Miami’s State of Mind
by Sissy DeMaria-Koehne
For most of its heyday, Miami has always served as a warm weather satellite of the far larger, and more influential, New York City. Celebrities, culture-creators, the fashion crowd and corporate Titans made Miami their second home — investing in and celebrating the Magic City while always keeping an eye squarely focused on Gotham.
Fueled by Florida’s long-loved tax benefits, and an ongoing pandemic, Miami is emerging as the most compelling city on the East Coast. With office life upended, schools mostly closed and Manhattan’s real estate market mired in uncertainty, Miami has become the warm-weather alternative for folks seeking an investment-friendly, family-friendly, wellness-focused lifestyle amid the current global turmoil.
It’s not that Miami, where I was born and raised my family, has escaped the ravages of our time. Rather the city has embraced its most valuable assets — the weather, geography, those tax benefits, its diversity and broad-based housing stock — to not just survive this era, but positively thrive. And as a result, the city has finally become a worthy rival to New York.
A vast number of New Yorkers are landing in Miami and fueling its current boom. We’ve all seen this before. Back in the late 1980s, global mega-stars from Madonna to Gianni Versace established Miami bases to serve as escapes from New York’s chill. Their presence helped solidify Miami’s status as a bastion of cool — later boosted by the hordes of art and creativity lovers who descended upon the city each December for the annual Art Basel Miami Beach fair. They were joined by hotel developers and celebrity chefs, international second-home seekers and multinational corporations establishing their Latin American HQs.
“With vaccinations finally arriving and folks nationwide settling into some sort of “new normal,” can Miami’s prominence continue to rise? Analysts say yes...”
But whereas these moves were often seasonal, Miami today is an all-year destination where the boundaries between residents and tourists -- snow-birds and part-timers -- have finally eroded. The numbers at play here are truly staggering. According to real estate firm FCP and the geospatial analytics group Orbital Insight, Miami was the fourth-most popular relocation destination in America over the past year (AKA, during Covid). At the same time, New York City has seen at least 300,000 people (and likely far more) depart Gotham during Covid, resulting in a loss of at least $34 billion in income during that time.
Although figures aren’t precise, roughly a quarter of folks searching for new homes in the Miami area are from New York, according to Redfin. This should come as no surprise — after all, everyone from Jared and Ivanka to Tom Brady to Karlie Kloss have recently put down big-ticket roots in Miami. They’re buying both chic condos and water-front homes, setting everywhere from South Beach to Sunny Isles to Surfside, where a recent $33 million condo buy continues to confirm Miami’s allure well beyond Ocean Drive.
Igniting these staggering deals is Miami’s recent embrace by major corporations making the most of both low Florida taxes and our collective new work-from-home reality. While it’s certainly too soon to declare Brickell Avenue as the new Wall Street, corporate America has never been more focused on South Florida. Indeed, according to recent reports, some 30 major financial firms are quietly exploring relocating part — or all — of their workforce to the Miami region. These include Goldman Sachs, which is still solidifying their plans, along with finance firms like Elliott Management, Citadel and Moelis & Co, which are considering both South Florida satellite offices or allowing key employees to work from the region.
Such moves by “big finance” will finally provide Miami with the high-capital economic base it has so long needed. This helps pave the way for subsequent investment in even more quality real estate, leisure facilities and tourism infrastructure to further boost Miami’s appeal to Covid-battered northerners. In fact, at a moment when New York’s cultural scene remains mostly on pause, Miami continues to invest in its creative future. It also helps to have a pro business Mayor who is actively courting the tech industry.
Take the long-awaited Underline -- a 10-mile urban park set beneath Metrorail tracks. In development for a decade, the Underline just completed its first phase smack in the middle of Covid. Dubbed “The Brickell Backyard,” the half-mile long outdoor retreat features art galleries and Miami River views, along with the types of al fresco biking and walking paths so needed right now.
With vaccinations finally arriving and folks nationwide settling into some sort of “new normal,” can Miami’s prominence continue to rise? Analysts say yes — at least for the coming years and at least until New York show serious signs of cultural and economic improvement.
In Florida, however, real estate insiders point to a far rosier outlook. Among the most crucial components is the new boom in “reverse snow-birds,” now heading from New York to Miami. Whereas pre-Covid, these folks would have spent the season in Miami while being primarily based in the Northeast, the shift has reversed -- and Miami is now home. This means roots laid, properties purchased, kids enrolled in school and friendships, connections and community cultivated. It also means single-family home purchases surging some 16.6 per cent year-over-year, according to the Miami Association of Realtors.
While it may lack snow, the Statue of Liberty and fantastic dollar-slice pizza, Miami’s endless resources and resiliency have helped it emerge from the Covid crisis seemingly stronger than ever. Its enviable al fresco lifestyle, still relatively affordable housing stock, multicultural population and long-term investment in arts and culture are luring a new generation of city-lovers who are quite likely to stay. A decade ago Miami was a place to relax and reset away from the hustle-and-bustle of Manhattan. Today, it seems, all that hustle-and-bustle is finally calling Miami home.
With all that said, I am counting the days until I can safely return to my apartment and office in what will always be, as WQXR proudly calls, “The Greatest City in the World.”