Quiet Florida fishing town undergoing a $2B luxury makeover is emerging as the next Palm Beach

For decades, Pompano Beach was the sleepy South Florida alternative to its glitzier neighbors — a fishing town where waterfront living could still be had without Miami or Palm Beach prices.Now, the secret is out.The Broward County city is in the throes of a multibillion-dollar transformation, with a $2 billion downtown overhaul and a wave of ultra-luxury developments from Waldorf Astoria, Ritz-Carlton, W and Armani/Casa reshaping its once-low-key skyline.At the center is a 75-acre redevelopment led by RocaPoint Partners in partnership with the city.

Plans envision roughly 4 million square feet of residences, shops, offices, hotels, civic facilities and public spaces, anchored by a new City Hall. But some of Pompano’s biggest changes are happening along the sand.Miami-based Related Group has made a multibillion-dollar commitment to the city, beginning with a gamble it took long before Pompano became a magnet for luxury developers.“We saw the fundamentals early: incredible oceanfront, a great location between Miami and Palm Beach, and pricing that was still accessible relative to other South Florida coastal markets,” Patrick Campbell, senior vice president of Related Group, told The Post.“We actually bought the oceanfront site that would eventually become Solemar at a courthouse auction in 2011 and held onto it for nearly a decade,” Campbell said.

“At the time, Pompano wasn’t yet viewed as a luxury destination, but we believed the ingredients were there.”They were.Solemar, Related’s first project in the city, sold for an average of about $900 per square foot, Campbell said.

Its latest sales at the under-construction Waldorf Astoria Residences Pompano Beach are now averaging roughly twice that, at $1,800 per square foot.Related also sold two Waldorf penthouses for $17.1 million and $18.1 million this summer, setting new benchmarks for Pompano.“Those numbers tell us buyers are willing to pay for exceptional product here, but there’s still a ...