People Still Believe in “Old” Florida and Coral Gables Growth

This proves that the old development coalition of developers and unions still think that Florida will return to its old growth of unfettered real estate and commercial development.  The mere thought of Amendment 4 sent land owners in Coral Gables running to the city commission for building zoning exceptions for downtown Coral Gables, and the commission jumped right into the game.

What is almost certain is that it will be a decade before any recognizable real estate investment returns, and it will have to take an entirely different form; so with or without Amendment 4, Florida will never return to the old model of population growth and real estate leading the state’s growth.  George Merrick is certainly turning over in his grave.

Our leaders will have to find a new growth model based on educating people–it is people who count, not land.

Amendment 4 would have required voter approval to change city, town and county comprehensive land-use plans.

Opponents included business groups, developers and some labor unions and they spent more than $12 million. They said Amendment 4 would seriously damage the economy, cost jobs and make it more difficult to lure companies to the state. They also said it will also cost municipalities tens of thousands of dollars or more to run the required elections.

via Florida voters reject land-use amendment – Politics AP – MiamiHerald.com.

I was struck…

…by comments from a real estate expert on CNBC today (sorry I missed his name).  He stated that 20 percent of all house owners/mortgages are under water and another 33 percent are no more than 10 percentage points away from being under water.  He also stated that this will take “many years” to overcome.

Does the city of Coral Gables imagine that rising property values and new construction will save its property tax budget in the next five years?