Palm Beach County Convention Center

• More Jobs

• More Money in the Economy

• More good news for Palm Beach County Commercial Real Estate!

It's been almost 10 years of planning, but the new Hilton, all beautiful 400 rooms, is under construction at the Palm Beach County Convention Center.

Related Co's broke ground on the $100Million dollar project.   The $100M is a hopeful number, but the real impact will be 1,500 new jobs, and an estimated Billion Dollars in economic activity  over 10 years.

Is it wrong, that what I'm most interested in is the 225 seat restaurant?   Not to those that know me!

Never has there been a more exciting time for South Florida Commercial real estate, seeing a solid recovery and growth.

Orin Rosenfeld Rosenfeld Realty Advisors 9858 Glades Rd., Suite 209 Boca Raton, FL 33434

Phone: 561-756-1665 Fax: 561-470-0707

The Madras Café – Pompano Beach - - Another Rosenfeld Restaurant Review!

Yes, we represent a restaurant for rent in the Village Tower Shoppes in Boca Raton, but we also LOVE going to restaurants, and sharing our reviews.

The Madras Café – Pompano Beach

Tucked away in a seedy unassuming strip center on Jog Rd. in Pompano Beach lies one of the hidden gems of South Florida restaurants – The Madras Café.

It is an Indian restaurant, and is even rated by Zagat. There aren't many of them in South Florida and what there is can be hard to find. This is no different but trust me when I tell you it is well worth the trip. First a little background in the location is humorous. I actually leased this center for a short time! Yes, along with probably 10 other brokers (maybe more?) over the years, we all mistakenly thought we would be the ones to fill the poor place up. Unfortunately due to many reasons, none of us were successful. So the center sits exactly as it was almost 6 years ago when I had the leasing about 25% occupied. Strange, but at least there is plenty of parking! The restaurant has been there at least that long and has expanded in the time they have been there. Must be close to 10 years or more, impressive for any restaurant.

I have never been to this restaurant at dinner, only lunch. It is excellent place to meet friends who work in Ft. Lauderdale since it is the halfway point between Boca and Ft. Lauderdale. They have a buffet style lunch, which I really love since I can overeat without feeling guilty. In this environment it is simply good value! Regardless, they have a bit of everything. The buffet line starts with some salads, and nacho looking dip stuff, cold vegetable concoctions and this last time even some watermelon. Then you get to the entree section, which starts with lentil soup. I really love lentil soup and this one if the spiciest I have ever had, truly excellent. But you need to be careful since there are long red chilies in there and if you are not careful and eat one, watch out! It goes great with the naan bread they bring, which is sort of like a pita bread. The entrees have everything from fish, to stuffed jalapeno peppers to lamb and chicken dishes. There are many vegetarian options, and everything they serve is prepared with tasty and sometimes spicy sauces. They have tandoori chicken on the bone, and chicken tikka masala which is in pieces. They even had lamb samosas which are like little knishes or empanadas shaped like triangles. If after all this you still have not had your fill, there are deserts, always at least 2 options. I can say that I have never had a glass of wine or beer here (since it is always at lunch) nor have I had room to try desert. That is a good thing since it means you really enjoyed the buffet. I would strongly encourage you to give this place a try! The food is worth the trip alone but the value is off charts! I think the lunch is $11. Enjoy and let me know what you think! I also love trying new places so I would also love to hear about any good restaurants you know of that I should try. Much appreciated and thanks for reading.

Orin Rosenfeld
Rosenfeld Realty Advisors
9858 Glades Rd., Suite 209
Boca Raton, FL 33434 Phone: 561-756-1665
Fax: 561-470-0707 Email: orin@rosenfeldrealtyadvisors.com

WHERE IS THIS SOUTH FLORIDA REAL ESTATE MARKET???

Wrap Up

We will find out very soon I think. The sales market has been on fire for A class properties of all asset types. Large institutions have compressed cap rates and off market deals are becoming increasingly rare. B and C class properties are starting to move now that capital has started moving again. But it is still restrictive, as is refinancing, and it is causing properties to change hands. The net leased sale market is beyond hot, with investors flocking to drugstore and home improvement stores, closely followed by the dollar stores. Clearly safe money is flowing to the higher yields these properties can provide as compared to bank investment options.

So what does it all mean? I am not exactly sure but I am advising caution to my clients, seeing slowdown in retail projections and inventories. This tells me that lots of people are preparing for slower times, especially with higher fuel prices suddenly upon us. Now more than ever it is critical to have up to date market information and advice to help you make decisions today. Mistakes can be costly and be problematic for years or even worse in certain situations. All of the above doesn’t take into account current global and national events, that can change everything very quickly (wars, problems with or in oil producing countries that raise the price of oil, gov’t shutdowns, etc.).

One must be on top of what is happening out there and how it can impact you and your business. We all have to be constantly looking for that one thing, whether it be a new idea, information, a new hire or other thing that can give us an edge to be successful. One of my favorite quotes is from Mahatma Gandhi which is “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” which is just good advice for everything in life on a daily basis in my opinion. It applies equally to business as it does to life. So make that extra effort out there today, for yourself, your business or anything else that is important to you and make it a great day!

If you have any ideas on the market or anything else that interests you from this blog I would love to hear from you. Thank you for your interest.

WHERE IS THIS SOUTH FLORIDA REAL ESTATE MARKET???

South Florida Commercial Real Estate

The Commercial Real Estate Market leasing market. Numbers here have been pretty strong, like the residential sales. Vacancy rates for all asset types (office, retail and industrial) have decreased and properties are enjoying healthy occupancy rates. Sounds good right? Well here is the info you don’t hear much of but I see often. The rents that are being realized are much lower than they had been. More concessions have been made to make the deals than Landlords have had to make in years. For office tenants with excellent credit, the resulting deal they can extract from a Landlord is often so lean that the Landlord doesn’t make money on it for years. The South Florida industrial market has been so hot that businesses are considering other options in the central and northern parts of the state because the rates have become so high and there is little supply. Everything Miami is on fire right now, which means office retail and industrial leasing, residential and commercial sales. The best news here may be that more companies from around the country and the globe are taking advantage of Florida’s business tax friendly real estate market which should continue (Office Depot) as the economy continues to slide. But with the bioscience industry still in its fledgling state and tourism being the number one revenue source for South Florida, where will the growth and jobs come from that are needed to sustain a healthy economy?

WHERE IS THIS SOUTH FLORIDA REAL ESTATE MARKET???

South Florida Residential Real Estate

The Residential Market. Seemingly everyone’s favorite subject in Florida since the beginning of time. While this is not what I do, this information is very important as it signifies many things about the local economy in general and the commercial market. The commercial market typically is 6 months behind the residential market, so it is a future indicator of sorts. It is also a monitor of business activity in many ways. Every time someone buys a house, they need contractors, painters, furniture, etc. It helps lots of different businesses and sometimes the people moving are new to the area and might need or provide jobs, bringing more money to the local economy. The residential sales numbers we have been seeing are generally positive and have been for some time now. With so many people having all their money tied up in their homes, it is crucial for them that this good news continues and it is a big reflection on consumer confidence since the value of their homes are higher. As we all know, as people’s personal incomes go so does the economy.

There have been increasing numbers monthly for sales prices, volume and velocity, and there is a more streamlined foreclosure process bringing product to the market faster. It all sounds good right? Not exactly, and here is where the conflicting info comes it. Right now Florida is leading the nation is residential cash sales. Why? One of the biggest reasons is the global economy. We are seeing a huge influx of money from Russia, China, Brazil, the UK and of course Canada. The reason is that with their weakened economies, people from those places are seeking safe investments in a stable country and market. So these international cash buyers are not even moving into the apartments in many cases, seeking to either flip, hold the property or rent it. This doesn’t help the economy and inflates the residential market with unrealistic data. Speaking of which, the rental market deserves mention. It is booming now, and has even revived the construction and development industries to an extent. The underlying reason for this is that since so many people have lost their homes they no longer have the credit or capital to buy them. So they have to rent, not necessarily a good thing especially when there are historically low interest rates available to buyers. It is worth noting that Florida is once again leading the nation in foreclosed homes and high end foreclosures. 

Bottom line – is this good market? Like everything, it is good for some and bad for others - a true mixed bag. I think it is not very good, and that the numbers and data have been very misleading. If you are not informed it could cause you to make some poor decisions. That being said, I prefer a positive message highlighting the good news out there than the opposite. With anything really so local and national television news please listen up! Can you imagine a news program that highlighted all the good things that happened in a day instead of all the bad? It would be great!

WHERE IS THIS REAL ESTATE MARKET??? Intro

The market, just like life, has the good and the bad. And these days it is just as confusing as ever with contradictions at every turn even for someone like me whose given profession is real estate broker (who reads a lot and has been doing it for 19 years). Let’s look at the major factors and information involved in the real estate market today.

Review D’Angelo Pizza Wine Bar & Tapas

Over the weekend I tried this new place out in Delray Beach. It is really off the beaten path on Jog Rd. just North of Linton. The small center it is in is best known for mainstay Henry’s. The place where the actual restaurant is has turned over many times in the past couple of years. Most recently Solita, it was previously Gotham City and a few other concepts before D’Angelo’s. It is worth mentioning a little background on this place. The mother restaurant is located on Palmetto Park Rd. East of Federal and has been a mainstay and one of the finest restaurants in Boca for many years (I just went there for my first time a few weeks ago which is what lead me to this place). There is a wine bar/tapas concept in both Ft. Lauderdale and Weston so this is the 3^rd location. That tells me that these people know what they are doing and that they must be good at it.

The place is very modern looking and has a huge outside seating area where we sat. The service was very good and the wine selection impressive by the glass and bottle. But most importantly, the food was excellent. We started with 2 pizzas, a regular margarita and a whole wheat margarita both with half mushroom (I was responsible for this, I like mushrooms on my pizza). The whole wheat pizza was the best I have ever had, and was even better than the regular. This is no small praise, as I consider myself a pizza expert. My credentials are growing up in New York and a solid track record of trial and error covering the globe. We also had 2 shrimp special appetizers, one with bruschetta and a tomato sauce with beans and the one I had on a skewer with white wine, bread crumbs and olive oil. The skewers were excellent, and my wife enjoyed the other but not as much. We had a couple of minestrone soups which were great. We also had some veal meatballs and turkey and chicken meatballs. My parents enjoyed the veal but we were disappointed by the other meatballs. I quickly decided this was because they were served in a broth and beans. We got some extra tomato sauce and presto they were all of a sudden excellent. If you thought we were done, guess again. Had a spinach salad with salmon and a couple of orders of gnocchi with tomato sauce and smoked mozzarella. My dad actually was disappointed with the salad, thinking the fish was overcooked and the salad oily. But the gnocchi was great and served in little pans with handles that I really liked. I think they baked it.

After a short break it was onto desert. My mom ordered the lemon tart, we got a table Nutella pizza, a piece of chocolate cake and a couple of homemade gelatos for my girls. I tried the gelato, which was really good, the tart which was OK and the Nutella pizza which was very good. They also had Taylor 20 year tawny port, a huge plus to go with the deserts. Everyone was very impressed with all aspects of the meal. We were happy to discover that they also do take out. We all look forward to coming back here and are very thankful that this is pretty close to our house. The only downside is that they don’t take reservations but they did for us because we had a large party. I would be curious to see what you think or if you have any suggestions on places that I need to try!

And don't forget.... Rosenfeld Realty Advisors represents a fantastic Restaurant for Rent in Boca Raton.. Check it out.

Orin Rosenfeld

President

Rosenfeld Realty Advisors

9858 Glades Rd. Suite 209

Boca Raton, FL 33434

Phone: 561-756-1665

Fax: 561-470-0707

Web: www.rosenfeldrealtyadvisors.com