New York developers pour millions into Fort Lauderdale as they bet on the city’s growing real estate market

Fort Lauderdale, Florida – Fort Lauderdale is attracting a growing wave of New York real estate developers who see the city as a potential new destination for luxury housing in South Florida.

The shift comes as Miami’s real estate market has become increasingly expensive, while Fort Lauderdale continues to offer developers and buyers another option in the region. According to a report by Bloomberg, New York companies now account for nearly half of the development footprint in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

Those firms are connected to about 4.6 million square feet of planned or active development in the city, the report said. That represents a major change from just a few years ago. Between 2021 and 2024, New York developers were responsible for about 13% of completed projects in Fort Lauderdale.

Now, the number of projects being planned by New York-based companies has grown substantially. Developers are moving ahead with luxury condominiums, rental towers and large mixed-use developments, while some are also bringing financing connections from Wall Street into the local market.

Among the developers making a move is Dependable Equities, led by co-founders Isaac Schlesinger and Simon Dushinsky. The two developers are from Brooklyn and previously worked on luxury condominium projects in several Brooklyn neighborhoods.

Their company is now pursuing three developments in Fort Lauderdale.

One of the projects, called Ombelle, is planned as a two-tower development with 754 residential units. Construction is expected to be completed around 2028. Schlesinger told Bloomberg that one of the towers has already reached 45% in presales.

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Ombelle is also expected to include Fort Lauderdale’s first Equinox gym, adding a well-known fitness brand to the development.

The growing interest from New York developers is partly based on the belief that Fort Lauderdale can attract people who still want access to South Florida’s lifestyle but are looking for something different from Miami.

Housing prices are one part of that equation. Bloomberg cited Redfin data showing that the median sale price of a home in Fort Lauderdale is about $70,000 lower than in Miami. The difference has narrowed over the past year, however. About a year earlier, the gap was approximately $120,000.

Developers are also looking at changes in the people moving to and living in South Florida. The combination of population growth, younger residents and rising prices in Miami has helped create interest in nearby cities.

For some developers, Fort Lauderdale offers a chance to build in a market that has many of the attractions associated with Miami while maintaining a somewhat different pace.

Miki Naftali, whose New York-based company is developing more than 250 condominiums and a rental building in Fort Lauderdale’s Flagler Village, described the appeal to Bloomberg.

“For some people, Miami became too hectic, too busy, too noisy,” Miki Naftali, whose New York-based firm is developing more than 250 condos and a rental building in Fort Lauderdale’s Flagler Village, told Bloomberg.

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“So Fort Lauderdale is a fantastic city for those that just want one notch down.”

The development activity is changing the scale of investment coming into Fort Lauderdale. Projects that once might have been associated mainly with established local or regional developers are increasingly attracting companies with experience in larger New York markets.

For Fort Lauderdale, the influx means more residential construction and new mixed-use projects in areas already undergoing significant growth. The planned developments are also bringing new luxury housing options to the city as developers compete for buyers and renters.

At the same time, the narrowing price difference between Fort Lauderdale and Miami shows how quickly the two markets can change. While Fort Lauderdale remains less expensive by the median sale-price measure cited in the report, the gap is smaller than it was a year ago.

New York developers are nevertheless continuing to place their bets on the city. With multiple large projects moving forward, Fort Lauderdale is increasingly becoming part of the broader South Florida development story and a destination for firms looking beyond Miami’s increasingly costly real estate market.