Jaime Fonalledas (born 1946) is the President and CEO of Empresas Fonalledas Inc., which owns

Plaza Las Américas Plaza Las Américas is a shopping mall in Hato Rey, San Juan, Puerto Rico, located at the intersection of Routes 18 and 22. "''Plaza''", as it is known to many Puerto Ricans, was the first indoor shopping mall built in Puerto Rico. It is the ...

, the largest shopping mall in the Caribbean and one of the top retail and entertainment venues in the world.Puerto Rico Herald 2000
/ref> Empresas Fonalledas Inc., also has holdings in dairy cattle operations, milk processing plants, non-dairy food industries, plastics manufacturing, real estate ventures, and banking operations. Employing more than 9,000 people in total, Empresas Fonalledas companies include

Plaza del Caribe Plaza del Caribe is an enclosed shopping mall located in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It is owned by Empresas Fonalledas, and is the largest mall in southern Puerto Rico. The mall is located at the intersection of Puerto Rico Highway 2 and Highway 12 ...

Tres Monjitas Tres Monjitas (English: Three Nuns) is a Puerto Rican milk brand. The brand, along with competitor Suiza Dairy, is one of Puerto Rico's two leading milk and dairy products brands. Its CEO is Jaime Fonalledas, whose grandfather, Jaime Fonalledas ...

, Vaqueria Tres Monjitas, Ganaderia Tres Monjitas, Baristas del Caribe -local operators of Starbucks Puerto Rico- and franchise Soft & Creamy.

Early years

Fonalledas was born in

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John, may refer to: Places Argentina * San Juan Province, Argentina * San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province * San Juan, Salta, a village in Iruya, Salta Province * San Juan (Buenos Aires Underground), ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

into one of the island's wealthiest families. There he received his early education at Catholic schools in

Hato Rey Hato Rey is a former barrio located in the northwest part of the dissolved municipality of Río Piedras. It now stretches over three barrios, of the municipality of San Juan, Puerto Rico: Urban landscape Its name means "king's cattle farm" (' ...

and

Rio Piedras Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

. In 1966, he graduated ''

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

'' from the

Interamerican University of Puerto Rico The Inter American University of Puerto Rico (Spanish: ''Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico''; often abbreviated to ''UIPR'' or ''Inter'') is a private Christian university with its main campus in San Germán, Puerto Rico. It also has c ...

and earned a degree in Economics. Fonalledas pursued his law degree at the

University of Puerto Rico School of Law The University of Puerto Rico School of Law is a law school in Puerto Rico. It is one of the professional graduate schools of University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus and the only law school in the University of Puerto Rico System. It wa ...

and was admitted to the Puerto Rico Bar in 1971. He joined his family's business enterprises "Empresas Fonalledas", a business which has its origins in the early part of the 20th century.

Beginning of the Fonalledas dynasty

Fonalledas' grandfather, Jaime Fonalledas Córdova, had a farm called "Santa Elena", located in the town of

Toa Baja Toa Baja (, ) is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the northern coast, north of Toa Alta and Bayamón; east of Dorado; and west of Cataño. Toa Baja is spread over five barrios, including Toa Baja Pueblo (the downtown area and ...

. There he had a small store and sold milk and dairy products from his farm. On July 21, 1918, Fonalledas Córdova, together with his two brothers Jerónimo and Gerardo and his sister Rosa, bought 527 acres (2 square kilometers) of land in

, a section of San Juan, which was part of a farm called "Las Monjas" and where sugar cane was cultivated. Tres Monjitas
(Spanish) The family began their milk and dairy producing operations and named their enterprise "Vaqueria Tres Monjitas". The quality of their product made them leaders in their agricultural field. What began as a small business has evolved into Empresas Fonalledas, one of Puerto Rico's largest business enterprises which include Plaza Del Caribe in Ponce, Puerto Rico; as well as Vaqueria Tres Monjitas which produces milk, dairy products, juice drinks; an ice cream companies, several real estate developments and Plaza Las Americas.

Empresas Fonalledas Inc.

Plaza Las Americas

Fonalledas was still a child in the late 1950s when the family thought of the idea of developing a shopping center, modeled after

Lenox Square Lenox Square is a shopping mall in the Buckhead district of Atlanta, Georgia. With 198 tenants and of gross leasable area, it is the third-largest mall in Georgia. The mall is currently owned and managed by Simon Property Group, and is consid ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

and spurred on by the evolution of the concept in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. Construction began on the same sugar cane fields on which the Fonalledas family had established their dairy business and Plaza Las Americas was inaugurated in 1968, boasting the first

JC Penney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gir ...

store outside the continental United States.Plaza Las Americas
Fonalledas eventually rose to the presidency of the family business. Under his leadership Plaza Las Americas has become the largest shopping center in the Caribbean. The center has often been used as a testing ground for U.S. retailers looking to expand internationally.

Macy’s Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

opened their first store outside the continental United States, Border’s Books & Music opened its first bilingual store and a 13-screen movie theater was opened for a total of 21 movie screens. The sales figures place Plaza Las Americas among the top 1% of super-regional shopping centers in North America.

Vaqueria Tres Monjitas

Under Fonalledas' leadership Vaqueria Tres Monjitas has become the largest milk and dairy industry in Puerto Rico. The company, with over 450 employees and annual sales of $110 million (U.S.), relocated its operations to an area in the town of

Dorado Dorado () is a constellation in the southern sky. It was named in the late 16th century and is now one of the 88 modern constellations. Its name refers to the dolphinfish (''Coryphaena hippurus''), which is known as ''dorado'' in Spanish, altho ...

, into a modern plant that boasts a modern quality control laboratory. The company, which also produces fruit juices and drinks, has three warehouse and distribution centers located in the cities of Ponce,

Arecibo Arecibo (; ) is a city and municipality on the northern coast of Puerto Rico, on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, located north of Utuado and Ciales; east of Hatillo; and west of Barceloneta and Florida. It is about west of San Juan, th ...

and Mayagüez.

Real Estate development

Empresas Fonalledas invested millions of dollars in various real estate projects. The construction of an office tower, Torre Chardon, began in 1998 and was finished in 2001.Puerto Rico Herald Empresas Fonalledas To Develop Residential Projects
/ref> Fonalledas also oversaw the development of two residential projects in San Juan and Ponce respectively as part of the real estate holdings of Empresas Fonalledas. The San Juan project includes two residential buildings with 58 apartments located in Hato Rey and the Ponce residential project features 132 walk-up units with direct access to Plaza Del Caribe.

Businessman of the Year

In 2000, Fonalledas was named "Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce Businessman of the Year". He has also been recognized as one of the Caribbean Business Top Business Leaders of Puerto Rico. In 2003, Fonalledas donated 500 thousand dollars to the scholarship funds of the University of Puerto Rico. Fonalledas, who has been honored by universities, professional associations, and the Roman Catholic Church is married to the former Zoraida Ferraiuoli-Martinez, the Republican National Committeewoman for Puerto Rico, who was a Superdelegate to the 2000

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

and an important Statehood advocate for the island. Mrs. Fonalledas received her Juris Doctor Degree from the InterAmerican University School of Law of Puerto Rico and her LLM in Labor Law from the New York University School of Law. She was reelected National Committeewoman for Puerto Rico at the State Convention held on November 23, 2003. She has held this position since 1995. The Fonalledas have four children.The Republican Party of Puerto Rico
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fonalledas, Jimae 1946 births Interamerican University of Puerto Rico alumni Living people People from San Juan, Puerto Rico University of Puerto Rico alumni Puerto Rican lawyers Puerto Rican businesspeople