaisa Musumano, Allan Shulman and Wolfberg Alvarez & Partners. AQUA is the first new urbanist-inspired project to use a modern architectural vocabulary. To add to the uniqueness of this project, Robins commissioned artists Richard Tuttle and Guillermo Kuitca to do their first site-specific, public art projects at AQUA.

Robins founded Bridge House, a small media company, in 1994. Bridge House provides graphic design, web design, and marketing services, manages the Craig Robins art collection, develops media projects and publishes children’s books and books about art. Bridge House published a companion book for a Kai Altoff exhibition that originated at The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston.

Craig Robins is also the founder and chairman of the Anaphiel Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting arts education, exploration and expression in all its forms. The Anaphiel Foundation is currently sponsoring a symposium series and related study to rethink arts education for the 21st Century. Drawing on prominent artists, performers, writers, architects, designers, educators, administrators, museum directors, curators and technologists, this project aims to create a new structure for preparing, training and nurturing today's emerging artists in an academic setting. John Baldessari, Bonnie Clearwater and David Ross are Anaphiel board members.

Robins is an avid art collector. Pieces from his collection of contemporary art are on view in Dacra’s Lincoln Road and Miami Design District offices. To further his mission of integrating art into communities, Robins has commissioned other site-specific artworks for buildings and public spaces in Dacra neighborhoods.

Robins is Vice-Chairman of the Wolfsonian-Florida International University Museum advisory board. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of both the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and the Miami Art Museum. In addition, he is a member of the Trustee Committee for Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art. Robins also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Colonial Bank and is a member of the Inaugural National Advisory Council of the Mayor of Miami’s Institute on City Design. Robins recently became a member of the Yale School of Architecture Dean’s Council. Committed not only to local communities but also to the community-at-large, Robins is an investor in Thorium Power, Inc., developers of non-proliferate fuels.

Craig Robins was born in Miami Beach in 1963. He attended the University of Barcelona in 1982, received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan in 1984, and graduated from the University of Miami law school in 1987.