Panelists expect a strong 2020 to follow a solid 2019

SFBW’s All-Star Economic Review and Outlook panel reported a strong 2019 and confidence in 2020 even as they were casting a wary eye on the emerging coronoa virus. Low interest rates are a big plus, but finding labor and large plots of land are a challenge. Apartments, industrial space, mixed-use developments and experiential restaurants and retail are in vogue, but hotel construction might hit a pause.

The panel was sponsored by Amerant Bank and held at Junior Achievement of South Florida in Coconut Creek. Panelists included some of the largest businesses and employers in South Florida.

Frank Week, vice president of Development and Construction, Penn-Florida Cos.
We are about to launch an 80-acre project north of the Boca Raton Executive Airport called University Village. [The website lists 829 residential units, including lofts, apartments, and assisted living facilities; a 183-room hotel, 70,000 square feet of office space and 130,000 square feet of residential ground floor retail.]

We just finished the Jack Nicklaus golf course, Via Mizner Golf & City Club, which is the old Boca Del Mar Country Club. It’ll be open in about six months. The commercial side is building the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Boca Raton and the Mandarin Oriental condominiums. [This is the first Mandarin Oriental residential project in the country, and the overall project, with 92 condos that started at $2 million, is $1 billion.]