On Nov. 6, commercial real estate’s top rising leaders will gather at Miami’s 1 Hotel South Beach for two days of networking, deal-making, thoughtful discussion — and maybe even a few ice baths. There’s only one event in the industry for up-and-coming CRE professionals that offers all of this and more, and that’s the Ascent retreat.

This invite-only gathering brings together the top young owners, developers and investors in the industry for a packed agenda of networking sessions, keynote speeches and unique activities including morning ice baths, beach boot camps, skydiving and bike tours, all designed to help organically foster lifelong connections.

This year, speakers and discussion hosts include Dave Asprey, creator of Bulletproof Coffee, founder of Upgrade Labs and known as the “father of biohacking,” and Catherine Price, award-winning science journalist, speaker and author who has been referred to in The New York Times as “the Marie Kondo of brains.”

Attendees will also hear from Bharat Ramamurti, former deputy director of the National Economic Council and adviser for Strategic Economic Communications in the Biden-Harris Administration, Mosaic Real Estate Investors CEO Ethan Penner, psychotherapist and performance coach Tara Miller and Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group President Simon Ziff.

The speakers and attendees at Ascent will be a highly curated group of individuals who have been chosen for their impressive resumes and proven dedication to CRE. Along with having the opportunity to attend sessions led by a range of CRE experts, attendees will be divided into tribes, where groups that have been hand-picked by event organizers meet for in-depth conversations. They will also engage in speed deal-making, an event where debt and equity providers are paired with operators and developers and given three minutes to pitch a deal before moving on to the next person when the whistle sounds.

Ziff will be hosting a “Coffee and Capital” session where he offers his expert insights into capital markets. This event has been a massive success at previous retreats.

“These retreats seem to bring out the relationship-building qualities in anyone who attends,” Ziff said. “I think it's a combination of who is invited, the format for the two days and being at the 1 Hotel in South Beach. Spending time with younger professionals in the industry and introducing them to our younger teammates has been really rewarding for me and my colleagues at Ackman-Ziff.”

Ascent and its sister retreat, Escape, which is for more senior CRE executives, are not just about forming personal connections — important deals come out of the relationships that begin here.

At 2022’s Escape retreat, ELK Development founder and CEO Evan Kasper and Managing Director Steve Caton met PCD Development founding and managing member Jonathan Stein. Kasper had briefly met Stein at the 2021 retreat, but they only had a brief conversation. At the 2022 event, they were placed in the same tribe group and realized how much they had to discuss.

Roughly five months later, the companies went on to form a joint venture named 522 Fifth Venture LLC. The partnership is supporting their project, 522 Rep. John Lewis Way, formerly known as 522 5th, a 19-story, 400-unit development in Nashville’s SoBro district.

“Making a connection with someone at Escape is very easy because it’s a small group, and you keep running into the same people,” Kasper told Bisnow. “If you hit it off with someone, you have plenty of opportunities to build that relationship.”

These retreats are a rare opportunity to make these types of lasting connections that can lead to monumental deals. Don’t miss out on a chance to be a part of it. The Ascent community is by invitation-only.  Apply here to be considered.