⚽ Pitches, Pit Stops & Penthouses

Happy Saturday Highest & Best! Here’s the rundown from the South Florida real estate week:

💸 Report: New York’s losing millionaires to Florida

⚽ Miami is definitely America’s soccer capital

🏎 Miami Grand Prix’s $505 million impact

🎥 Steve Ross buys a West Palm Beach TV studio

🗂 Would you like an office with that?

Let’s get to it!

New York’s Losing Millionaires to Florida

New Yorkers who moved to Southeast Florida through 2022 didn’t just pack their bags—they packed their paychecks, too. More than $10 billion in income followed them south, much of it landing in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Counties.

That’s per a new report from New York’s Citizens Budget Commission, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog aiming for “constructive change” to NYC’s finances and policies.

Their diagnosis? “Many differently situated New Yorkers do not find New York City’s value proposition compelling,” the report said, said, citing high taxes, housing costs and quality-of-life concerns.

Between 2017 and 2022:

💸Nearly 20,000 New Yorkers with a per capita income of about $190,000 moved to Palm Beach County.

💸 Over 26,000, with a per capita income of about $266,000, headed to Miami-Dade.

🫣 New York didn’t just lose residents— it lost millionaires. In 2010, the state claimed 12.7% of the nation’s millionaires. By 2022, that share had dropped to 8.7%.

By contrast, Florida saw its share climb by 2.8% , the biggest jump in the U.S. through 2022.

“Other states are doing better attracting, retaining, and growing millionaires than New York,” the report reads.

⏪ Catch up on recent Highest & Best issues:

• Leasing & Leo, April 13, 2025

• Markdown Madness, April 6, 2025

• Boca’s Big Bet, March 29, 2025

• The Big Bounce, March 18, 2025

No Doubt: Miami is Now America’s Soccer Capital

If you asked the universe for signs that Miami is now America’s soccer capital, this week delivered two.

⚽ First, FC Barcelona announced it’s relocating its U.S. commercial operations from New York to Miami, citing the Florida city as “the epicenter of soccer business in the United States,” according to a statement from the Spanish soccer club.

The move, supported by an incentive grant from the Miami Downtown Development Authority, brings one of soccer’s most iconic clubs into the backyard of its former superstar, Lionel Messi, who signed with Inter Miami in 2023.

Barcelona is still scouting locations but reportedly wants at least 5,000 square feet of retail space plus offices, per Bloomberg News. (It follows a move last year by FIFA, international soccer’s governing body, to expand its Miami footprint, adding another floor of offices in Coral Gables ahead of the 2026 World Cup—and committing to keep staff there long-term).

⚽ Then came even bigger news this week: Inter Miami CF, the city’s professional soccer team, led by Jorge Mas and David Beckham, closed on a $450 million construction loan for its already-under-construction stadium at Miami Freedom Park.

It marks the largest loan in South Florida so far this year (besting a giant condo loan announced earlier in the week) .

The financing, from JPMorgan Chase (of course— it’s got the naming rights to the team’s current home) will help complete the new 25,000-seat stadium and the surrounding 58-acre mixed-use project, which includes hotels, office space, and 600,000 square feet of retail at 1400 Northwest 37th Avenue.

The stadium is expected to open next year, just in time for Miami to host matches for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Miami’s Grand Prix Weekend Poised for $505 Million Impact

Formula 1 returns to Miami this weekend, and this year’s Grand Prix may be on track to deliver its biggest impact yet.

A study from the Boyd Company, a corporate site selection firm, projects a $505 million direct economic impact on the Greater Miami region—the highest since the event began in 2022. That includes spending on hotel rooms, restaurants, retail, ride shares, and short-term luxury rentals for an extended weekend of revelry, according to John Boyd Jr., the firm’s principal.

Attendance is expected to reach a record 284,000, generating $146 million in tax revenue for South Florida, Boyd said, citing his firm’s BizCosts data, which measures economic impacts of major events.

And there’s also indirect impacts: the social media influencer who publicly checks in to Carbone’s, or the wealthy international business person who buys a condo in the area, Boyd said.

“The F1 fan tends to spend three dollars for every one dollar of the typical tourist,” Boyd said, adding that the outlays could extend well past Miami, into Fort Lauderdale, and as far as Orlando in central Florida, connected to Miami via Brightline train.

“The development community in Orlando now looks to F1 as a promotional opportunity,” Boyd said.

The timing is helpful. Tourism remains a major driver of Miami’s economy, and some indicators suggest a slowdown. Airlines have recently scaled back seat capacity from Canadian cities to Florida, including a 15% cut to Miami International Airport, and a 20% whittling to Fort Lauderdale, according to aviation data firm OAG, reported by Axios.

Lights, Camera, Acquisition: Ross Buys West Palm TV Studio

If you’ve got an address in the 33401 zip code, developer Stephen Ross probably has his eye on it.

And if it’s not under contract yet, just give it a minute.

This week, the Related Ross chairman and partners picked up yet another piece of downtown West Palm Beach—this time, a television studio and office building with two-way waterfront views.

Ross, along with Wexford Real Estate Investors and Key International, paid $40 million for 1100 Banyan Blvd., a 70,000 square foot building previously owned by the media company E.W. Scripps, according to a press statement by JLL, the brokerage that arranged the sale.

The two-story building, on 4.73 acres along Clear Lake, is currently home to Scripps’ local TV station WPTV. Under terms of the sale, Scripps will lease back the property for at least two-and-a-half years for annual rent payments of $2.5 million, per filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Related Ross, West Palm’s largest commercial property owner with holdings that include the retail center CityPlace, has been remaking the city with a series of office and condo developments and a plan to lure Vanderbilt University to town. Within the past year: Ross began work on two office towers, personally committed $50 million towards Vanderbilt’s new campus, purchased sites for elementary schools and likely more pricey condos, including a waterfront synagogue, and now, this television station.

“This investment underscores our confidence in the region’s significant growth potential,” Ross said in a statement issued by JLL about the WPTV site.

“We are focused on delivering projects that will further position West Palm Beach as a leading hub of commerce and ideas,” he said.

Would You Like an Office With That? Buyers Said Yes.

Turns out, giving every condo buyer their own office was a pretty solid bet.

One Twenty Brickell Residences—a two-tower project in the heart of Miami’s financial district, where each condo comes with a personal, deeded work suite outside the apartment– has sold 91% of its 266 units since launching sales last year, developer PMG said.

💰 💰 And PMG just landed a $413 million loan to get the whole thing built. (It was briefly the largest loan in Florida this year—until Inter Miami’s $450 million stadium deal raced past it the next day. 🤷‍♀️)

Nonetheless, groundbreaking for One Twenty Brickell, at 120 SW 8th Street, is set for this month, with completion expected by early 2028.

The financing, provided by a fund of Ares Real Estate and Monarch Alternative Capital, will pretty much cover the entire mixed-use development: the 37-story condo tower, a 41-story multifamily tower with 537 rentals, retail space, and parking.

💡 The “office-included” concept started as a hunch: that well-heeled condo shoppers in Brickell (where office rents are the highest in the region) might like working from home, just not in their home. So every unit comes with a furnished, glass-walled office suite downstairs, complete with concierge-style secretary service.

 🤔 Apparently, buyers are game. PMG’s response: Let’s do it again!

Last month, PMG and LNDMRK Development launched sales for Twenty Sixth & 2nd Wynwood Residences, an eight-story, 233-unit luxury condo building that ups the workspace ante: buyers get a deeded office suite that they can also rent out to others on Airbnb (along with their apartment, though, for as much as 365 days per year).

The new development, which counts Airbnb as an official partner, will offer studio and one-bedroom residences, starting at $500,000.

That’s it for today!

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