SOUTH FLORIDA NEWS - May, 2026

$105M for Vacant Land: Inside Manalapan's Record Sale

WeatherTech founder David MacNeil assembled a 3.6-acre ocean-to-Intracoastal parcel, demolished both homes, and sold the empty lot for $105 million. It set a record. But the math raises some questions.

Key Takeaways

• David MacNeil paid $94 million total to assemble the parcel and sold it for $105 million, a net gain of $11 million (11.7% return).
• The sale set the all-time record for a land transaction in Manalapan at $29.2 million per acre.
• The buyer, HSH-Sunshine Revocable Trust, remains anonymous and will likely build an estate valued at $150 to $300 million.

David MacNeil, the billionaire founder of WeatherTech with an estimated net worth of $4 billion, just closed the most expensive land sale ever recorded in Manalapan. According…

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Max Scherzer's $23M Jupiter Flip: Profit or Loss?

The three-time Cy Young winner custom-built a waterfront mansion in Admirals Cove, listed it for $36 million, and sold it for $23 million without ever moving in. The headlines say he made $8 million. The math says otherwise.

Key Takeaways

• Max Scherzer bought a teardown lot in Jupiter's Admirals Cove for $14.9 million in 2023 and sold the completed mansion for $23 million in April 2026.
• Construction costs on a custom home of this scale typically run $8 to $12 million, likely erasing any profit on the deal.
• Scherzer never moved in and pivoted to Atlantic Fields, a Discovery Land Company development in Hobe Sound.

Max Scherzer, the three-time Cy Young Award winner now pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays, just closed a $23 million sale on…

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West Palm's North Downtown Gets Another 310-Unit Proposal

Estate Cos. is back with a 15-story follow-up to its already-under-construction Soleste Palm Station. The proposal adds 310 more units to the Brightline corridor, and the review is days away.

Key Takeaways

• Soleste Palm Station Two would add 310 apartments at 411 West Railroad Avenue, near the Brightline West Palm Beach station.
• Phase 1 (321 units in two 8-story towers) is already under construction and targeting Summer 2026 delivery.
• The proposal goes before the Plans & Plats Review Committee on May 14, 2026.

Miami-based Estate Cos. is proposing a 15-story, 310-unit apartment building at 411 West Railroad Avenue in West Palm Beach, the second phase of its Soleste Palm Station development near the Brightline WPB station. According to…

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Hollywood's Bid to Join South Florida's Top Tier Explained

Public-private partnerships, a planned commuter rail, and billions in private investment. Hollywood is positioning itself as a serious alternative to Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach. Here's what's actually happening.

Key Takeaways

• Hollywood claims more than $2 billion in new private investment, though independent reporting in October 2025 cited "more than $1 billion."
• University Station, a $100 million affordable housing project with a pre-built commuter rail garage, is expected to be completed in Spring 2025.
• The Broward Commuter Rail (BCR) is in federal planning but not yet funded or under construction.

South Florida's development story has long centered on Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and Boca Raton.…

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Larry Mastropieri Ranked Top Selling Realtor® for Waterfront Homes in Boca Raton

Boca Raton's waterfront market operates differently from the rest of South Florida. The city sits between three navigable Atlantic inlets, with its own Boca Inlet anchoring the eastern edge. That position creates rare variety inside a small footprint. A single drive can separate oceanfront condo towers, Intracoastal estates, deep-water canal homes, and gated community lakefront properties. Larry Mastropieri has closed verified transactions across every one of those waterfront tiers. The Mastropieri Group's Boca Raton waterfront record now stands at 139 personal closings worth more than $84 million in sale volume. ListWithClever, an independent MLS performance tracker covering 646 active Boca Raton agents, ranks Larry #1 in the city by total local sales.

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Fort Lauderdale Approves Opus at 701: 54 Waterfront Condos

A 1955 hotel is coming down. A 13-story luxury condo is going up. The city commission voted unanimously, and the neighborhood is largely on board. Here's the full picture.

Key Takeaways

• The Fort Lauderdale City Commission unanimously approved Opus at 701, a 54-unit luxury condo on the Intracoastal Waterway.
• The project replaces the Manhattan Tower, a structurally unsound 1955 Mid-Century Modern hotel.
• Construction is set to begin in Q1 2027, with units ranging from 1,303 to 3,384 square feet.

The Fort Lauderdale City Commission has unanimously approved the site plan for Opus at 701, a 13-story, 54-unit luxury condo along the Intracoastal Waterway in Fort Lauderdale's North Beach area. The project will replace the Manhattan Tower, a…

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Better Cell Signal? KKR Puts $1.5B on Delray's Vertical Bridge

One of the world's largest private equity firms just invested $1.5 billion in a wireless infrastructure company headquartered in downtown Delray Beach. The bet: connectivity is becoming a core piece of modern real estate.

Key Takeaways

• KKR announced a $1.5 billion preferred equity investment in Vertical Bridge, valuing the company at $10 to $15 billion.
• Vertical Bridge owns and operates more than 17,000 cell towers across all 50 states from its headquarters at Sundy Village in Delray Beach.
• The company raised over $3.4 billion in the first four months of 2026 alone.

If you've ever dropped a call in Boca Raton or struggled with signal in parts of Delray Beach, you're not imagining things. Connectivity is a real issue in South Florida,…

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Skye Apartments Tops Out at Parks at Delray: 327 Units

Phase one already proved the concept. Now the second residential building along Delray Beach's Congress Avenue corridor has reached its construction milestone, with delivery set for 2027.

Key Takeaways

• Skye Apartments is the second phase of the 43-acre Parks at Delray mixed-use development near I-95.
• The project includes 327 rental units, 10% of which are designated as workforce housing.
• Phase one (Savio, 420 units) was completed in May 2025 and quickly secured a $139 million refinancing loan.

Construction has topped out on Skye Apartments, the second residential phase of the Parks at Delray master-planned development at 2350 South Congress Avenue in Delray Beach. According to Florida YIMBY, the milestone was recently commemorated…

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Inside a Billionaire's $40M Fort Lauderdale Foreclosure Flip

WeatherTech founder David MacNeil paid $377,800 to reclaim a mansion he originally sold for $40 million. He just closed the resale at $26 million. It sounds like a windfall, but the real lesson is about the risk of seller financing.

Key Takeaways

• MacNeil seller-financed $30 million of the original $40 million sale, creating the risk that led to foreclosure.
• He paid $377,800 in August 2024 to reclaim the property after the buyer stopped making payments.
• The mansion closed at $26 million on April 30, 2026, after listing at $36 million in November 2024.

The WeatherTech founder, David MacNeil, just sold a Fort Lauderdale oceanfront mansion for the second time. The first sale, in October 2023, set a Broward County record at $40 million.…

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Why NYC Developers Are Betting Billions on South Florida

Harry Macklowe, Steve Ross, Michael Stern, Miki Naftali. The names behind some of Manhattan's most iconic towers are now building across Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach County. The conditions here are attracting serious capital, but success still depends on local execution.

Key Takeaways

• At least six major NYC developers now have active projects across South Florida's tri-county region.
• Steve Ross's Related Ross has a 3.8 million-square-foot pipeline focused on West Palm Beach.
• Two high-profile projects from Manhattan developers are already facing foreclosure.

The joke that Miami is New York's sixth borough has been around for years. But the capital flowing between the two cities is no joke. Some of the biggest names in Manhattan…

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