Palm Beach Real Estate

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Wonderful Life? Billionaire sees too many small banks
When I talked to Palm Beach billionaire Wilbur Ross last week about his deal to buy most of First Bank & Trust Co. of Indiantown, I neglected to ask his opinion of It’s a Wonderful Life. The classic flick...
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Office, warehouse vacancies rise, rental rates fall in Palm Beach County
The one-two punch of the recession and the housing meltdown continued to batter Palm Beach County commercial real estate during the fourth quarter, CB Richard Ellis says. The county’s office vacancy rose to 22.8 percent, up from 19.6 percent...
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Palm Beach County foreclosure filings nearly doubled in 2008
Foreclosure filings rose 133 percent in Florida, 96 percent in Palm Beach County and 81 percent nationwide from 2007 to 2008, RealtyTrac says today. Palm Beach County ranked 16th among U.S. metro areas in percent of housing units in foreclosure....
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Vultures and unsold units: A map of downtown West Palm Beach's condo market
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GL Homes pushes ahead with 1,100-home active-adult community
The housing downturn is killing most homebuilders, but privately held GL Homes keeps buying land and selling homes. Its Valencia Pointe community west of Boynton Beach is mostly sold out. Its Greystone project was the top seller in South Florida...
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Whitney condo latest vulture target
For two years now, we heard speculation that vulture investors were circling West Palm Beach’s overbuilt condo market, but no vulture deals ever closed. Maybe the construction cranes scared off the scavengers. In recent weeks, though the vultures have arrived...
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RBC Bank's consumer confidence index plunges
Southeastern consumers are unusually sour about the economy, according to RBC Bank’s Consumer Attitudes and Spending by Household survey. A year ago, RBC’s index for the Southeast was 79.9, above the national average of 75.8. Today, the Southeast index has...
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Macy's to close Palm Beach Mall store
Macy’s Inc. said this morning it will close its 190,000-square-foot store at the struggling Palm Beach Mall on Palm Beach Lakes Blvd. Cincinnati-based Macy’s (NYSE: M) said the store has 71 employees. Macy’s also said it would close 10 other...
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Vulture swoops into West Palm Beach condo market
In a sign that bargain hunters are taking advantage of West Palm Beach’s condo glut, the head of a large Pennsylvania-based roofing company has snapped up 26 units at The Edge. Ed Dunlap (right), chairman of CentiMark of Canonsburg, Pa.,...
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Florida title attorneys: "No meaningful recovery until 2011"
Not-so-Happy New Year: 2009 and 2010 will be tough years for Palm Beach County’s housing market, predicts Attorneys’ Title Insurance Fund. “No meaningful recovery is expected until 2011,” writes economist Hank Fishkind in the group’s annual forecast. Fishkind blames weak...
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Downtown at the Gardens' struggles continue, former tenant says
I went to the Yard House at Downtown at the Gardens on Saturday night, and the place was packed. The Whole Foods Market there always seems busy, too. But Rosa Mexicano (above) was notably dark. It’s just the latest...
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