Two penthouses at the Waldorf Astoria Residences Pompano Beach recently sold for $17.1 million and $18.1 million, setting local records for both total price and price per square foot. The sales mark the latest milestone in a multibillion-dollar transformation reshaping this once-sleepy fishing town on Florida's Atlantic coast, where luxury towers are rising alongside a sweeping downtown redevelopment.
The city is undergoing what the New York Post describes as a multibillion-dollar transformation, anchored by a $2 billion downtown overhaul. According to realtor.com, more than a dozen major real estate projects are currently underway across the city. Sources differ on the redevelopment's footprint: the Post reports the plan covers 75 acres, while realtor.com describes it as a $2 billion, 70-acre downtown transformation.
A Master Plan Anchored By a New City Hall
RocaPoint Partners is leading the redevelopment in partnership with the city, per the Post's reporting, working alongside the City of Pompano Beach as master developer, according to ziegelbaumgroup.com. The plan is expected to bring nearly four million square feet of residential, retail, office, hotel, civic and entertainment space, the same source notes, and it includes a new city hall along with a water feature spanning up to 12 city blocks, according to edcookrealestate.com.
The city has already approved $64.5 million in infrastructure improvements tied to the project, edcookrealestate.com reports. Ziegelbaumgroup.com adds that the initial civic-building phase is targeted to run through 2034, with private development expected to continue after that. The beachfront pipeline separately includes a Soleste project with 253 residences and a Hidden Harbour project with 285 waterfront homes, per edcookrealestate.com.
Related Group's Decade-Long Bet Pays Off
Much of the oceanfront boom traces back to Related Group, which made a multibillion-dollar commitment to Pompano Beach, according to the Post, pouring roughly $2.5 billion into luxury oceanfront developments in the city, per realtor.com. The developer bought the oceanfront site that became Solemar at a courthouse auction in 2011, the Post reports, and realtor.com notes the company held onto that Solemar site for nearly a decade before building on it.
That patience shows in the numbers. Solemar sold for an average of about $900 per square foot, while sales at the Waldorf Astoria Residences Pompano Beach are averaging roughly $1,800 per square foot, per the Post's figures — though realtor.com puts the Waldorf's per-square-foot pricing at $1,600. Related Group is also behind the W Pompano Beach Hotel & Residences, the Post reports, while other developers have brought Ritz-Carlton and Armani/Casa projects to the city.
Inside The Waldorf Astoria's Record-Setting Tower
The Waldorf Astoria Residences Pompano Beach is Waldorf Astoria's first standalone residential development, according to the Post, rising as a 28-story tower with 92 residences developed by Related Group, Merrimac Ventures and Hilton. The building had more than 85% of its units under contract when it topped out in May, the Post reports, and realtor.com now puts the project at 90% sold, including both penthouses.
Amenities include a 20,000-square-foot oceanfront pool deck, spa and wellness facilities, concierge service and in-residence dining, per the Post's reporting. The tower is expected to be completed in summer 2027, with realtor.com pinning the opening to July 2027. Four Sky Residences remain available, ranging from 2,097 to 3,557 square feet and priced from $4.3 million to $8 million, according to realtor.com — a bargain, the outlet notes, next to the roughly $30 million or more a comparable branded penthouse would fetch in Miami or Palm Beach.
Buyers Are Coming From Everywhere
Buyers are arriving from the Northeast, Canada, Florida, Latin America and other international markets, per Related Group's account cited by the Post. Patrick Campbell told the Post that Pompano Beach offers incredible oceanfront property, a location between Miami and Palm Beach, and comparatively accessible pricing, though he added that a significant pricing gap still separates it from comparable branded oceanfront residences in those two markets.
Campbell also said Pompano Beach does not need to become another Miami or Palm Beach, expecting instead that it will become a more established luxury destination within five years while retaining its beach-town character. The Post reports the city still holds onto its fishing culture, pier and relaxed old Florida atmosphere even as towers rise along its coastline.
A Regional Building Boom
The pattern echoes just south in Fort Lauderdale, where the beach is experiencing one of its most active periods of condominium development, according to bythesearealty.com. The Ritz-Carlton Residences there is offering 83 units starting at approximately $2.5 million, the site reports, while a proposed second phase of Pier Sixty-Six would add four buildings totaling 339 residential units. A separate proposed Las Olas Ocean redevelopment would bring 500 condominium residences and 373 hotel rooms, and Kolter Urban's Selene Oceanfront Residences, a two-tower, 26-story project with 194 units, was completed in late 2025, per the same source.
Together, the two coastal cities illustrate a broader South Florida trend: buyers priced out of Miami and Palm Beach are pushing north and south along the Atlantic coast, chasing branded towers and oceanfront addresses at prices that, for now, remain a fraction of what those same names command farther south.
