In 2017, Related Group built the apex of Fort Lauderdale’s downtown skyline when the Miami-based real estate development company finished the 42-story Icon Las Olas apartment building near the northwest corner of Las Olas Boulevard and Federal Highway. Now, right around the corner, Related is about to one-up itself by opening another luxury apartment building that will be 43 stories tall.
Rent at the new apartment building, Veneto Las Olas, will be as high as the building itself, an average of $5,700 a month. Yet Related saw ample interest after the company started pre-leasing Veneto apartments in mid-February – without offering such move-in incentives as one rent-free month. “It has gone very, very well,” Jessica Melendez, a senior vice president of Related, said in a February 28 interview. “We’re not giving any concessions here.” She said Related expected to finish construction of Veneto and obtain a temporary certificate of occupancy for the building by May.
What Related Group ultimately has in mind is a trio of towers on the northwest corner of Las Olas Boulevard and Federal Highway: Icon Las Olas at 500 E. Las Olas Blvd. and Veneto Las Olas at 201 S. Federal Hwy., plus a 163-unit condo development at 521 E. Las Olas Blvd. called Andare Residences by Pininfarina. At 45 stories, Andare would become the new peak in the downtown skyline and the first luxury condominium development on Las Olas Boulevard in 20 years.
“We’re bullish on this market. Related has been heavily invested in Fort Lauderdale for many years, and we’re not going anywhere,” Melendez said. “Considering how well sales have gone for Andare, we’re definitely looking for more projects and will do more projects here.” At the end of February, she said, buyers had reserved 35% of the Andare condo units during pre-construction sales, which Related launched last year during the annual Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. Related plans to break ground for construction by March 2025, when the company expects to have buyers for 60% of the units. Prices start at $1.6 million for a two-bedroom condo.
Both the Veneto rental development and the Andare condo development are attracting a mostly local market of renters and buyers. “The demographics are very similar to the renters we have at Icon Las Olas,” Melendez said. “The buyers and the renters include empty nesters, affluent professionals, families looking for a second home and people just downsizing.”
She said about 30% of the renters and buyers committing to Veneto and Andare are from out of town, part of a boom in migration to Fort Lauderdale that began during the COVID-19 pandemic. At Andare, “you don’t see a lot of investors. These are actual end users who are going to live here,” Melendez said.
Even as the local economy continues to charge ahead, the pace of migration to Fort Lauderdale may be slowing because the cost of local rental housing has soared since the year before the pandemic. The average monthly rent in metropolitan Fort Lauderdale was $2,515 last year, up nearly 50% since 2019, brokerage firm Marcus & Millichap reported in a 2024 forecast of the local rental market.
“The addition of 20,000 jobs this year will allow Fort Lauderdale’s pace of job growth to trail only Miami among major Florida metros … a boon to apartment demand,” the brokerage predicted for 2024. However, the residential development industry in Fort Lauderdale “faces some long-term headwinds as elevated living costs adjust renter preferences and migration trends. … Growth within the 20- to 34-year-old [population cohort] is also decelerating, partially associated with higher living costs.”
Developers also face higher costs for everything from construction materials and labor to insurance and bank loans. To hold down the cost of the development, Related has hustled to get price commitments from construction contractors as early as possible. “We’re getting ahead of plans sooner than we used to, to make sure the plans are at a point where we could get the real price of a contractor, as opposed to getting early pricing and moving forward that way,” Melendez said.
Related also offers resort-style living downtown. Veneto Las Olas, for example, will feature a wellness center with sauna and steam rooms, private treatment rooms, a relaxation lounge and a Zen garden. Veneto’s fitness center will be equipped with treadmills, ellipticals, Stairmasters, free weights, Peloton bikes, cable machines and a dedicated yoga studio. A lounge for residents will have a private theater, cocktail bar, clubroom, poker room, private dining room and outdoor terrace with fire pits and ocean views. Other amenities will include an outdoor yoga lawn and a dedicated nail and hair salon. “It feels like a condo with incredible amenities. Veneto has 18,000 square feet of amenities,” Melendez said.
Most of the 259 Veneto units are regular apartments, but several on the upper floors have townhouse floor plans. “What is unique about the townhouse units is the double height, and those range [in size] from 1,900 to about 2,400 square feet,” Melendez said. “The price range for those starts around $18,000 a month.” The average size of the Veneto apartments will be 1,272 square feet, compared to an average size of more than 2,000 square feet among the Andare condos.
Like Veneto, the Andare condominium will have a stack of creature comforts for residents. “It’s like a luxury hotel; we’ve got 35,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenities,” Melendez said.
In addition to catering to the affluent end of the downtown-area housing market, Related is also developing affordable housing at Gallery at Flagler Village, a 16-story apartment building now under construction at 600 N. Andrews Ave. Related held down the upfront cost of Gallery at Flagler Village by leasing the development site on Andrews Avenue from Broward County.
