How One Woman Keeps Wynwood's Artistic Heart Beating With Developers Rushing In

Jessica Goldman Srebnick has little space left to hang another piece of art in her office, so some works neatly line the floor with nowhere else to go.

But her collection — ranging from contemporary maximalist and pop art to portraits of her three sons, husband and father — doesn't stop in her office. It adorns the streets of one of Miami’s fastest-growing neighborhoods, pioneered by Srebnick's father and led to new heights under her renowned eye. 

Wynwood features hundreds of massive graffiti and abstract murals from local and international artists. The facades of its growing number of high-rises double as one of the largest outdoor museums in the world, attracting companies like Amazon, Sony and Spotify, who are paying some of the highest office rents in the country.

And Srebnick has become the liaison between artists looking to spread their craftsmanship and developers who want a piece of Wynwood. 

“I think she was the first person to really understand that artists and real estate developers were amazing partners,” said Ron English, a New York-based painter, street artist and designer.

Last year, more than 1.5M SF of residential, office and commercial development opened in Wynwood, and there are at least 14 developments planned and even more waiting to get in the pipeline.

Between October 2024 and September 2025, developers proposed another nearly 3,000 residential units and 343K SF of new commercial space, according to a Wynwood Business Improvement District report. 

But this wave of change also brings risks. Wynwood is catering to Miami's influx of wealthy residents with high-density projects and proposed skyscrapers that soar over the neighborhood’s height limit, drawing concerns that it will lose the artistic edge that made it popular to begin with.

“We can only lead by example,” Srebnick told Bisnow from the blue velvet couch of her Wynwood office. “We don't own the entire neighborhood.”

But the more buildings that go up, the more artists who have a chance to showcase their work to the more than 15 million people who visit the neighborhood a year. They’d be joining artists like Lady Pink — an Ecuadorian-born artist often referred to as the “first lady” of graffiti.

Defining works include the eight-story black and white mural of teenage Seminole Kyle James Grant on the Wynwood 25 apartment building, painted by Los Angeles-based Miles MacGregor, aka “El Mac,” and a 30-foot-tall woman surrounded by winding branches painted by South African artist Daniel Popper at the entrance of the 318-unit Flow Wynwood apartment building, formerly Society Wynwood.

That art has become the narrator of Wynwood’s story.

“Even in the morning, looking at things that are colorful and positive, it just changes everything about your day,” Srebnick said. “That's why there's something in this neighborhood that is so different than anything else.”

Srebnick’s father, Tony Goldman, founded Goldman Properties in 1968, and by the early 1980s, he became known for resuscitating neighborhoods like New York City’s SoHo into hot spots by planting trendy social clubs or restaurants.

Srebnick grew up in New York working and living in SoHo with a front-row ticket to the transformation. As she got older, she went her own path, going to school in Boston and working for five years with Saks Fifth Avenue before joining her father at Goldman Properties in 1997.

Goldman, who also helped establish Miami Beach’s art deco character in the late 1980s and '90s, turned his attention to Wynwood in the early 2000s. 

At the time, it was a rundown industrial zone between Downtown Miami, Edgewater, Allapattah and the Design District. But there was interesting graffiti on the walls of the aging warehouses.

He acquired 25 buildings and in 2009 opened Wynwood Walls. The open-air gallery at the core of the district blends murals, sculptures and art exhibits and has influenced the neighborhood aesthetic since.

“When my dad first came here, he said this is going to be the center for the creative class. And I think that was the goal, that was the compass, and that's what we continue to drive towards,” Srebnick said. 

Goldman handpicked English after attending one of his exhibits in New York. English, whose Temper Tot was one of the original pieces in the Wynwood Walls gallery, said everyone he has run into in the art world has been to or heard of Wynwood.

“It gives you more credibility in the world of street art,” he said.

“People from professions who are not used to the art world at all — maybe they go to football games, or I don't know what they do, but they certainly have no consciousness of art — they know the Wynwood Walls and they love the Wynwood Walls,” English added. 

Goldman died in 2012, leaving it to Srebnick to fill his shoes as the second-generation CEO.

With that, she took over curating the Wynwood Walls and has strived to follow through on the vision, including by influencing other developers who have built new towers in the area, urging them to be careful not to disrupt its momentum.

When Rilea Group President Diego Ojeda met Srebnick in 2021 through the Young Presidents’ Organization, he remembers thinking Srebnick’s authenticity was a source of comfort when investing somewhere new.

He was drawn to the neighborhood. Rilea Group spent $22M that year on a site where it is planning the 12-story, 225-unit Mohawk at Wynwood. It bought a second site in October 2021 for $12M where its 127-unit The Rider condo building is now under construction.

Five years later, as Ojeda sells the units mostly to overseas investors, Srebnick and her family’s story is a key selling point.

“I'm always pitching the Miami story, and when you talk about Wynwood, people's eyes light up, and they're just so excited to hear the story,” Ojeda said. “Of course, I always name drop Tony Goldman, and I say how his daughter, Jessica, is leading the charge and pioneering the vision, and we have someone great to lead us.”

“People love that story,” he added. “They really resonate with it.”

Srebnick’s husband, Scott Srebnick, took over the role as CEO of Goldman Properties in 2021. But in her role as company co-chair, she is still involved in operations, she said.

The firm’s latest move was pairing up with billionaire and Citadel founder Ken Griffin to purchase the 545wyn office building in Wynwood from Chicago-based Sterling Bay for $180M — marking the largest office deal of the first quarter of 2026, according to Colliers.

The office counts PwC, Sony Music and cryptocurrency firm Gemini as tenants and is 85% occupied, Blanca Commercial Real Estate Vice Chairman Juan Ruiz confirmed.

Wynwood’s office market is one of the most prominent in Miami, boasting one of the city’s highest rents at $86 per SF, according to Colliers.

Most of Srebnick's recent focus has been on Goldman Global Arts, a sister company to Goldman Properties that she launched in 2015 with Peter Tunney. It curates large, conceptual pieces and advises developers on art integration in their projects.

“I've had the benefit now, the privilege, of really focusing on the creative elements of Goldman Properties’ businesses and also businesses for my clients,” she said. 

One of their first projects was curating the public art at the Miami Dolphins' Hard Rock Stadium for billionaire owner Stephen Ross, picking 18 artists who combined to create a vibrant string of street and urban contemporary murals of dolphins covering the stadium walls.

Today, she is curating the art for The Cloud One Hotel and Residences, an 85-unit, 214-key development by German hospitality company Motel One, Büschl Group and ALP.X Group.

When the developers found the opportunity to build in Wynwood and learned it was mandatory to feature art on the facades, they knew they had to bring in Srebnick, Büschl Group head Ralf Büschl said. 

“She's capable, as a person, not only thinking in the dimensions of art, she's also capable of feeling a building, seeing what the architect is trying to say with his design, and then she's very, very creative in telling you, ‘OK, for these or that part of the facade, I would suggest art like this or like that,’” Büschl said.

Srebnick and Büschl declined to disclose the artists and design for the facades of the project, which is about five blocks south of the Wynwood Walls, as the details get finalized.

After the experience, Büschl said he is trying to partner with the local government in Munich, where he is based, to replicate Wynwood’s aesthetic.

Srebnick wrote a book, Street Art Icons: The Story of Wynwood Walls, that was published in 2024 and is lining up plans to film a documentary about the neighborhood.

“There's just a few people that are really making everything happen, I've always found it to be that way. And for our generation, she is that person,” English said. “Without her, street art would still be people getting arrested in an alley.”