SOUTH FLORIDA NEWS - July, 2026

Fort Lauderdale Approves $217M City Hall. Is It Too Much?

Commissioners trimmed $50 million from the plan and still approved a $217.1 million City Hall plan on a 3-2 vote. Two of them thought it was still too much.

Key Takeaways

• Fort Lauderdale gave preliminary 3-2 approval to a new $217.1 million city hall, down from the original $268 million plan.
• The developer scrapped a $12 million fee and a 10% equity stake, cutting annual payments to $15.8 million a year for 30 years.
• The vote is preliminary and does not bind the city, which can still explore buying an existing downtown building instead.

"Great cities have great city halls". That was the pitch. The question every Fort Lauderdale taxpayer is now asking is what a great city hall should cost. According to The Real Deal, commissioners…

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Anatomy of a Foreclosure: The Hillsboro Beach Resort Story

An 81-unit oceanfront hotel went from a $26 million loan to a $40 million foreclosure judgment in just over two years. Here is how it happened, and what every real estate investor needs to understand about the foreclosure process.

• The Hillsboro Beach Resort was scheduled for foreclosure auction on July 16, 2026, after its ownership defaulted on a $26 million loan.
• The final judgment grew to $40 million after accrued interest, fees, and lender advances for unpaid taxes and insurance.
• BH3 Management stated the matter was "amicably resolved" with a confidential settlement before the auction.

The Hillsboro Beach Resort is a perfect example of how quickly a luxury real estate asset can turn into a debt problem. A new oceanfront hotel on prime…

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Larry Mastropieri Recognized as Top Realtor for Luxury Homes in South Florida by Clever Real Estate

Fewer than 1% of licensed South Florida agents clear Clever Real Estate's Top Local Pro threshold inside any given verification cycle. Larry Mastropieri sits inside that narrow band as one of the region's top luxury Realtors. Clever attached the Luxury Homes highlight tag to his profile alongside eight additional badges. Meanwhile his verified book covers 242 recent closings across a $55K-to-$9.2M price range, while his broader South Florida career book has crossed 2,000+ closings and $1 billion in cumulative sales volume across 20+ years.

A 5-star rating on 350 Zillow reviews sits underneath the volume figure, gathered across 22+ years of continuous practice. This article decodes what the Top Local Pro badge represents. It also unpacks the criteria…

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West Palm Point: The Office Tower That Survived Foreclosure

Charles Cohen's 25-story, 400,000-square-foot tower just landed a $180 million construction permit after years of lawsuits and a foreclosure fight. 

Key Takeaways

• A $180 million construction permit was issued for West Palm Point in July 2026, the week's second-largest in South Florida behind Miami Freedom Park.
• The project survived a $10 million foreclosure suit that was dismissed in January 2026, with the loan later reassigned to a new lender.
• Roughly a quarter of the building is already spoken for through leases, reservations, and letters of intent, before ground has even broken.

If you have driven into downtown West Palm Beach from the west, you probably know this site. It is the big parking lot at Okeechobee and Quadrille: a full…

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The Sutton Brings 432 Apartments to Palm Beach Gardens

Kolter Group and Boston private equity firm Rockpoint are building a Class A rental community on a site that has been vacant for nearly 20 years. Institutional capital is betting that northern Palm Beach County needs more apartments.

• The Sutton is a 432-unit, five-story apartment community planned for Palm Beach Gardens.
• Kolter Group and Rockpoint formed a joint venture with a $107.8 million construction loan from PNC Bank.
• The project includes 54 workforce housing units and is expected to deliver in 2028.

Delray Beach-based Kolter Group is back in our coverage for the second time this month. This time, they have partnered with Rockpoint, a Boston private equity firm, to build The Sutton in Palm Beach Gardens. According to Rockpoint's…

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Larry Mastropieri Ranked Among the Fastest Selling Realtors in Boca Raton by RealEstateAgents.com

The Boca Raton residential market posted a 44-day citywide median through May 2026. That figure comes from Zillow's most recent read on days on market Boca Raton conditions. Larry Mastropieri's personal book across the same window came in at 31 days on his RealEstateAgents.com profile. His 13-day margin under the local baseline earned him the RealEstateAgents.com Sells Homes Fast 2025 recognition. According to RealEstateAgents.com, Larry's platform record shows 165 sales in the last 12 months and 582 all-time transactions. His broader South Florida career runs to 2,000+ closed homes and $1 billion+ in verified sales volume across 20+ years. The badge sits on his individual agent profile alongside Top Boca Raton Agent 2025 and the firm's Top Boca Raton…

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La Fontana Co-op Sells for $200M as West Palm Buyouts Continue

Orlando developer Chuck Whittall is under contract for a 140-unit waterfront building on North Flagler Drive. With no vacant land left, aging co-ops and condos have become the last development sites.

• La Fontana is a 140-unit co-op built in 1961 at 2800 North Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach.
• Chuck Whittall's Unicorp National Developments is under contract for close to the $200 million asking price.
• The deal works out to roughly $1.4 million per unit, and it could close sometime in 2027.

West Palm Beach's waterfront land grab has moved to the buildings already standing on it. According to The Real Deal, Orlando developer Chuck Whittall is under contract to buy La Fontana, a 140-unit co-op at 2800 North Flagler Drive, for close to its $200…

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The Mastropieri Group Named Top Boca Raton Brokerage 2025 by RealEstateAgents.com

The Mastropieri Group secured RealEstateAgents.com's 2025 Top Boca Raton Brokerage recognition, placing the boutique luxury firm at the head of the local brokerage roster. When it comes to national real estate platforms, RealEstateAgents.com matches consumers with vetted brokerages through PRIME Agent tiers plus firm-level annual awards.

Boca Raton hosts more than 3,600 licensed real estate agents distributed across dozens of active brokerage offices citywide. Beyond that, the 2025 Top Brokerage designation reflects a firm-wide performance evaluation rather than a single agent's individual ranking. This article covers what the recognition signals, how RealEstateAgents.com evaluated the field, and what the award means for local buyers and sellers.

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Why Miami Is Fighting the Live Local Act

The state just expanded workforce housing rules again. Now Florida's biggest city is exploring whether to sue. This is not about stopping housing. It is about who controls what gets built.

• The Miami City Commission voted unanimously on June 25, 2026, to direct its city attorney to explore a legal challenge to the Live Local Act.
• Miami has permitted 82 Live Local projects, but only two are under construction.
• This is not a lawsuit yet. The city is studying its options before deciding whether to file.

Here is where things stand. On June 25, 2026, the Miami City Commission voted unanimously to direct City Attorney George Wysong to explore every angle for challenging the Live Local Act. That includes constitutional claims, home rule…

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Inside Kaká's $8.7M Oceanfront Condo at Oceana Bal Harbour

The 2002 World Cup winner and 2007 Ballon d'Or recipient just closed on a 14th-floor unit with Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay views. The timing lands as the 2026 FIFA World Cup winds down to its final week.

• Kaká paid $8.7 million for a 3,350-square-foot, three-bedroom condo at Oceana Bal Harbour.
• The unit was listed for $9.5 million in January 2026, so Kaká negotiated roughly $800,000 under ask.
• The seller paid $6.5 million in 2022, a $2.2 million gain in four years.

Brazilian soccer icon Kaká (Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite) just closed on an oceanfront condo at Oceana Bal Harbour, and he is not the first global soccer star to plant a flag in South Florida. According to The Real Deal, the 2007 Ballon d'Or winner paid $8.7 million…

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