Delray Beach is getting busier by the day.
My wife and I walked the entire downtown Delray area last weekend and counted the number of eateries are there. We walked Atlantic from NW 5th Ave to the beach, Pineapple Grove, and all the feeder roads in downtown.
As high season is building and the roads start growing more crowded, the number includes places that are “coming soon” and will be open before winter is over. This number does not include coffee or ice cream spots.
How many? 105.
For context, when we moved to Downtown Delray in 2015 there were 62.
And guess who are enjoying all these restaurants? Look at the graph above: the 35-54 year old crowd in red. They represent 25% of Delray Beach population. That may catch you be surprise as most folks think of South Florida with an older population. But this group continues to grow and many work in the service industry.
So where are all these 35-54 year old’s going to live? Downtown Delray Beach is building a lot of apartments:
* Alton Delray at 2101 S Congress, just south of Linton Ave will have 386 apartments, with 40 percent designated as workforce housing
* Parks at Delray is also on Congress across from Alton on 50 acres. They’re still building 747 apartment units along with 40,000 square feet of grocery-anchored retail space.
* Aura Delray opened in 2024 with 292 units at the corner of Atlantic Ave and Congress.
* The Strand on the West Side of SE 3rd Ave between Atlantic Ave and SE 2nd St. (along the train tracks across from Delray Beach Market building). It’ll have a total of 198 units. Dirt movement began months ago. This apartment building is in the heart of downtown Delray.
That’s a total of 1,623 rental apartment units coming to market throughout Delray. That means more cars and more need for infrastructure improvement.
As our high season population is on the rise, be aware of all the construction going on throughout downtown Delray. This will be the city’s busiest season yet. More residents, more tourism, more packed restaurants and more construction.
Downtown Delray has a handful of projects in process now so add extra time and space when getting to your destination. I hope to see you at our winter events and enjoying the downtown Delray winter tropical lifestyle…
(Main Photo: North Delray Beach – individual Catamaran’s are permitted to park there next to the healthy dunes)
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*** In my Oct 8th letter I showed how State-Run Insurer of last resort, Citizens is off-loading policies to new private insurers. They had 780k policies in July and today they’re down to 565k. Less gov’t involvement. More private competition. Premium costs may have seen its worst.
*** High Walkability is an important part of many people’s real estate buying criteria. Good news: downtown Delray ranks 94/100. In my blog last week I discuss how downtown Delray is a leader in “experiential living”
*** Superb Downtown Living Oppty – if not for you, please pass along…
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*** South Florida Real Estate Inventory is ABOVE 2019***
Last week’s supply was 58,027
Today’s supply is 57,714
*** Supply was down last week ***
*** Supply is DOWN 19 of 26 weeks…***
