2019 in review: the biggest deals, stories, lawsuits & more

As we embark on a new decade (and perhaps soon, another cycle? Finally?), TRD is looking back on the players who played the game to win in 2019, rounding up the priciest sales in all major commercial asset classes, as well as in residential real estate.

For many in the industry, it was a year of polarities. As the glut of unsold luxury condos on the market got even bigger, record-breaking deals for Palm Beach mansions, among others, closed. And as developers and investors bemoaned how little land there is left for building new industrial space, they also closed huge deals for the warehouse properties that are still available.

The past year also saw South Florida continuing to buck national trends in retail real estate. Despite big-box store chains filing for bankruptcy left and right, leasing and occupancy rates for the sector are healthy here, with steady population growth boosting the confidence of landlords and investors alike.

That growing population is also keeping multifamily building and investment “lit AF,” as those in the Twitterverse might say. The sector continues to be so hot that more out-of-state players such as New Jersey’s Kushner Companies are coming to town to build.

In the following pages, you’ll find the priciest deals for the biggest trophy properties in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. The rankings are based on TRD analysis of brokerage data, as provided by Colliers International, news clippings and market reports.

— The top stories
— The juiciest lawsuits
— The priciest resi sales 
— The biggest hotel trades
— The largest multifamily sales
— The priciest office sales
— The biggest office leases
— The most expensive retail sales
— The largest retail leases
— The priciest industrial sales
— The largest industrial leases