Fort Lauderdale Is No Longer “Fort Liquordale”
Fort Lauderdale was always known for its “Spring Break” where thousands of young college kids would come and drink themselves into oblivion each spring like migration.
They would typically have 6 kids in the car, a trunk full of warm beer some snacks and one hotel room. After they terrorized the local businesses for 4-6 weeks they would disappear only to reappear the following spring break to repeat the cycle all over again.
This trend put Fort Lauderdale on the map along with the production of, “Where the Boys Are.” The film starring Connie Francis (which was filmed on gorgeous Fort Lauderdale Beach in 1960) brought Fort Lauderdale massive attention but it also had a very negative connotation that over shadowed Fort Lauderdale’s reputation and its real estate market for the following 3 decades.
In the early 90’s the City of Fort Lauderdale finally said that enough was enough and began the process of changing its image by constructing the Broward County Convention Center, The Performing Arts Center, River Walk along the banks of The New River to name a few highlights. This new image began to draw vacationers from all across the globe. With that came new upscale hotels including The Ritz-Carlton, The W and The Hilton on Fort Lauderdale Beach. The city has just announced two new properties on Fort Lauderdale Beach which are called The Paramount and The Conrad. Both of these developments will continue to enhance the local real estate market with both condo hotel suites and high end condominiums. Pricing begins at $700.00 per square foot looking a lot more like Miami than Fort Lauderdale.
The days of Fort Lauderdale jokingly being called, “Fort Liquordale” are far behind this special sea side city. A recent analysis by TV’s favorite doctor, Dr. Oz and cofounded by WebMD found that Fort Lauderdale defied its longstanding premier party capital reputation and didn’t even rank in the top 10 of the heaviest drinking cities. Moderation seems to be the new normal and the fabulous new restaurants the region offers accents that extremely well. This is great news to those that own Fort Lauderdale real estate and call this unique and budding city home.
Do yourself a favor and look into Fort Lauderdale real estate. The world is discovering all that it has to offer and you won’t be sorry that you sobered up and bought your new home in the sun! Cheers!
