05-08-2025
Palm Beach County condo wars erupt this summer with infighting, lawsuits, and mean nicknames
Welcome to The Dirt! I'm real estate, weather and critter reporter Kimberly Miller with the latest developments in the sizzling market.
This summer has mostly been a deep dive lesson for Palm Beach Countians (Countyites, Countiers?) in politics and I don't mean whatever shenanigans are happening in Tallahassee or Washington or Syndey Sweeney's genes jeans. No, I mean the real deal politics of what we used to call Condo Commandos, which now seems like an erudite title for a gentler time when The Real Grandmas of Century Village just talked smack behind each other's backs and ate the last pudding out of spite.
Palm Beach Post reporters have written an estimated 1,670 stories about scorched Earth condominium wars the past few months and this week is no different with "The Beast of Beach Sound" (true nickname) and the "Not so Halcyon Days at the Halcyon" (made up nickname.)
In "The Beast of Beach Sound," developers bought out the majority of an oceanfront condo because developers gonna develop and are doubling the size of a four-story building to the chagrin of neighbors who see no beauty in building an eight-story complex just 25 feet from Beach Sound Road.
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In other real estate-related news, Palm Beach County home prices slumped in June putting the market in firmly-balanced territory, a judge says the Halcyon Condominium Association in Palm Beach is so wrecked it needs a receiver, and health care companies are flocking to Palm Beach County as wealthy residents escape from L.A. and New York because, as it turns out, Snake Plissken is a prophet.
Halcyon Condominium Association in Palm Beach messed up big, according to judge
This is a total stereotype but don't you assume Palm Beachers would be good money managers? I mean, they're Palm Beachers, right? Not so says Circuit Judge Maxine Cheesman who has ordered the appointment of a receover to oversee the association management at the Halcyon Condominium Association.
A resident sued the association after it failed to have a vote on installing a $2.5 million air conditioning system and, hey, BTW, there's $15 million in expenditures that aren't accounted for, according to the filings. The association is asking the judge to reconsider and maybe it's too much to ask retirees who just want to, well, retire, to be in charge of a multi-million-dollar association budget and still be friends at the pool.
Palm Beach County existing home prices drop in June for first time in at least five years
There's debate about whether Palm Beach County is morphing into a year-round real estate market with more families looking to buy in the summer before school starts. Traditionally, June has been a slumpy month until the pandemic when prices could not be tamed. But this year, June home sale prices were down 5% from the previous year.
And this is a message from the Emergency Broadcast System; Don't panic. Repeat. Do. Not. Panic. It's likely just a readjustment after we all lost our ever-loving minds during Covid-19 and it's a good thing for buyers who have more room to negotiate. Plus, the median price is still $626,000 and the average price is still more than $1 million. So, yeah, home ownership remains unaffordable for a lot of folks.
Healthcare companies flock to heaven's waiting room
The definitive and informative round up of what healthcare companies are expanding into Palm Beach County is out with lead business reporter Alexandra Clough's deeply-reported piece on plans for new medical facilities and treatments.
Companies are coming from New York, Ohio and Massachusetts to boost their local offerings. Sure, they're following the moneyed and insured folks moving to Palm Beach County, but local providers are upping their game to compete, and that, my friends, is the American way! Also, some of us have genes jeans that are wrinkled, faded, full of holes and just generally distressed. We need all the medical facilities we can get.
Live lightly.
Kimberly Miller is a journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She covers real estate, weather, and the environment. Subscribe to The Dirt for a weekly real estate roundup. If you have news tips, please send them to kmiller@ Help support our local journalism, subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: NYU Langone, Cleveland clinic among healthcare providers flocking to Palm Beach
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