Downtown West Palm Beach office towers, real estate development
New office towers in downtown West Palm Beach, or already completed towers, like 360 Rosemary, have attracted about 100 businesses since 2019 to Palm Beach County.
Greg Lovett, Palm Beach Post
Former reality TV star Fredrik Eklund from “Million Dollar Ad” The series has West Palm Beach thriving on its “vision board” for projects it would like to represent and already has an office of its powerhouse Eklund Gomes team in Jupiter.
Eklund, whose life was chronicled by the Emmy nominee Bravo TV franchise for 11 years first in New York and then Los Angeles, moved to Miami in the summer of 2023 after new construction in the Golden State metro areas began to stagnate, he said.
Known for his high kick and exuberant cry of “weeeeee,” the 6-foot-5 Swede put his Beverly Hills home on the market in December.
“What I particularly do is new developments and new buildings, and there are a lot of them here in South Florida,” said Eklund, who co-founded Douglas Elliman’s Eklund Gomes Team with John Gomes , which opened an office in Miami about five years ago. . “In Los Angeles, there just wasn’t a lot of new construction.”
The Eklund Gomes Jupiter office at the Jupiter Yacht Club was opened shortly before the pandemic. A planned dramatic entry into the Palm Beach County real estate market was overshadowed by Covid-19, but the marketing was renewed last year with Eklund throwing out the first pitch during a Yankees spring training game of New York and the St. Louis Cardinals to Roger Dean. Stadium.
Since then, two other reality TV real estate agents have asserted claims in Palm Beach County.
Ryan Serhant, who co-starred with Eklund in the New York series, opened an office of his company Serhant. in Delray Beach last year. Mauricio Umansky, known for his marriage to Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kyle Richards, has opened a his firm, The Agency, in Palm Beach. Umansky also has his own reality TV show on Netflix called “Buying Beverly Hills.”
“Because there’s so much going on in West Palm Beach and Palm Beach in the condo industry, it’s on my vision board,” Eklund said. “These buyers actually come from the markets in which we operate.”
Is it real?: Reality TV star Ryan Serhant’s company offers West Palm home for rent for $62,500 a month
Demographic estimates released this month by the Census Bureau explains why South Florida could attract high-profile celebrity real estate agents following a pandemic-triggered exodus which saw people leave urban areas and higher tax areas with a new freedom to work anywhere.
The tri-county area of Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade saw 10th This is the highest population gain of any metropolitan area in the country between April 2020 and July 2023, or about 44,000 additional people.
This overall gain included a loss of about 8,800 residents in Miami-Dade County, while Palm Beach County increased by 39,520. Statewide, Florida’s population increased by more than one million people between 2020 and 2023.
During the same period, California lost about 538,000 residents, with some counties gaining, like Riverside County, with an increase of 69,500 residents, and others losing a lot. These included Los Angeles County, which had a population of 329,468. Orange County lost nearly 50,000 people and San Francisco saw 61,530 people leave.
New York also saw an overall exodus of about 533,500 people statewide. The counties with the largest losses were Kings, Queens and New York.
“I think Miami will always be a hot market, because when people from out of the country think of South Florida, they think of Miami, but Palm Beach County has growth opportunities, and that’s really what sets us apart,” Tracy Ward said. , associate broker at the Jupiter office of Eklund Gomes.
Eklund Gomes co-founder John Gomes said new transplants to Palm Beach County have a different lifestyle than the “old guard.” They may want more space for families and turnkey residences with modern aesthetics and amenities.
Gomes said he was working with a family living in New York’s Tribeca neighborhood who wanted to move to Delray Beach.
“They want to be in a very specific area and get a feel for the schools and they love South Florida,” Gomes said.
Ward said she watched Million Dollar Listing before joining Eklund Gomes’ team and subscribed to his newsletter. After corresponding for a little while, she told Eklund there was a lack of opportunities in Palm Beach County.
More: More “Wall Street South:” Related Cos. plans largest office complex in West Palm Beach
“Right away, we connected,” Ward said, adding that Eklund has a proven track record in real estate independent of his time on reality TV. “He’s a very strong negotiator, like everyone else on this team. It’s not just, “Hey, look at me, I’m fabulous.” It’s a difficult job, very fierce. »
Eklund announced in 2022 that he was leaving Million Dollar Listing after 11 years on the program in New York and Los Angeles.
Last year, Eklund Gomes’ team completed $3.77 billion in total transactions from agents in New York, California, Texas and Florida.
Eklund said he wants to work on iconic projects that make a statement in the community.
In Miami, he is part of a team leading sales for the nautical-themed Shore Club, a 49-unit Auberge-branded waterfront tower. The real deal reported earlier this month a Shore Club penthouse is under contract for $120 million. Eklund Gomes also manages sales for the Ritz-Carlton Residences in South Beach.
Kimberly Miller is a veteran reporter for the Palm Beach Post, part of Florida’s USA Today network. She covers real estate and how growth affects South Florida’s environment. To subscribe to Dirtiness for a weekly real estate overview. If you have any news tips, send them to kmiller@pbpost.com. Help support our local journalism, subscribe today.
