VIDEO: Watch downtown Miami sprout from the ground

Don’t let all the new skyscrapers coming to downtown Miami fool you – the city had humble beginnings as a piece of paradise carved out of swampland during the early 20th century. Now, thanks to an animation from the International Sales Group, you can watch as downtown grows from a cluster of low-rise buildings to today’s skyline.

The video looks back as far as 1914, a year after the death of famed development tycoon Henry Flagler, when nothing in Miami was above 15 stories. As it progresses, you can see Florida’s population growth picking up speed in the mid-century.

By 2006, Miami had 26 skyscrapers that reached more than 400 feet tall and millions of visitors coming through the Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport. And looking forward to 2020, proposed projects like SkyRise Miami and Echo Brickell appear in the animation as Miami’s skyline continues stretching upward.

ISG, a brokerage based in South Florida, screened the video last week during its presentation of the ISG Miami Report for fall 2015. The report focused on Miami’s attractiveness as a global real estate market, though ISG Principal Craig Studnicky said during the event that South Florida’s residential market is contracting. — Sean Stewart-Muniz