Emerald Grande is Giving Destin’s Sleepy Fishing Village a Wake-Up Call
Emerald Grande
Peter Bos is legendary. The enigmatic CEO of Legendary Inc. is known along the Emerald Coast for building development projects that get the community talking. Bos’ vision has helped shape the Destin area over the past decade plus. After 10 years, the Emerald Grande and HarborWalk Village are now indeed, iconic.
EC Magazine was curious what inspired Bos’ vision for the Emerald Grande at HarborWalk Village project. It turns out he did his research.
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All statistics listed below pertain to sales in May 2014 and are provided by the Emerald Coast Association of Realtors, Florida Realtor and the National Association of Realtors. Local State Florida closed 10,558 townhouse and condo sales — 7,088 of which were paid in cash. 8,370 were traditional sales, 1,689 were foreclosures and 499 were short sales. The median sale price for townhouses and condos in Florida was $145,000 — a 13.7% increase over last May. National The total number of existing home sales reached 4.89 million units in May, with a median price of $213,400. |
“We did a survey and found 52 percent of those we talked to didn’t know there was a Destin harbor. So given that, what I theorized is that you had to create something that was fanciful or Disney-esque, so to speak, a building that was unique enough that someone would comment on it, positive and negative. This is not the image of Destin Harbor, I understand that. This is not the image of the sleepy little fishing village, but that’s the problem. The sleepy little fishing village had gone to sleep. It’s no different than the opera hall in Sydney, though I’m not in that same league. That’s what you have to do, you have to create an iconic structure to rebuild the area. And it worked.”
Thanks, in part, to visionaries like Bos, Destin is “on the map.” Not only do millions of visitors venture to this stretch of Northwest Florida for vacations each year, but after a few visits many of them invest in a patch of paradise to call home, or save as a second home, as the case may be. In addition to nabbing all kinds of “best” accolades for its beaches, the “World’s Luckiest Fishing Village” is also a plum pick when it comes to real estate. Destin, Florida, was listed by Forbes as a “Top 10 Recession Proof City for Real Estate” in 2011 and just last year was named one of the “10 Best Places to Buy a Vacation Home” by the Huffington Post.Â
And the market bears that out. Pending sales for condominium properties are up 10 percent, and inventory is decreasing by more than 25 percent from a year ago. Emerald Grande Real Estate reports that during the second quarter (April–June) average sales went up from $426,573 to $468,576. Condo sales for waterfront property (on the Gulf or the harbor) in the Destin area has increased by 33 percent over spring of 2013.Â
It’s no surprise the numbers are up. Emerald Grande is not a hard sell. It is a full-service condominium community conveniently located adjacent to the vibrant HarborWalk Village, which is arguably the “heart beat” of Destin. This mixed-use development has a dynamic feel and features the convenience of boutiques and retail shops, restaurants, night life, year-round entertainment and everything that comes with a full-service marina, such as water sports, fishing, jet ski and pontoon rentals. With 286 luxury residencies, a full-service European spa, state-of-the-art fitness center, concierge, valet, 24-hour security and covered parking, Emerald Grande offers resort-style living on prime real estate also laden with family-friendly amenities. Emerald Grande Real Estate is positioning the Emerald Grande at HarborWalk Village as “a destination within a destination.”Â
Looks like Bos’ “crown jewel” is giving this once sleepy seaside fishing village quite a wake-up call. You have to hand it to Bos. It did work.
