False Narratives

Sandy, the massive Christmas Tree sand castle, is under construction for 2025.

So, today I picked up the Palm Beach Post from the foyer floor of our condo. I found the top three articles on page 1 were about our city’s Downtown. One led with the title of 'False narrative': Rich not fleeing Mamdani’s NYC. The irony that the self-professed socialist was in the possessive of NYC was clearly lost on the copy editor creating the headline.

The article was written by USA Today's white house correspondent, Ramaswamy. She began with the lifelong personal experiences of one 73-year-old woman who returned to Manhattan after decades in the suburbs when she purchased a $1.4 million condo on the day Mamdani was elected as mayor.

In my personal narrative, as a tax advisor, my contrarian view was shaped by the clients I've counseled around their move to the Palm Beaches, most of them from NYC and the Hamptons. It was all about taxes and weather. About 50% of my personal client list are ex-New Yorkers. There are a number of people now who can't complete their transition because they can't sell their NYC apartment to a willing buyer. Their migrations are in a holding pattern.

Ramaswamy also provided a number of NYC real estate sales associates denying an uptick in listings or sales. Based on my experiences, I would argue that the migrating horde may already be at its saturation point or dwindling.

Since 2005, I've witnessed multiple private equity firms newly minted in Florida.

But it wasn't until the Covid Lockdowns & the 2017 SALT tax hit on investment LLCs that the flight of the big firms really began.

Here in 2025, Goldman Sachs is now firmly settled at 360 S Rosemary Ave. This office building also houses other financial service shops like J.P. Morgan. I would consider this red & black building the hub of the dubbed "Wall Street South".  Related Companies owns this building. Even Harry, the NYC-famed restaurateur with the personal white glove touch, followed suit, opening his iconic Harry's Bar and sister venues at the building's base.

I just hope and pray that West Palm Beach's saturation point doesn't reach a breaking point. I hope we continue to do our best to preserve our city's greatest asset, our pristine Downtown Waterfront. No matter how many New Yorkers descend upon us, I for one don't want our skyline to ever look like Fort Lauderdale or Miami. We must do our parts to best protect what sets us apart: that beautiful stretch of green space along the water's edge.