West Palm Beach is in the middle of a high-rise building boom that shows no signs of slowing down.
With more than a dozen luxury condo projects now in various stages of planning and construction, totaling north of 2,000 units, the city's skyline is being redrawn in real time. The latest entry: Miami-based Mast Capital, led by developer Camilo Miguel Jr., filed plans last week for a 25-story, 86-unit tower at 400 Hibiscus Street in downtown West Palm Beach, complete with a 5,700-square-foot private members' club and ground-floor retail.
Mast Capital and partner Curated JCZM Development acquired the 0.9-acre site at 635 South Dixie Highway for $5.2 million last April. The project went before the city's Plans and Plats Review Committee on Thursday, the first step in the approval process.
The filing comes on the heels of several massive construction loans that signal how serious institutional capital is about the West Palm Beach condo market. Related Group and BH Group secured $200 million in financing earlier this month for their planned Ritz-Carlton Residences, a 27-story, 138-unit waterfront tower. Steve Ross' Related Ross locked down $157 million for Shorecrest, a 28-story, 98-unit tower that will be his second condo project in the city.
Toronto-based Great Gulf launched sales last month for Mandarin Oriental Residences, West Palm Beach, a 31-story, 87-unit waterfront project that adds another brand-name flag to the city's emerging luxury corridor.
The pipeline reflects a broader shift. West Palm Beach has evolved from a quieter alternative to Palm Beach Island into a standalone luxury destination, driven by the pandemic-era wealth migration that brought finance, tech and hedge fund capital to South Florida. Goldman Sachs, Citadel and Elliott Management all planted flags in the area over the past several years, and residential developers have followed their employees south.
The numbers bear it out. The Real Deal reported last week that the top 25 agent teams in Palm Beach County closed $7.1 billion in on-market deals in the 12 months ending January 20, 2026, up from $6.1 billion in the prior year's ranking. That figure does not include the substantial off-market activity that defines the top of the market, where deals north of $100 million routinely close with no public listing.
But the investment thesis for West Palm Beach extends beyond for-sale condos. Griffis Residential paid $78.5 million last week for a West Palm Beach apartment complex, part of its newly launched multifamily fund. The deal came despite what brokers describe as lingering softness in South Florida rental markets, where an oversupply of new units has kept rents from matching the growth in home sale prices.
The rental market bet suggests institutional buyers are looking past near-term headwinds. Population growth across Palm Beach County, combined with a constrained supply of single-family homes on the island, is pushing demand into West Palm Beach at every price point.
Meanwhile, the island of Palm Beach continues to dominate the ultra-luxury conversation. Financier Mark Marcello paid $36 million last week for an estate on Clarendon Avenue, inside the Mar-a-Lago Security Zone. The property, an 8,900-square-foot mansion on 1.5 acres, had originally listed at $55 million in 2022 before multiple price reductions brought it in line with the market. A $28 million sale of a neglected oceanfront property, also closed last week, followed a similar pattern of significant price cuts from initial asks.
Brokers say the pricing corrections are healthy. After the pandemic frenzy pushed some sellers to test unrealistic numbers, the current season is marked by what Douglas Elliman's Senada Adzem called "more sober decision making." The $30 million-and-above segment performed strongest in 2025, with agents reporting consistent demand from buyers who are paying cash and making decisions quickly.
For West Palm Beach, the development wave is a bet that the wealth migration is permanent, not cyclical. With branded residences, private clubs and institutional-grade construction now defining the pipeline, the city is positioning itself as a market that can absorb luxury product at scale, not just a bedroom community for the island across the bridge.
Photo: Ace King / Unsplash
