The Other Tower on Flagler: The Plaza of the Palm Beaches, Measured

The Ledger

Units here sell constantly by the corridor's standards, with 24 closings in 2021 alone, because roughly 250 residences across two towers produce turnover the corridor's boutique buildings cannot match. That liquidity is the first reason buyers choose the Plaza. An owner here can actually sell, within weeks at the right price, in a corridor where the boutique buildings record a dozen sales a year. The second reason is the entry price. The table below shows both, year by year.

Three Phases Since 2021

The building's prices since 2021 have moved in three phases. The 2022 run-up nearly doubled the median in a single year, from $666 per square foot to $1,216. Buyers priced out of the corridor's new towers found the one address that still offered Flagler waterfront at reachable prices. The median then held near $1,060 through 2024. It has fallen since, to $851 in 2025 and $778 through June. The Bristol's resale median next door, measured in our Bristol report card, has not fallen in any year of this period. The Plaza's median has fallen for two years running, and the difference between the two buildings is the subject of the section after next.

The Corridor's Price Levels

The South Flagler corridor sells at three broad price levels, and the Plaza is the least expensive of them. A square foot on this waterfront costs $880 at the Plaza, roughly $1,400 at the corridor's 2000s-era buildings, and $3,253 at the Bristol's resale median. The 3.7x gap between the Plaza and the Bristol reflects building age and reserve status rather than the view. The Bristol opened in 2019 with its reserves funded. The Plaza is a 1986 building with inspection and assessment costs still ahead. Buyers priced out of the newer towers often turn to the Plaza, and five years of that demand explain why its 2022 run-up was the corridor's largest in percentage terms.

The 1986 Problem

The decline has a statewide explanation. Florida has required milestone inspections and structural reserve studies for older condominiums since the Surfside collapse, and the assessments that follow are lowering prices across the state's older buildings. A 1986 tower sits squarely inside that group. Buyers now weigh the association's finances alongside the unit's view, a check that has become standard diligence for any Florida tower built before 2000. The Plaza's last two years of sales show the result: the units still sell, and the prices account for the work a forty-year-old tower has ahead of it. For buyers willing to do that homework, the discount is real, and it reflects costs that can be estimated in advance.

Inside the Towers

Inside the towers, size sets the price. The smallest third of the closings, units under roughly 1,950 square feet, sold at a median $820 per square foot since 2021. They remain the corridor's least expensive way onto the water. The largest third, above 2,100 square feet, sold at $970 per square foot, led by the $9M grand penthouse sale of 2022 that still stands as the building record. The building has 8 active listings today. Demand for entry-level Flagler waterfront remains steady while closed prices have softened for two years. Where prices settle next depends largely on the same inspection and reserve costs that drove the decline.

The active listings show where sellers stand. Asking prices span the building's full range, from smaller units priced near the recent, softer closings to upper-floor listings still asking the prices of 2022 to 2024. Buyers and sellers now negotiate inside that gap, and the closed sales of the last two years show that sellers have been the ones adjusting.