What I saw on Miami Beach this month

This is the first one. Once a month I'll write what I saw — what closed, what didn't, what's quietly moving, and what's worth your attention. It's called, As Is, because that's what it is. What I see, told straight. No press-release voice. No sales pitch buried in paragraph six. No sugar coating. And definitely no sprinkles or cherry on top.

Thanks for letting me into your inbox.

Here's April.

This month, for the first time, I wrote publicly about the $49.5 million Star Island sale I closed off-market on July 21, 2020. Six years later, the response was tremendous. People reached out. The phone rang.

A quick update on 2880 Fairgreen: the Touzet Studio plans are nearly ready to showcase to the public. I can't wait to put them out there — and even more than that, to get this house permitted.

After my Mid Beach piece After 20 Years Selling Miami Beach, One Block Keeps Calling Me Back dropped, a past client I closed with in 2015 called about his own Mid Beach home. One conversation later, we're talking pricing and discussing what's next.

This is how my Miami / Miami Beach business actually moves. All word of mouth. Not through marketing campaigns. Through whispers, in pickup lines at school, in the parking lot at Publix, at an early dinner at Cafe Avanti, on text threads at 11:30 PM when something quietly comes up. If you know, you know…

The South of Fifth towers are doing something interesting this spring. In fact, they always are. Six buildings, identified by my client, three tiers, two completely different stories on either end. By the way, if you're going to buy a condo in South Florida, South of Fifth is the first place you should look.

South of Fifth is a quarter-square-mile peninsula at the very southern tip of Miami Beach. The neighborhood runs from 5th Street south to 1st Street, Alton Road on the bay to Ocean Drive. Ringed by water on three sides. Two blocks to the ocean. Five minutes to I-95 via the MacArthur Causeway.

It's small enough to walk end-to-end in fifteen minutes. South Pointe Park sits at the southernmost point — seventeen acres of grass, a fishing pier, and the best view in Miami of cruise ships entering Government Cut. The dog beach is where every Frenchie in South of Fifth gets their morning. Families raise kids here. Mornings on the boardwalk are strollers, joggers, and dog walkers.

The food is the other story. Joe's Stone Crab pulls in north of $47 million a year — one of the top three highest-grossing independent restaurants in the country. Not bad for a place that started as a simple lunch counter in the early 1900s. Prime 112 changed steakhouse culture in Miami. Milos is the best fish in town — not counting a Stone Crab or a Lobster Roll. If you know the deal, you can pick your own fish when you order. Smith & Wollensky watches cruise ships leave at sunset. Carbone, to me, is a bit of a racket — but they walked in and reset the reservation game. South of Fifth is the only neighborhood in South Florida where you can walk to all five in ten minutes.

The buyer, I am working with, gets it. He's already narrowed his search to South of Fifth. We started at a $2.5 million budget. After we walked the towers in 36 hours and dissected what each tier actually delivers, we're at $10 million. I'm watching this market because I'm transacting in it.

While I was in the Murano at Portofino lobby with him, I ran into the tenant I represented at 1000 South Pointe Drive #3301. The lease closed December 1st — four months ago. Three bedrooms, 3,365 square feet, $35,500 a month, one-year term. Small world after all.

The South of Fifth enclave is bulletproof. Feel free to park your money in any of these buildings — about as sure a thing as you can get.

“Continuum has 21 active listings. Apogee has zero. Same trophy tier. Two opposite reads. The contrast IS the story.”

— David Hunt Solomon

Continuum has 22 active listings, 1 active under contract, and 2 pending. That's 25 units in motion. The always-talked-about — and arguably the best amenities in the area — at 50 and 100 South Pointe Drive, with 24 closed sales to prove it over the last twelve months, top sale of $23.5 million for unit 2803 at over $5,000 a foot — a number that now hits almost at will — has a lot of inventory on the market right now. Some of it, is owners who wanted out at a number that hasn't quite come yet. Some of it, is genuine relocation. None of it is panic. Watch this number over the next 90 days. If two of those listings cut meaningfully, the entire South of Fifth luxury floor adjusts.

Apogee, three blocks away at 800 South Pointe, has one listing active under contract and one pending sale with a last asking price of $15.9 million. The smallest, most exclusive of the South of Fifth towers — the most prestige, the best security, 67 units, always the lowest inventory in the area — and nothing is available right now. That's the most informed condo audience in Miami Beach making the same decision: hold and stay. A unit comes on the market and it's gone almost as quickly as it gets listed.

The contrast IS the read. Same neighborhood. Same trophy tier. Half the owners in one place testing the market. The other half in Kyoto, St. Barts, or the Amalfi Coast — not even thinking about it. That tells you everything about where South of Fifth values are right now: nobody actually knows yet, and the people who know they don't know are doing nothing.

Murano at Portofino put up a fresh comp two weeks ago. Unit 2802 closed April 15 at $5.75 million — $2,196 a foot, fifty-two days on market. And Unit 3501 is pending at a last ask of $10,950,000 — which will land over $3,000 a foot. These are the numbers every Murano owner is now pricing against, whether they've called their agent or not. Worth noting — the pool and pool deck are being gut-renovated as we speak.

Murano Grande has been pulling its own weight too — Penthouse A closed last November at $13.1 million, $2,468 a foot. Big floor plates, water views, the buyers who want the South of Fifth address but don't want to pay Continuum money.

Portofino Tower and South Pointe Tower are the entry tier — but I love these places. Great value for a much lower price point. $1,200 to $1,700 a foot, smaller units, older buildings. And if you have an upset stomach, Portofino Tower looks like Pepto Bismol — and the owners who own there love it. Quieter market, still moving. South Pointe Tower had a 2-bedroom close at $1.55 million in December at 27 days on market. The right unit at the right price still trades fast at every level.

The takeaway: South of Fifth isn't one market. It's three. Right now they're all telling slightly different stories about where the buyer pool is heading. I'll keep watching.

Two clients. One looking for a fourth home in the mountains. One I've closed five Miami Beach deals with — plus several rentals — is now looking to sell his home in Aspen off-market. Starwood and Red Mountain. The only two places to really buy. Aspen and Miami Beach trade the same buyers. I'm in both rooms because the same people are.

This is the unspoken half of luxury real estate in 2026: the best buyers don't think in zip codes. They think in seasons. February in Miami Beach. July in Aspen. Sometimes they buy both in the same year.

Sunday I'm at F1 Fan Fest at Lummus Park on Ocean Drive with my son, who just turned 6 in April. He'll know more about every car on display than I know about half the towers I just wrote about. Pop quiz, hot shot — is Lummus Park South of Fifth?

That's April. See you in May.

— David