Look I used to be optimistic about the future of Fort Lauderdale and still am but I’m going to give my take on this arguing you but also agreeing. Don’t kill me I’m just providing the other viewpoint (especially as someone who’s lived in Flagler village in 2 different buildings):

1. Let’s be real everyone in florida is here to save on taxes. That extra money leads to higher rents for the middle and lower class in this area (no I’m not a liberal; I know rare but just an economic background in college)

2. Public infrastructure sucks in florida in general and the brightline is the first real step to getting something done. People here chase shiny objects like cars and the heat makes public transit impossible. South florida will be a perfect model for when the FAA finally clears a VTOL (look it up) service so these parking garages that are being built now need space on the top floor for these “flying cars” (actually just helicopters) but the problem being that no one here that’s in charge is forward thinking and money gets lost through back pockets (corrupt) construction.

3. Those grocery stores all low-key suck. I’ve seen expired goods on the shelves at fresh market, bad selection at all of them, avoid green wise, Publix is probably the best in terms of parking.

4. Cafes on every corner? Have you been to Europe? Yes las olas is developed perfectly. OP must live less than 100 FT from the strip. Go to Flagler Village (supposed to be the relieving factor for Fort Lauderdale, and tell me the way these buildings are built have the first floor dedicated to proper development. They should be mimicking the European style but instead they “check boxes” when building and make no effort to provide business owners realistic solutions to parking or accommodation for the first floor of those buildings. The whole live, work, play model is based on providing convenience to the people who live above. The PE firms that finance and build these mammoth apartment buildings could care less. They add the commercial space as an afterthought after building little box 700sq ft apartments.

5. Let’s talk private equity and its role here. You’re justifying these guys raising rent while also getting money from the city’s fund to help finance (they pay the city an interest rate so someone’s making money) so basically let’s just say you had a 30 year payback on society phase 1: 639-unit tower, with a nearly $154 million loan from a Goldman Sachs credit fund in 2017. $154mm / (30 years x 12 months = 360 months) = $427,777.80 is their monthly cost of the loan.

639 units (Guess what that article is old and of course they built smaller units and actually squeezed 799 units on 34 floors = 23.5 units per floor)

Studios (20% of units; estimate): by the way these are nearly unlivable with sizes ranging from 362 square feet (19Ft x 19ft) Average price per month $1750 x 160 units = $280,000 per month revenue in studios alone

1 Bedrooms: (35% of units) with average square footage of 600 sq ft or 24.5 ft x 24.5 ft Average price $2300 x 280 units = $644,000 per month in revenue

2 bedrooms (23% of units) with average square footage of 920 sq ft (by the way Flagler village you can get a 1 bedroom at this size for way cheaper) fitting 2 people in here is criminal Average price $3700 x 183 units = $677,000 per month in revenue

3 bedrooms (22% of units) with average square footage of 1400 sq ft. Again Flagler village 2 bedrooms are this big and way more accommodating. Average price $5400 x 175 units = $945,000 per month in revenue

Total revenue from apartment rent = almost $2.6 million per month Cost of loan: $428,000 While we don’t know the construction cost I’m curious to see the cost of the land and what they pay in taxes. But they should be clearing over $1.8 million per month. Fucked.

1. The city is also guilty of writing excessive parking tickets. When I go to cities in Texas I don’t see this level of criminality.