The condo boom is back. South Florida developers have adopted the custom, common abroad, of collecting big deposits for residential investments before construction. One contractor says the use of this financing method could create a building boom that could become "unprecedented." More immediately, as this year's Top Starts ranking attests, Miami may become one of the nation's first major cities to enter a post-recessionary boom.
"It's unbelievable what's going on right now," says Thomas P. Murphy Jr., chairman and CEO of Miami-based Coastal Construction Group. The proof lies in the ranking, where Coastal started three condominium projects with a collective value of $650 million.