Developers poured money and concrete into South Florida’s three county “capitals” this decade, furiously building up the downtown skylines with thousands of new residential high-rise condos and apartments.
Now that the real estate boom is over, officials in those major urban centers are asking: Did we overbuild?
Prices in the three downtowns — West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami — plummeted to bargain-basement levels. But recent surveys suggest only Miami severely overbuilt its urban center during the real estate boom. Nearly 40 percent of the condos there are empty and up for sale.
Some developers were left holding unsold condos in West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale, but officials in both downtowns said they’re well-positioned to recover from the bust.