Boroughs & Burbs, the National Real Estate Conversation

Boroughs & Burbs 173 || South Florida New Development

• Season 5 • Episode 173

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In this episode #173, Season 5 of Boroughs & Burbs, we’re diving into South Florida's vibrant new development scene with experts Seth Mansfield and Chris Cox of Douglas Elliman. They’re sharing insider knowledge on two of the region’s most exciting projects: Forte Luxe in Jupiter and The Ritz-Carlton Residences in Palm Beach Gardens. Learn about the luxury amenities, architectural innovations, and lifestyle offerings driving the demand for these exceptional properties. Whether you’re an investor, homebuyer, or simply curious about the latest trends in South Florida’s real estate, this episode offers valuable insights into some of the most sought-after developments in the area. Tune in for all the details!

SPEAKER_00:

The Burroughs are New York City. The Burbs are everywhere else. Real estate is the ultimate game of risk and reward. It's the biggest investment most people ever make. Fortunes are made over a lifetime and lost in a day. And we're not playing with monopoly money. How do you stay ahead? Who's buying? Who's selling? And why? What do they know? We want the truth. You need an edge. Burroughs& Burbs is your secret weapon, giving you the insider knowledge and strategies you need to succeed in the high Welcome, everybody. Burrows and

SPEAKER_05:

Burbs, Season 5, Episode 173, South Florida. Florida New Development. And I've got two guests. Let me pull this down. All right. This is episode 173 today, South Florida New Development. I want to thank our sponsor, Grace Farms. You'll find them at gracefarms.org. And next week, they've got on February 28th, Platon and the Defenders, Heroes of the Global Fight for Human Rights, a conversation and book signing. So if you're interested in all things Grace Farms, come on out to New Canaan and join the book signing event next week. That's my co-host, Roberto. Say hello. How are you, buddy? How are you doing? Where are you?

SPEAKER_04:

I'm good. Very good. Thank you.

SPEAKER_05:

And this is this is me. I'm John Engel. And this is the Engel team. And you'll find us at the Engel team dot com. And that's me in the middle with the bow tie. Our guests today, Seth Mansfield from Jupiter, Florida, and Chris Cox from Palm Beach, Florida. And we're going to be talking about Forte Lux. And we're going to be talking about the Ritz-Carlton Residences at Palm Beach Gardens. So without further ado, welcome, Chris. Welcome, Seth. Glad to have you on the show.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, thank you for having us.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, thank you very much, John. Thanks, Roberto.

SPEAKER_02:

Of course. Yes, thank you.

SPEAKER_05:

So did I get it wrong when I said South Florida new development? Are we still in South Florida when we're talking about north of Palm Beach? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely. And we're in the best part of South Florida. And I like that a lot of people don't think of us until last because we're trying to keep it hidden. Right.

SPEAKER_04:

I don't think you're trying that hard. I think you guys are selling a lot of property.

SPEAKER_02:

You know, one of the greatest things about where Seth and I are, people don't realize this, but at the bottom of Singer Island, we are at the closest point of Florida to the Gulf Stream. So we are at the top end of the tropics, and the Gulf Stream only varies from three to five miles off of our coast. So we are at the top of the Caribbean because at the top of the Gulf Stream, We have blue water. We're at the top of the Caribbean water where the Gulf Stream gets the closest to Florida. By the time you get to Stewart, you can see you're already 11 miles off the Gulf Stream. So it's unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

Oh, you're saying that this bump.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep.

SPEAKER_01:

That bump right there. That affects the temperature and the weather. It affects the color of the water. Wow.

SPEAKER_02:

It's unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01:

We get the Bahama blue water here that not all of South Florida gets, especially when you get a little north of us, which even a little bit north of us, still South Florida, but we're not far from what people would consider central, probably an hour away. How far are your two projects from each other? Just curious. 15 minutes.

SPEAKER_04:

Okay.

SPEAKER_05:

So let me zoom in here, I guess. So we're talking about Jupiter, where it says Jupiter as roughly one of the projects, the Forte Luxe project, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Yep, we're just north of there, about a mile north of where your mouse is.

SPEAKER_05:

Okay. And then the other project is down here at what's known as Palm Beach Gardens right here.

SPEAKER_04:

Correct.

SPEAKER_05:

Okay. And

SPEAKER_04:

where's the home of Tiger Woods?

SPEAKER_05:

He's on Jupiter Island. Okay. And what's the difference between Jupiter

SPEAKER_01:

and

SPEAKER_05:

Jupiter

SPEAKER_01:

Island? Well, Jupiter Island's a barrier island. It's kind of... the quintessential escape for the ultra rich at this point, for the most part. You've got a lot of single family homes there. That's where we see our most expensive homes in Northern Palm Beach County. Although most of Jupiter Island falls into Martin County, it's still considered a part of Jupiter. So Tiger Woods is there. We've got several homes that are trading above 40, 50 million there, which we don't really see a ton of in North County, like you would see on Palm Beach Island. So I guess that would be the distinction.

SPEAKER_02:

And Jupiter Island, those people in general are very quiet. Correct. They're very quiet.

SPEAKER_01:

The opposite of Palm Beach.

SPEAKER_05:

Is there any commerce? Is there a restaurant? Is there a community? No commercial development at all.

SPEAKER_02:

Nothing. Strictly residential.

SPEAKER_05:

And if I say I'm playing golf in Jupiter, does that mean I'm playing on the island, or does that mean I could be playing in any one of these courses? You

SPEAKER_01:

play in any one of those courses.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, they're all over the place.

SPEAKER_01:

We have quite a few.

SPEAKER_05:

Is that the biggest activity in the area, golf? It's a draw for golfers and golfing?

SPEAKER_02:

And boating.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Because again, we have, back to being as close as we are east, we are between the Jupiter Inlet and the Palm Beach Inlet. Anybody headed to the Bahamas, it's their closest inlet out.

SPEAKER_01:

And we've got great intercoastal waterways for people who aren't looking to go to the Bahamas, just want to do a little booze cruise and hop off their boat onto a nice waterfront restaurant.

SPEAKER_04:

So how

SPEAKER_01:

far is Jupiter actually from West Palm Beach? It depends on where you are in Jupiter, but call it 15, 20 minutes.

SPEAKER_02:

And from the Ritz-Carlton site that we're talking about in gardens, it's 10 miles and you are across the North Bridge onto Royal Ponciana Plaza on Palm Beach Island. So as I like to say, we're next to the circus and not in the circus. Like you're there in a nanosecond. But so you can enjoy both lifestyles. And we have an unbelievable lifestyle up in the north end of the county because everything lays down. We, you know, the high rises go away. We're Gulf communities, gated communities. We have really great access to the water, to natural areas, a lot of natural areas that were set aside in the 80s. So it will keep us low density going forward into the future.

SPEAKER_04:

And just to add on the report for like New Yorkers coming down.

SPEAKER_02:

We have four private airports within this area for private jets and then we have West Palm and and Fort Lauderdale, and we have the bright line they can go up and go out of Orlando to if they want.

SPEAKER_05:

Everybody keeps talking about this bright line. I don't get it. I mean, If I was talking about Connecticut, I don't think the word Metro North would ever show up in the entire hour-long conversation. I mean, but everybody is talking about the Bright Line as being transformative for South Florida. Do rich people, poor people, commuters, pleasure-seekers, tourists, who's on this Bright Line?

SPEAKER_01:

All of the above. It's a much better experience than the only, you know, before we just had the tri-rail, which we still do have. But on the Brightline, you can be served drinks and food. It's great for, you know, people like me and Chris. We're an hour, hour and a half away from Miami, depending on what we're looking to do. That's not a drive you want to make. Driving in Miami is miserable. You want to avoid it at all costs. If I want to go see a heat game, I can hop on the Brightline, get dropped off a three-minute walk away from American Airlines Arena. I don't have to worry about parking. I don't have to deal with traffic. I can have a few drinks if I want without any concern of having to drive. And how long does it take to get there? An hour to get to Miami, hour and ten.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and then you've cut off all of the crazy traffic, and you've enjoyed yourself all the way down.

SPEAKER_01:

Bingo.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

The other thing I know we mentioned Orlando, and that's just in its beginning phases, but I expect that to grow too, because I always say because of the mouse. Because of Mickey Mouse, you have such great connections in and out of Orlando. So I expect people are starting to realize that and starting to use that too as a hub.

SPEAKER_05:

So if I took the Brightline up to Jupiter or Palm Beach Gardens, it'll stop in both those places too? No, no, it stops in West

SPEAKER_01:

Palm Beach. It's a bullet train. So they want to limit the number of stops to obviously keep it expedited. We were working to get a stop in Palm Beach Gardens, actually right where the Ritz-Carlton sales gallery is. Palm Beach Gardens municipality was on board. A lot of players were on board. They built a hotel in anticipation of the Brightline coming. but ultimately Brightline just didn't want another stop that close to the one in West Palm. The good news is if you're in Palm Beach Gardens, it's only 15 minutes to get to the Brightline station.

SPEAKER_02:

So you're still close.

SPEAKER_04:

Getting a little

SPEAKER_01:

in the

SPEAKER_04:

weeds, but who owns Brightline? Is it the state?

SPEAKER_01:

No. It's private. Richard Branson.

SPEAKER_04:

There

SPEAKER_01:

you go.

SPEAKER_05:

There you go. Wow. So talk to me about Palm Beach Gardens. That is the site of the Ritz-Carlton residences. Where in relation to Palm Beach Gardens?

SPEAKER_02:

You have to go east of Trader Joe's, right where the water is, right where the intercoastal is. Come and stop right there. You're right at, not Juneau, but right where that water is. If you blow that up, you'll be able to see that intersection.

SPEAKER_05:

Okay.

UNKNOWN:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

And what's great about it, if you keep blowing it up more, you'll see the Waterway Cafe. It is on the southeast corner of that waterway right there. So you've got three restaurants on three of the corners. You've got a marina on the northwest corner. And then the Ritz-Carlton is on the southeast corner. And what is amazing about it is it's an assemblage of restaurants. over 14 properties. It's turned into 14 acres. It's taken well over 10 years to assemble. It's over 1,040 feet of direct intercoastal waterway. It's mid-rise. The interior road alone is over a half mile. This can, like Seth was alluding to, I think maybe before we got started, but we are pretty much, we don't have any land left. And this, to have a mid-rise development Not have, I guess to really say it better, not to have a postage stamp lot with a high rise is just, you know, you just can't do that. Now you said there

SPEAKER_04:

are no high rises there and you've made the distinction quite a few times just saying that it's mid rise. Is that the limitation as to how high it could be built?

SPEAKER_02:

yes it is palm beach garden like i said everything lays down palm beach gardens will not allow high rises in this air east at all so we are a total of Two parking garage stories above ground, contiguous under all three buildings, giving us over 300 parking spaces, 350 parking spaces for 106 residents in three buildings. Over 20,000 square feet of amenities. In fact, the Ritz has given us the distinction of the estate collection because they've only given that to single family homes, never to condominiums, because these are large footprint live like a single family home. Almost everybody in here are multiple homeowners and they're tired of calling the pool guy. They want to lock and leave, know they can come and go whenever they want, have the five star anticipatory services of the Ritz. And even to go back, we started talking about a little bit about branded residences like in Miami. all the branded residents are becoming so commoditized and we're starting to have more and more in West Palm. But up in this area, it just, it won't happen because it can't happen because there isn't land to make it happen. The Ritz is pretty much in the gardens areas. I would think it's going to be a standalone branded property.

SPEAKER_04:

So the Invent Asah, you're like the only game in town, it seems like, because there's no other land area. There's not other things being built. And from a standpoint of us talking about new development in Southern Florida like this, there's a tremendous limitation to what people can look at. There's very little inventory. Is that right or am I wrong?

SPEAKER_02:

No, you're absolutely right. And we are actually priced at or below the market right now because of when we started construction. So we are a bargain. Our absolute price gets you because we started 4.5, but price per square foot, we started under 1,400 a square foot. So that's just really unheard of in this area.

SPEAKER_04:

And the unit mix is what here?

SPEAKER_02:

We rain, the smallest is a three, three and a half plus a den. We started just under 3,000 square feet and go up to over 5,000 square feet. And some people have combining, are combining because they're right sizing from extremely large homes in Gulf communities such as Old Palm, Frenchman's Creek, Admiral's Cove, you know, Lost Tree, it goes on and on. So they have 15,000 square feet and they want to downsize to maybe just under like 9,000 square feet. So they combine.

SPEAKER_04:

And what are the ceiling heights of these apartments, more or less?

SPEAKER_02:

They're either 10 feet concrete to concrete or 11.6 concrete to concrete in the pinned houses.

SPEAKER_04:

That's pretty.

SPEAKER_05:

What are the amenities that people are asking for at the$4.5 million level?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I think you've probably been doing a lot of these podcasts. All these buildings are becoming highly amenitized. So, I mean, I could start through those, but, you know, there's all the normal amenities that you're going to see. What I see changing the amenities is they're becoming, staying contemporary, but they're becoming richer, more warm and welcoming. This specific property is meant to live like extensions of your own property. So it's warm and welcoming. And you have all of the normal things that you would expect This is the Lighthouse Lounge, which actually we're close to the Jupiter Lighthouse. So the decorator designer that is hired by the Ritz to do all the amenity spaces, he's designed all over the world. This is our fitness center. he's charged with a look, which is contemporary, but yet warm and welcoming and taken in to consideration the over a hundred year history of the mansions. So they have to meet all the amenity spaces that are required nowadays. But I think most people, this amazing, it looks like he just walked onto a yacht. I mean, his eye, Christian Pinero that does this for the Ritz. He's just unbelievable. But most, I find that the, because we're so highly amenitized pretty much across the board in all these buildings, one of the main things that stands out, the people are looking for that peace of mind to lock and leave and also security and privacy. So-

SPEAKER_04:

So I see there's a bar there. Is there a restaurant there?

SPEAKER_02:

We are, in this particular case, there is no hotel component. We're 106 residents only. So there is no hotel component, but there is a commercial kitchen. There is this bar. So I always say it's going to take about a year and a half for the owners to determine how to operate this space. Because as soon as they walk offsite, as Seth can attest to, that we've got like over 200 restaurants for all of these owners as soon as they step off the property. Is it walkable? There are a couple that are walkable, but in general, you're going to get in your car for short periods of time. And we have shopping up here that with a lot of the same stores within a mile of this site that are on Worth Avenue and Royal Ponciana Plaza and on Palm Beach. So they don't have to go anywhere.

SPEAKER_04:

So being in Florida and not in Manhattan, I'm assuming that parking is a huge thing here. So are there like two spots per apartment? I mean, how does that work?

SPEAKER_02:

In this particular site, that's what I'm saying. This is unheard of. We have over 350 parking spaces for 106 residents. You have two. While they remain, you can get a third. And then while they remain, we also have additional two-car enclosed garages within the garage. And we can charge over 200 vehicles at any given moment in time.

SPEAKER_04:

But the two spaces are deeded with the apartment itself?

SPEAKER_02:

They're assigned.

SPEAKER_04:

They're assigned.

SPEAKER_02:

So they're a limited common element.

SPEAKER_04:

And if you wanted a third, what's the process?

SPEAKER_02:

You just, during the... during the contract process until they're gone, which we have, you know, parking's always, everybody wants as much as they can get. So we still have some available. They just add that to the deal sheet, and then they pay for that at the time of closing, and it's identified.

SPEAKER_05:

Tell me about the importance of the brand. It occurs to me that Ritz-Carlton residences, that there's probably... a subset of your clients who only want Ritz-Carlton. They've experienced it elsewhere in the world. They understand what the standard is and they come because it's a Ritz-Carlton and they know what they're getting. How important is that? Or are they saying, no, I'd like to consider Ritz-Carlton or anything else like it?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I don't want to compare it to McDonald's. But to your point, if somebody goes over in Europe, they know what they're getting when they go to McDonald's. That's why they follow the RITs, because they know what they're getting when they follow the RITs. They already have a really good idea of what their standards are and what services they're going to be given. And if they don't know before they come on site, they learn that they're automatically entered into the RITs system as a residence owner, which adds additional perks for them when they travel to any of the Marriott properties. So it's like how a lot of people collect golf course you know, community memberships. It's the same with Ritz's. They say, yeah, I own in the Ritz property here and I also own in the Ritz property there. It's a gold standard that they know what to expect.

SPEAKER_05:

But I feel like, see, I'm not a regular user of Ritz properties around the world. And so it occurs to me, I have a lot of choice right now in development in South Florida. Mr. C's, Paragon, Glasshouse, i mean the list goes on so are you finding that your the ritz is competing with those or is it a notch above or is it or is it it doesn't matter because those are in different towns and if you want to be in this town you want you have to be in the ritz

SPEAKER_02:

that that i think that's what seth and i were alluding to earlier and you were too the two of you that once you get past west palm there we're really the only branded product coming out of the ground. And it's been, all the brands, no matter what brands, in Miami, they're already way over-commoditized. There's quite a few coming out in West Palm, so I don't know how, as those come out of the ground and finish up, how that's going to affect West Palm. But in Palm Beach Gardens and north, up to where Seth is at Forte Lux, there's just not, there's not places to build. Let's

SPEAKER_05:

get into Forte

SPEAKER_02:

Luxe. Not east.

SPEAKER_05:

Definitely not east. All right. Forte Luxe. You said Forte Luxe. This is the Forte Luxe, and I found this rendering. Is it just this peninsula?

SPEAKER_01:

It is just that peninsula, John. So we're building 15 townhomes on that peninsula. The developer also owns a lot adjacent immediately to the south. It's not pictured in that rendering. He eventually intends to put a duplex on, but We're still playing around with some plans on that. We haven't got permits for it yet. For now, we're just focused on the 15 on the peninsula. So this is a different style of living. You're talking about townhouse. It is and it isn't. You know, Ritz is very amenity driven. Chris and I, we're close and we've talked about it. We don't compete that much because it's kind of two different products. We probably have about 10% overlap for someone who comes in my sales gallery also goes in hers. But usually if they're looking at the Ritz, they're interested in amenities, they're interested in the brand. We're not amenitized, hardly at all. We've got that pool that you see there. We're driven by views and by voting. We've got some of the best views that you're going to find in Palm Beach County, as you can see right there. if you'll stay on that one for a second. So all that green space on Jupiter Island that you can see in front of the buildings, in front of the peninsula, that's a preserve. That stretches for 1.7 miles. So that's a forever protected view. So our buyers are getting the Bahama Blue water in the Intracoastal right there. And from the rooftop, they'll even get a peek over the preserve at the Atlantic Ocean. We have huge rooftop decks. We're kind of emphasizing the outdoor living. You know, these units are gonna come with 1700 plus square feet of outdoor living quite a lot between the rooftop deck and the balconies. So it's a different kind of buyer. Our guys just want to hop on their boat. They probably belong to a country club nearby. They're getting their amenities there. They don't need the amenities here. They just want great views and great boating.

SPEAKER_04:

And can you give me a sense of just what like what one of these generally is like. How is it set up? I see there's multiple floors. It's a lot of glass. It's beautiful. Am I

SPEAKER_05:

looking at three right here? One, two?

SPEAKER_01:

You're looking at two. That's the duplex that I mentioned earlier that we're not yet, we haven't yet finalized. But that's two units split down the middle. You can see the little glass panes in the middle. That's where it divides. But to answer your question, Roberto, so these are, aside from that duplex that we're looking at, these are all three-story townhomes. Full house elevator, two-car garage, two-car driveway, big rooftop deck, lots of balconies, lots of glass. We want you to feel like you're in the water with the home, basically. It's an extension of the home. In every room of the house, pretty much, the water is. Because of the design of the peninsula, you're facing north. towards the water, whereas a typical intracoastal home, you're gonna be facing east or west towards a barrier island or away from the barrier island towards the mainland, which gives you a limited view. But with that northern exposure, you're getting a really deep view, a long view, stretches a lot further than what you typically get.

SPEAKER_05:

I gotta find us on the map.

SPEAKER_01:

You'll see it. Keep going just a tad. All right, now zoom in.

SPEAKER_02:

While you're zooming, I just want to mention we have 29 boat slips too at the Ritz that range from 45 feet to 75 feet.

SPEAKER_05:

So where in relation to Cuesta?

SPEAKER_01:

To the right. We're right across from the barrier island, from Jupiter Island. Okay. Up. Right there. You were almost just on it. Where your mouse is now, move it to the left an inch and up a half inch. And there's the peninsula. Oh, you went just past it, just below that. Right there. That's it. That's you? That's us.

SPEAKER_02:

It's been vacant for a long time. It's really cool to see it rise out.

SPEAKER_01:

You

SPEAKER_05:

weren't kidding when you said it's the only north-facing. Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

It's a very unique property. So the property is man-made. It was created in 1942 by the Army Corps of Engineers. It was designed to be a landing strip for seaplanes, and it's just sat vacant for 83 years since then. So it's a testament to the developer's willpower to make it happen, to get through the beast that is Morton County and get some approvals going.

SPEAKER_05:

Are there, it's just a steady stream of boats coming down the intercoastal here? Something to look

SPEAKER_01:

at all day long? Sure. Weekends are obviously a lot busier. If you went out there right now and you spent 20 minutes on the peninsula, you'd probably see two, three, four, five boats. But on a weekend, you'll see a lot more.

SPEAKER_02:

Our boat traffic down here is unbelievable on the intercoastal. For sure. Every time you think you've seen something, you just blink and then you see something you've never seen in your life.

SPEAKER_05:

My sister is on the intercoastal in Boca. When I went down to visit her, I'm going to say a reasonable proportion of the boats going by have big Trump flags on the back. Is that true, Justin Boca, or do you have your fair share of Trump flags going by on the intercoastal parade all day?

SPEAKER_01:

I don't think that's region specific.

SPEAKER_05:

That's kind of a Florida thing right now? I

SPEAKER_01:

mean, I think, I guess anywhere where there's boats, you'll probably see them. I was just...

SPEAKER_05:

I just think it's because he spent so much time in Florida. I think there's a lot of Florida pride around the Trump flags. But I was surprised by how much boat traffic was coming up and down and how interesting it was. Unlike some of these waterfront lots, which are just looking out at the ocean, I found it very interesting that the scene is always changing.

SPEAKER_02:

And beautiful boats because we are in just an area with a lot of wealth. So you just see unbelievable yachts going up and down the intercoastal.

SPEAKER_01:

And our buyers like to see it. They like the traffic. It keeps them entertained. If they're out there drinking their coffee on their balcony, they want to see some action. They don't want to just stare off into the void. So Seth, if I

SPEAKER_04:

leave your property, if I leave the peninsula, what's around me?

SPEAKER_01:

Sure. Sure. So across the way on Jupiter Island, we kind of talked about it briefly earlier. That's all residential. If you go south, though, very close by, there's within two miles, there's a couple dozen restaurants, a lot of them right there on the water. You know, 1000 North, probably the pinnacle of those. That's a luxury, you know, waterfront restaurant that Michael Jordan's got a hand in. It's quite popular, really great dining. So you've got a lot of restaurants close by. There's a lot of golf close by. We've got a couple of people who have bought in Forte Lux that are members of Jupiter Hills, which is basically half a mile north and across the street. from Forte Lux. And that's one of many golf courses that are close by. I kind of alluded to it earlier. A lot of our buyers are members of country clubs, whether it's Discovery or Apogee, Jupiter Hills, Jonathan's Landing, Bears Club, you name it. We've got golf courses all over and they're world-class.

SPEAKER_02:

And we have the same thing at the Ritz that people that are buying here in that price point, they don't have to live in the golf course community because they have friends and a lot of them they can join without living there. And Apogee that Seth mentioned does not have a residential component at all. So we're both close to accommodate Apogee members.

SPEAKER_04:

Really, I mean, it's a beautiful, this looks like a beautiful place to live in both of

SPEAKER_01:

these locations. I mean. You can't go wrong. It's a fantastic bubble. Once people get here, they tend to not leave. A lot of our buyers, and I'm sure it's the same for Chris, they already own a property in northern Palm Beach County. You know, the bubble is North Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Juneau Beach, Jupiter. They probably already have spent some time here and they have no interest in going down to Boca or Fort Lauderdale or Miami because they get everything that you would get down there without all the congestion and the pretense that can come with some of those areas. It's a laid back beachy area, but it's got all the creature comforts that a luxury buyer has grown accustomed to. And

SPEAKER_04:

Seth, what's the pricing of your project?

SPEAKER_01:

We start at 4 million, go up to seven and a half and our 50 foot boat slips are sold separate at an additional 500,000. And the, so the

SPEAKER_04:

what, but so tell me the 4 million gives you what and the 7 million gives you what?

SPEAKER_01:

Sure, so our homes are between 3,550 square feet and that one, but you were just on it on that last fab. So for 4 million, the one that's on the right side, That's what you're getting. That one is priced very aggressively. We're about$1,100 and some change of foot on that one. Most of our homes are between$1,300 to$1,500 a foot, which, as Chris mentioned earlier, is kind of a steal for waterfront new development. So you're getting a 3,550-square-foot under-air home. with over 1,500 square foot of outdoor space. For seven and a half million, you're getting a 5,074 square foot home that's on the end of the peninsula. So you're getting three sides of water, either north, east, west, or southeast, west.

UNKNOWN:

Wow.

SPEAKER_04:

It's

SPEAKER_05:

pretty. Does that four million have a view? It just doesn't have

SPEAKER_01:

this view? No. As a partial view and for 4350, you can get a stellar view that's very similar to the one that you have photographed right there. It's just about 120 feet to the West of that position right there, but you're still looking straight up the Intracoastal, the one that's 4 million. Your view's a little more limited. You've got a marina kind of in there. From your third floor and your balcony, the view's still going to be stellar. From your first floor, it's just going to be a little more limited on there. But at the price, it's a steal. And for someone who just really wants to be right there on the water, have a boat slip that's seven minutes from the inlet, that's where you want to be.

SPEAKER_04:

John,

SPEAKER_01:

you're a huge

SPEAKER_04:

boat guy. How does this trigger you when you see this and the lifestyle and like... Is it a plausibility for John Engel to be in Florida and the intercoastal in the future? When you look at this, I mean, you being a Northern person.

SPEAKER_05:

I am, I think one of the things that people wanna know is once I get down to my boat, where can I go? And I think he's already answered that, that a lot of these people with bigger boats like to take them across to the Bahamas. The Bahamas are, what, 50 miles away. It's, you know, it's a bit of an adventure, you know, to like leave the United States in your boat and go, you know, go to a... such an exotic foreign land like the Bahamas. And I think a lot of people do it. I know they come up from Boca. They come down from Jupiter. And that's a great big destination. When we did the Fort Lauderdale show, they said really that if you're a boat lover, you start in Fort Lauderdale. That's the boat capital of the U.S. How does this compare with the Fort Lauderdale crowd?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, Fort Lauderdale is obviously just more of everything, right? They've got more density. They've got the largest boat show, I believe, in the United States in Fort Lauderdale, and I think West Palm's the second biggest. It's not like we're far off, but you've just got more density. We're a little bit closer to the Bahamas. I think our waterways look a little nicer, and they're a little less congested. I think it's a better area, personally. I'm obviously very biased. I love it here, and obviously I'm selling it, but... As I mentioned earlier, you get everything that Fort Lauderdale has more or less, but with less traffic, less people, less congestion, and I think a little bit less pretense too. Jupiter's very laid back and people really like that about it. And that's why people who end up in Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, Juneau Beach tend to stay within that little bubble and not stray far from it.

SPEAKER_02:

And going back to having all that protected land back in the 80s to build what Seth just said, that will keep that lifestyle protected going forward. We have nearly seven miles of beach that has total public access and public parking that's free. And a huge majority of that is dog friendly. which I don't know of any place else in the United States where you can take your dog onto the beach like that under voice command. It's just, it's amazing.

SPEAKER_04:

Chris, nothing's free. Really well kept. Not here. We're in our property, Texas.

SPEAKER_02:

Are

SPEAKER_04:

you guys natives to this

SPEAKER_01:

region?

SPEAKER_02:

Do you want to answer that first or me?

SPEAKER_01:

Sure, I am not. I have been in Palm Beach Gardens 11 years, almost to the day. but I originally grew up in Atlanta, Georgia.

SPEAKER_02:

And I am from Ohio, went to the Keys the entire time I was growing up, stopped in North Palm Beach all the time because we had friends on our way back up north, could never figure out until I understood the Gulf Stream why it was almost as warm here as it was in the Keys. Then I moved eight times all over the U.S. to the northeast, to the west, to California, to Memphis, to Nashville, Rochester, New York, Southern California, the whole nine yards, ended up here. in 2001 and God brought me back and nobody is taking me away from, as Seth said, this little bubble. It is heaven.

SPEAKER_05:

Now, is Jupiter, when you talk about laid back, and yet I saw amenities for kids. So am I thinking that Jupiter is for retirees and maybe the West Palm Beach marketing itself as Wall Street South is marketing itself to young professionals? Come on down from Wall Street. We're just like Wall Street. We got the same restaurants. We got the same shopping. Come on down. And we're right next to the airport. Whereas you're an hour out of town. It's a lot slower and you've got golf courses, not airports in your backyard. So is it fair to say you're attracting an older, richer clientele?

SPEAKER_02:

We're attracting everything.

SPEAKER_05:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

But Seth, you can talk to them because you were getting ready to talk.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay. For what it's worth, we're 20 minutes from PBI. I mean, Chris Carlton's 15 from PBI, so we're not an hour from town. The other thing is, Chris mentioned earlier, in North County, we've got over 200 restaurants. Those cover all the bases for cuisine, Mediterranean, Indian, Italian, whatever food you want, we've got access to it. We've got Designer Mall, boutiques galore, world-class shopping, dining. Beaches, boating, we've got everything you need right

SPEAKER_05:

here. How about schools? I haven't

SPEAKER_01:

heard...

SPEAKER_05:

Retirees like shopping and golf, but what about

SPEAKER_01:

schools? Jupiter has A-rated elementary, middle, and high school, public, as well as the Benjamin School, quite a prestigious private school, and that's in North Palm Beach. And then in Hope Sound, which is just north of Jupiter, we've got the Pine School as well. So schools are covered, public or private. A lot of people will grow their family in Jupiter specifically because of the access to those schools.

SPEAKER_02:

And when you talk to Kelly Smallridge, I'm sure you touched on schools, and I'm sure she went over that in great detail, because that's one of the things she discusses about the whole West Palm and the North Palm Beach areas. We are definitely covered. But I just also want to mention, when you were telling us we were an hour away, which we aren't, we have all kinds of Palm Beach Island people and West Palm Beach people that are coming to us to go to restaurants. constantly. They are coming to us because we have so much to offer here. So it's a two-way street and more and more people are getting ready to jump off the island because it's getting a little crazy there.

SPEAKER_04:

But you must be getting spillover from West Palm Beach where people are not finding what they want or they're like, it's a bit too expensive. So we want to move and we're okay with a commute of sorts.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, but it's an easy commute. And the reality is it's getting expensive no matter where you are. It's just a reality of life. It's becoming extremely painful. Anytime you get into a populated area anywhere in the US, it's painful.

SPEAKER_04:

Do you guys have insurance issues with any of these projects or is it uninsurable as the rest of Florida is?

SPEAKER_02:

we're as protected as you can be because for both Cess Project and the Ritz, they are to the current standards. So if anybody can get insurance, we can.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I had some preliminary quotes pulled for Forte Lux from my insurance broker, and he was actually astonished at how low the premiums were and how many carriers were willing to underwrite it. You know, even though it's right there on the water, underwriters, what they really care about is new construction. They don't want a 1981 condo building. That's terrifying to them. But a 2025, 2026 built house, well, they're not too worried about it. It's up to code and nothing's going to break anytime soon.

SPEAKER_05:

I only have a few minutes left. I want to hear about the foreign buyers. You touched on a couple of things. One was security. Second was privacy. Third was access to good schools. All of that seems to attract the foreign buyer, except for the fact that we have a very strong dollar right now. So are you seeing foreign buyers? And if so, from what parts of the world?

SPEAKER_02:

We were at the beginning of our project. I haven't seen as much in the last, I would say, six months. I think it's not as robust as I would have expected. What I think is interesting, some of the interests that we had previously generally it stops at Broward County but I've had people from Miami well I shouldn't say that because we have a lot of my but the Miami agents um sometimes we don't know whether working with foreign buyers or not but they're jumping over Broward County and coming to Palm Beach County they're bypassing they're you know they're they're not stopping they're they're waiting till they get here but a lot of you mentioned it in the beginning a lot of people that are foreign buyers when they think south south florida they don't understand anything other than miami unless they're more educated about the area they just south florida to them all that you could substitute the word Miami and that's all they know.

SPEAKER_05:

Well, I started top of the hour and said, are you in South Florida?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes.

SPEAKER_05:

And then I, and then I made the mistake of saying you were an hour out of Palm beach and you're like,

SPEAKER_02:

we are next to the circus, not in the circus.

SPEAKER_04:

Very close. That's like the Upper West side of Manhattan. It's away from the circus, but very close.

SPEAKER_02:

And actually, I learned that saying from a little, not from the Upper West Side, but from another area in Manhattan where a real estate agent used that term, and it was so real. And that's kind of how this feels where we are in the northern end of Palm Beach County, just like Manhattan, when you're just off the grid.

SPEAKER_05:

These two projects aside for a moment, generally speaking, the luxury market in your area, Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens specifically, you're seeing an increase in inventory? You're seeing an increase in prices? What are we seeing with the market generally? What's

SPEAKER_01:

the mood? So we have seen a little bit of a steady increase in inventory since 2023. We were at pretty much all-time lows in 2022 in the throes of COVID, but it's been rapidly, steadily picking up since then. We are down 7% this year on our sales compared to this time last year. Not a huge statistical difference when we're talking about comparing two months year over year. And the majority of our contracts we see are between February 1st and May 15th in Palm Beach County. So that could change. Our prices are down about 3% in that same time. Last year, they held flat. They actually went up half a percent last year, year over year. So I kind of see more of the same for now. Chris and I talked earlier. We both got a lot of buyers who are not in a hurry. They're waiting for the perfect house at the perfect price, and they are content to wait. How many of those are cash? Most of them.

SPEAKER_02:

We deal almost all with cash.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah. When do these two developments open? Next spring.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, next spring. We're March, April, and I think Seth is too. March,

SPEAKER_05:

April. And how sold are you? We're moving. I have to ask. You don't have to answer. I

SPEAKER_02:

think one of the things to note is that I don't like to bring it up because we need to end on a positive thing. But with the Surfside collapse, with the older, with the old condo buildings, that has affected some of our inventory in the older condominium developments that are here in South Florida.

SPEAKER_01:

Those are hard to move. People are very afraid. You mentioned earlier, can you even get insurance? That's where people are struggling in the insurance market the most is these 1980s condo buildings. My buyers don't even want to talk about them. They just take them off the list.

SPEAKER_02:

Even if they've gone through their engineering studies, they're well-managed, their reserves are in good stead, it still makes them nervous.

SPEAKER_05:

Don't end the show with, it makes them nervous. Come on. Give me a forward-looking projection, please.

SPEAKER_02:

It's up to you to come up with the upbeat finale.

SPEAKER_05:

It's a beautiful project. It sounds like it's insurable. It sounds like there's plenty to do. And I'm really kind of surprised at how accessible it is and how good the schools are in the area. So it just sounds like there's something for everybody. And, you know, that anybody considering Palm Beach really ought to be considering Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter.

SPEAKER_01:

I think so. I'd love to add something to end it on a positive note, going back to the market. We've seen a big increase in Florida's residents over the last five years. Obviously, COVID did a number on us. We're anticipated to get or forecasted to get about 300,000 more new residents this year. Northern Palm Beach County, Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, Juneau Beach, North Palm Beach. We've got... 106 units at the Ritz-Carlton, 15 units at Forte Lux, 98 units coming in at Coretta. There's a new building that's about three years out on Jupiter Island with 26 units. Other than that, the only new development is about 15 miles west of the coast. Most of our buyers have no interest in that. So we're talking about 250 units coming in the next four years, and we've got all this increased demand. South Florida ain't going anywhere. Our market's going to stay strong because demand's going up, but our supply's not.

SPEAKER_05:

You heard it here first. All right. Thank you for a great show. This is Burrows and Burbs, episode 173. And I want to thank again Grace Farms at gracefarms.org. Thank you, Roberto, my co-host and buddy in New York. If you need expertise in New York real estate, robertocabrera.com. I'm your host, John Engel at the Engel team. Thank you very much, Chris Cox. expert in Palm Beach. Thank you very much, Seth Mansfield, my expert in Jupiter.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_05:

Bye, everybody. Have a great day.

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John Engel

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Roberto Cabrera

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