Urban living in Ft Lauderdale area

[City Guy997S]

Originally Posted by Atari2600

I will say, I've never really known Fort Lauderdale to be a "city" other than perhaps a mass suburbia with a small cluster of high rises (most of which were put there by Wayne Huizenga... hahah).

Not sure you got that right, Wayne did a lot of things in South Florida but building high rises definitely was not one of them. Wayne had offices on Broward Blvd but he didn't build the buildings. Wayne owned 3 of the 4 sports franchises, started Waste Management, took over Blockbuster Video and made it a giant then sold it and created the AutoNation empire of car dealerships. Guy took 3 companies from nothing to fortune 500 companies, not sure you will ever see a guy like Wayne again.

Steven Ross/Related Companies the current owner of the Dolphins is in the high rise/office building business.

[Atari2600]

Originally Posted by Alfiehurt

May I ask, how do you know St Pete? is it comparable to Ft. Lauderdale as an urban lifestyle choice? It seems downtown St Pete is smaller than downtown Ft Lauderdale

I'm sorry, I was referring to "downtown Tampa," not St. Pete. Fort Lauderdale is a small city. When you're coming up over the 5-95 onramp to I-95 north, you can see it off in the distance, and it honestly doesn't look any bigger than say Mobile, Alabama. It really is a tiny city. I didn't know that you quite literally meant St. Pete, or quite literally, downtown Fort Lauderdale, so much as you meant the general area of Tampa and Fort Lauderdale.

I've never lived in NYC, but I have family that lives in Battery Park, so I certainly understand what I "think" you're looking for in terms of that. E.g. restaurants, shopping, clubs, all on the first floor of every building... a night life. I don't think you're going to find the "NY" kind of city atmosphere anywhere other than perhaps downtown Miami. I caveat that with of course, the aesthetics are totally different (but you know this). But if you're looking for exciting nightlife, and it being "busy" with places that you can ride your bike to and / or walk to... I think Hollywood Beach (cheaper), Golden Beach, Miami Beach (more expensive), or simply just inland a few miles (but on the intracoastal), will have everything that I think you're looking for. Lot of high rises, condos, etc. that are a bit more affordable.

My personal opinion... not sure what the market is doing right now, but if you're looking to sell (I can't remember if you said you were renting or not), sell your home now, and rent in the area while you get a feel for what you're looking for. I don't think the housing market will stay the way it is, and condos are the first to drop in price in South Florida.

Originally Posted by City Guy997S

Not sure you got that right, Wayne did a lot of things in South Florida but building high rises definitely was not one of them. Wayne had offices on Broward Blvd but he didn't build the buildings. Wayne owned 3 of the 4 sports franchises, started Waste Management, took over Blockbuster Video and made it a giant then sold it and created the AutoNation empire of car dealerships. Guy took 3 companies from nothing to fortune 500 companies, not sure you will ever see a guy like Wayne again.

Steven Ross/Related Companies the current owner of the Dolphins is in the high rise/office building business.

Yeah, when I put that, I knew it was somewhat of a stretch. I said Wayne Huizenga because he led a huge part of the revitalization of Fort Lauderdale. He renovated many of the buildings in downtown, and was a huge philanthropist when it came to public projects in Fort Lauderdale, including revamping Riverwalk, and Los Olas.

Steven Ross... yeah, I don't know his whole history, but I was under the impression he had far more impact in West Palm (as did his father) than anything they particularly did in Fort Lauderdale.


Incidentally, I've worked for both of them. I worked for the Miami Dolphins for about 6 years, and was there when Steven Ross took over. I didn't particularly care for some of the things he did early on, but he's really revamped Joe Robbie stadium into something pretty fantastic... and... there's going to be an F1 race there next year, which I'm very much looking forward to. So, he has my approval for whatever that's worth! Haha...

[MarcBetrus]

Honestly, if you can manage to stay in downtown St. Pete, stay -- It's the best downtown of any major Florida city, IMO.
Ft. Lauderdale is great though, but other than it being part of the Miami metro, which may be a big factor for many people, it's not better than St. Pete.

You have everything in St. Pete/Pinellas county that you have in Ft. Lauderdale/Broward county: great beaches/beach communities, excellent downtown and urban core, great cities within an hours drive - Tampa, Sarasota...etc..

I'd stay put!

[Alfiehurt]

Originally Posted by MarcBetrus

Honestly, if you can manage to stay in downtown St. Pete, stay -- It's the best downtown of any major Florida city, IMO.
Ft. Lauderdale is great though, but other than it being part of the Miami metro, which may be a big factor for many people, it's not better than St. Pete.

You have everything in St. Pete/Pinellas county that you have in Ft. Lauderdale/Broward county: great beaches/beach communities, excellent downtown and urban core, great cities within an hours drive - Tampa, Sarasota...etc..

I'd stay put!

I'd love to, Marcus but I am afraid I cannot longer afford DWTN St Pete!
I have not seen for weeks now, perhaps months, any sales of 1Bd/1bth apts for less than 500K approx.!

I want to stay as close as possible to downtown, hopefully within walking distance, if not a short bike or scoot ride BUT i don't see much availability of condos slightly or south of downtown. Perhaps west of downtown but not significantly cheaper.

Will that change in the next 2-4 years?
I am hoping so or else we may consider getting a small house as close as dwntwn as possible

And yes, we will likely rent for a year or so until getting familiar with the area

[Alfiehurt]

[quote=Atari2600;62093217]I'm sorry, I was referring to "downtown Tampa," not St. Pete. Fort Lauderdale is a small city. When you're coming up over the 5-95 onramp to I-95 north, you can see it off in the distance, and it honestly doesn't look any bigger than say Mobile, Alabama. It really is a tiny city. I didn't know that you quite literally meant St. Pete, or quite literally, downtown Fort Lauderdale, so much as you meant the general area of Tampa and Fort Lauderdale.

I've never lived in NYC, but I have family that lives in Battery Park, so I certainly understand what I "think" you're looking for in terms of that. E.g. restaurants, shopping, clubs, all on the first floor of every building... a night life. I don't think you're going to find the "NY" kind of city atmosphere anywhere other than perhaps downtown Miami. I caveat that with of course, the aesthetics are totally different (but you know this). But if you're looking for exciting nightlife, and it being "busy" with places that you can ride your bike to and / or walk to... I think Hollywood Beach (cheaper), Golden Beach, Miami Beach (more expensive), or simply just inland a few miles (but on the intracoastal), will have everything that I think you're looking for. Lot of high rises, condos, etc. that are a bit more affordable.

My personal opinion... not sure what the market is doing right now, but if you're looking to sell (I can't remember if you said you were renting or not), sell your home now, and rent in the area while you get a feel for what you're looking for. I don't think the housing market will stay the way it is, and condos are the first to drop in price in South Florida.

I would consider south Tampa also which is still close to downtown Tampa but again those selling prices are up the roof! I like Harbor Island, Hyde Park, Palma Ceia, Bayshore, etc. I rode the bus system about 3 times and thought it was pretty comfortable.
I don't need access to highlife as much as much as everyday shopping, somewhere walkable and I am ok with using the bus.
I just don't want to drive
I have been to Hollywood Beach also but I did not see that urban living style in the places where I hung out

Any area in particular/neighborhood I should check?

And yes, once approved by my employer to relocate, i would sell our coop in NYC and rent for 1 year or so before buying...hopefully below 350K