Sketches of 3550 South Ocean
New York and San Francisco-based developer DDG is about to start taking reservations for the first condo project built on Palm Beach’s barrier island in more than a decade.
The luxury development, which fronts the Atlantic, is named 3550 South Ocean. It will consist of a six-story building with 30 condos ranging from about 2,800 to 3,400 square feet.
Units will have floor-to-ceiling windows, with ceilings up to nine feet in height. The building, at 3550 South Ocean in South Palm Beach, will include a fitness center, an oceanfront swimming pool and private beach access. Units will be priced at $2.3 million to $3.5 million.
“For anyone who wants to be on the ocean with beach access, this is a rare opportunity,” Joe McMillan, CEO of DDG, told The Real Deal. “If you’re looking for something new, it doesn’t exist on the ocean in this area. A lot of the construction is 20 to 30 years old or more.”
He said construction will begin later this year and be completed by early 2018. DDG McMillan expects buyers to include locals who may be in older housing now or people from the Northeast looking for a second home. The developers scored $13 million in financing in April.
Local real estate pros believe McMillan will be successful. “I think this will do well,” West Palm residential developer Neil Kozokoff told TRD. “There’s the ocean, and there’s everything else. The driver of growth in the next 10 to 15 years will be retiring baby boomers coming here for their first or second home. This product plays perfectly for them.”
Heidi Cole, a Realtor for Waterfront Properties and Club Communities in West Palm Beach, says the project will be a good fit for some of her clients. “The challenge I face in Palm Beach is that it’s hard to find new buildings with large units that have high ceilings and top amenities,” she told TRD.
Cole recently represented a Toronto couple in the sale of a large Singer Island condo in Riviera Beach. “This would have been very appealing for them had it been ready,” she said.
The 33480 zip code for the island of Palm Beach carries great cache among the moneyed crowd, Kozokoff noted. “The zip code resonates,” he said. “It’s a big deal.”
McMillan doesn’t see 3550 South Ocean competing with The Bristol of West Palm Beach, an ultra-luxury condo development on the Intracoastal Waterway that broke ground last week. The Bristol is a 25-story building with 69 units priced at $5 million to $22 million.
“It will be natural for buyers to look at both,” McMillan said. “The decision would come down to location, whether you want urban or more oceanfront.”
This is DDG’s first foray into South Florida, and it’s looking for more projects across the region. “Initially it will likely be condos and/or mixed use developments with commercial and retail components,” McMillan said.
Kozokoff said there’s plenty of room for more upscale condo projects in the West Palm/Palm Beach area. “If the economy stays healthy, you can have half a dozen of these, and they will all do well,” he said.
From The Real Deal Miami
via First new condo project in more than decade comes to Palm Beach island
