👋 The Big Bounce

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Happy Tuesday Highest & Best! Here’s today’s rundown of Florida real estate news:

👋 Locals are ditching South Florida, Census says

🥊 Promoter Don King faces foreclosure fight

💵 A $76 million Coral Gables office sale

💰Billionaire wants to buy a West Palm Beach street

🎰 Giant apartment landlord bets bigger on Miami

Also: Advertise with us! For inquiries, connect with me at [email protected].

Let’s get to it!

Farewell to South Florida — and Hello?!

New Census figures are in for South Florida, and the population story is one giant revolving door:

😮 In Miami-Dade County, 67,418 locals packed up and left in the year through July 1, 2024. But while their moving trucks hit the highway, 123,835 international newcomers moved in.

📈 So despite the exodus, the Miami area still saw a net gain of 64,211 people—and was the second-largest growing county in the U.S. last year, Census figures show. (Harris County, TX, home to Houston, was number 1).

🏃‍♀️ Broward County also traded old neighbors for new ones. Domestic migration out of the area accelerated by 77% last year— to the biggest exit in over a decade: 26,339 people left.

🚚 At the same time, international migration to the county was more than double that: 56,567 people came. And Broward saw the 8th largest countywide migration in the U.S., with 34,686 more residents in July 2024 than in July 2023.

😯 Palm Beach County lost 7,546 residents — also the most since at least 2010. It gained more than 32,000 people, however, from international locations.

Combined, these trends highlight Florida’s growing affordability challenge. The rising cost of housing is pushing many longtime residents to seek alternatives further out.

🤔 Consider this: the two U.S. metro areas with the highest growth percentage last year were both in Florida—but much farther north: Ocala and Panama City.

For a visual breakdown of domestic vs. international migration trends by U.S. county, check out this interactive dropdown tool by the Miami Association of Realtors here.

⏪ Catch up on recent Highest & Best issues:

• Fresh-Squeezed Condos, March 8, 2025

• Closing Time, February 15, 2025

• Beach Bummer, February 9, 2025

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Don King Hit with Foreclosure Fight

Boxing promoter Don King may have a foreclosure fight on his hands.

Miami lender Blueprint Capital is suing him and an affiliated company, alleging they defaulted on a $5.3 million mortgage tied to a Deerfield Beach warehouse where Don King Productions is based.

In a foreclosure lawsuit filed last week in Broward County, the lender claims that King and a related company, Fairway Enterprises, stopped making interest-only payments on the loan last August, according to court records and real estate intel site Vizzda. The mortgage is secured by King’s 46,467-square foot warehouse at 501 Fairway Drive in Deerfield Beach.

Don King Productions bought the industrial property for $2.1 million in 1995, then sold it to Fairway (a legal entity that shares his address) in 2000 for $3 million, according to property records.

In 2023, Fairway took out a $5.1 million mortgage on the warehouse and later increased the principal by another $200,000. The lawsuit states that King personally guaranteed the loan.

Now, Blueprint is seeking to recover the $5.35 million principal—plus interest, late charges, court fees and a default penalty. If the debt isn’t paid, the lender would like to foreclose.

If King’s planning a counter punch, it’s not clear yet. He did not respond to a call or email placed to his office last week.

A Near Foreclosure Pick-Me-Up — for $76 Million

A property firm that prides itself on “opportunistic office investments” just made a prime pickup in one of Miami’s elite office districts.

Yesterday, Bryn Mawr-based Tourmaline Capital bought itself a 262,000-square-foot office building in Coral Gables—one that was facing foreclosure after its previous owner fell behind on mortgage payments, according to property intel site Vizzda.

The purchase price for the tower, Columbus Center at 1 Alhambra Plaza, was $76 million — more than the $69 million loan balance (not including interest and fees) that the previous owner was on the hook for.

Tourmaline has taken a keen interest in Miami office buildings in recent years. It owns a stake in Citigroup Center, a 34-story downtown tower, and 801 Brickell, a 28-story high-rise it bought with a partner in 2023 for $250 million—the largest Miami office deal that year.

Meanwhile, office leasing is slowing across Miami, even as new space continues to hit the market. Vacancies in Coral Gables topped 14% in Q4 2024, with Class A rents averaging $54.47 per square foot, according to brokerage Cushman & Wakefield.

And competition is growing. Another 85,000 square feet of office space is under construction in the neighborhood.

Billionaire Seeks ‘SoSo’ Annexation. Neighbors Say ‘NoNo’

What’s yours is mine? Hedge fund billionaire Paul Tudor Jones wants to buy a public street in West Palm Beach and fold it into the sprawling compound he’s building along the waterfront.

Jones is offering the city $220,000 to privatize a 65-foot stretch of the dead-end Essex Court, in the exclusive ‘South of Southern’ Boulevard neighborhood, known —somewhat ironically —as “SoSo.” 

The billionaire secured an initial nod to annex the street from city planners, the Palm Beach Post reported. And the City Commission had scheduled a final vote yesterday — but pushed it off, at Jones’ request, until May 12.

Neighbors aren’t on board with the plan. They worry that losing part of the road will reduce parking and make it harder for service trucks and emergency vehicles to get through. “This guy has more money than we do, and as a billionaire he’s probably used to getting everything he wants,” one resident told the paper. “It’s just like they’re moving in and taking over.”

They’re also not thrilled about the vote getting kicked down the road. With the decision nearly two months away, neighbors suspect the timing is no accident. By then, many seasonal residents who oppose the plan will have left town for the summer, leaving fewer voices to push back.

“We will not have an opportunity then to state our position,” said one Essex Court resident of 33 years at yesterday’s meeting. His property sits just south of Jones’.

Jones first planted his flag in SoSo in 2021, buying two waterfront parcels (with 2.3 acres combined) between Plymouth Road and Bunker Ranch Road for $9.87 million. Last year, he tacked on another contiguous property at 215 Essex Lane for $6.4 million.

Florida Rentals Sit Empty. And This Landlord Wants In

AvalonBay Communities, the nation’s largest publicly traded landlord, is expanding in Florida—even as it admits the state is one of its weakest markets.

The apartment rental giant just snapped up a six-acre development site in the Miami area for $11.4 million—more than twice its 2022 price, according to Vizzda.

The landlocked site comes with approval for 224 apartments, adding a boost to AvalonBay’s relatively small Florida rental portfolio. Based on the company’s latest 10-K filing, the new project would expand its holdings in the state by over 7%.

As of January 31, only 3.6% of AvalonBay’s 86,000 apartments were in Southeast Florida, one of the few regions (along with Denver) where the company has publicly stated plans to grow.

But it appears to be playing the long game. Because in the short term, both markets are among its weakest performers. For 2025, AvalonBay projects rental revenue growth of less than 2% in Florida and Denver—well below the gains expected in its strongholds like New York and California.

The challenge? A glut of unleased apartments from 2024 and even more units hitting the market in 2025, company officials explained in last month’s earnings call.

Late to the last party, but maybe early to the next one?

That’s it for today!

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