South Florida Business Journal
One of South Florida's Largest Hispanic-Owned Companies Seeks New HQ Building
"Forest Travel wants to more than double the size of its headquarters in north Miami-Dade County with a new building.
The travel agency ranked No. 23 on the Business Journal’s list of largest Hispanic-owned Businesses in South Florida with revenue of $60 million. It had 35 employees in its 10,593-square-foot office at 2440 Miami Gardens Drive.
The company’s new space could be considerably larger.
On Nov. 15, Forest Travel affiliate Naval West LLC filed an application with county officials to build a 33,800-square-foot building at 2420 N.W. 186th Street — just west of its current headquarters. Designed by SKLARchitecture, the building would have retail on the ground floor, office space for Forest Travel on the top three floors, a roof terrace and 120 covered parking spaces. The design also shows an aviary plaza on the corner of Northwest 186th Street and Northeast 24th Court.
The company acquired the 30,500-square-foot site for $1.28 million in 2012. Forest Travel President David Mendal, a native of Colombia, couldn’t be reached for comment.
Forest Travel handles cruises, vacations, corporate meetings and events and even partners with Virgin Galactic for hopeful space travelers. It was founded in Chicago in 1968 and moved to Miami in 1976. Mendel joined the company in 1982."
More details on the project can be found here.