By Max Crampton-Thomas
2 min read August 2019 — There are a multitude of reasons why people choose to relocate to Florida including a beneficial tax climate, ideal weather, and a bevy of real estate opportunities. Perhaps nowhere is that more evident than in Palm Beach County, and developers of commercial real estate in the region are reaping the benefits. Invest: Palm Beach recently spoke with Angelo Bianco, Managing Partner for one of the premier owner-operator and developers of commercial real estate in the region, Crocker Partners, who also happen to be the largest office landlord in Florida. Mr Bianco discussed with Invest: the impact Crocker Partners has in Palm Beach County, benefits of practicing commercial real estate in the county and what is on the horizon for investment within commercial real estate.
What impact does Crocker Partners have in Palm Beach County and South Florida?
In the state of Florida, we are currently the largest office landlord. In Boca Raton, we are the largest office owner. We own thirty percent of all the office space in Boca Raton. We usually buy assets that have something wrong; for example, they are often poorly occupied and haven’t been operated the way that we would at Crocker Partners. We will perform renovations, reposition the assets and find new tenants. Then we either sell or re-capitalize the project to someone who wants to own more stable, secure assets.
What are some of the benefits of practicing commercial real estate in Palm Beach County?
The best part of real estate in Palm Beach County is that people want to be here. Every year, more people move here. Because of our tax policies, Florida is an attractive place for the wealthy, and they tend to gravitate towards certain areas such as Palm Beach County. It’s fantastic because whenever you’re in a place where a lot of people aspire to be, they require office buildings and homes, so in turn there’s demand for new construction. Then the economy expands; people need to have rentals, apartments, storage and stores. It’s a great place to invest because, from one peak of the market cycle to the next, there’s always growth here.
What trends are on the horizon for commercial real estate investment and growth in Palm Beach County?
Office development should be muted in the coming year. The reason is that a good majority of those moving here are wealthier people; they don’t drive a lot of demand in office space as most of them have hedge funds or family offices that do not require a lot of space; plus it costs so much to build new office buildings. You will have some projects, but it’s not going to be like it was in the past when there would be a tremendous number of cranes in the sky. But when it comes to multi-family development, we will continue to see growth. There will be a lot more rentals than we have had in the past. The United States by large is turning into more of a rental market than it has been, which doesn’t mean that single family homes are gone; it just means that people are much more comfortable renting.
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