Bryan Cho of Related Ross: 5 Questions

Related Ross has been pushing price points in West Palm Beach, Fla., to levels that would have been hard to imagine before the pandemic

Luxury condos at South Flagler House, a 28-story tower under construction at 1335 South Flagler Drive, are fetching $4,000 per square foot, says Bryan Cho, the company’s executive vice president. Office rents at One Flagler and other Related Ross projects are north of $100 per square foot. And the company is in the midst of repositioning its CityPlace mixed-use development.

“There is so much momentum and interest in West Palm Beach as kind of a new American solution for people of all walks of life, particularly those that are seeking this balance of great urban life, and the great natural beauty and quality of life that has made West Palm Beach attractive for so many decades,” Cho said.

The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Commercial Observer: Not so long ago, $1,000 a foot was the high-water mark for luxury condos in West Palm Beach. How are you achieving $4,000?

Bryan Cho: It’s perhaps the most iconic, luxurious and extravagant residential development ever in the state of Florida. 

South Flagler House has a long list of superlatives. It starts with its timeless, Robert A.M. Stern exterior design, where substantially all of our exterior is clad in limestone. And then, of course, we have a full acre of amenities overlooking the Intracoastal at the top of our podium. Fitness, spa, wellness, there’s going to be two residents-only restaurants. 

You name it, this building has it.

We’ve had an incredible summer in terms of pre-sales. That has actually accelerated our construction start and finish date. The project was designed where our most typical sort of module is a half-floor, around 5,000 square feet. We are seeing people buy both halves of a floor, a full floor, and essentially create effectively $40 million residences. We’re topping out that building this month. We are going to be fully enclosed early next year, and our expectation is that we’ll be closing with our first buyers late next year.

How is the repositioning and rebranding of CityPlace progressing?

These are efforts that have been ongoing for years, and we’re really in a big way going to start  harvesting the fruits of all that vision and all that work. Reformation, Blue Mercury and Crate & Barrel are already open.

Starting in November, we’re going to have an opening about every week or every other week. Eataly and Equinox Fitness are coming in December. They opened for pre-sales earlier this summer, and it was the fastest subscription rate that they’ve seen anywhere in the country in the history of their company. So that just shows you how our local sort of customer base has really proliferated and how much interest there is in this kind of cutting-edge fitness and lifestyle brand that’s coming here to CityPlace.

I remember the first iteration of CityPlace, when the staples were FAO Schwartz and Macy’s and Gap. Why such a change in the tenant mix?

There’s been such meteoric growth in the area. This area, since inception to this day, has spanned all kinds of cultural shifts, too. 

I really do think that this kind of evolved roster of tenants is reflective of a sophistication level and our ability to attract cutting-edge brands that really resonate with the multigenerational dynamic population that now, not only lives here, but increasingly is growing.

If you told me before the pandemic, or even at the start of the pandemic, that you’d be achieving rents at over $100 per square foot in West Palm, I would have not believed you, but it happened. What’s changed?

I think that’s a function of just the business climate nationally, and where companies nationally want to grow. That is the byproduct of years of hard work and planning, and of West Palm Beach and downtown maturing into one of the most desirable places not just to relocate a thriving business, but to start new businesses, and for people of all walks of life to get married, raise children, start families. 

All of that is reflective of the incredible demand that we are seeing for new office buildings. We’re sort of rapidly approaching price points similar to that of any market in the country.

A few decades ago, Florida was considered an affordable alternative. Is that going away?

No. I think rent is just one component of affordability. 

It’s the regulatory backdrop, certainly the tax and legislative backdrop, the availability of talent where people want to live and raise their families. All of those are cost dynamics.

Jeff Ostrowski can be reached at jostrowski@commercialobserver.com.