More folks are choosing to call downtown Miami and the surrounding area home, halting fears of condo buildings closing and fueling some new and novel businesses.
The latest real estate numbers show 85 percent of downtown Miami condos are now occupied -- up more than 20 percent from two years ago, when that number was 62 percent.
Resident Andres Del Coral loves his amazing view each morning. He's also happy that his condo building has enough residents to stop fears of big assessments, things like trouble with the elevator working, amenities possibly halted.
"Absolutely it was in the back of my mind," Del Coral said of those issues. "At first, this building was 10 percent, it wasn't selling, the developer had to turn around and start leasing out units."
"First of all, it has an impact on the retail and other businesses in downtown because all of those new residents need services," said Alyce Robertson, with the Downtown Development Authority.
With more folks living downtown and nearby, it's fueling new retail and office concepts.
Juan Felipe Barrenenche is one of the retailers calling the new Buro Miami in Midtown home. It's the new wave for start up companies, sharing wide-open office and retail space.
"We recycle paper, plastic and aluminum during the year and then we make the watches out of it," said Barrenenche.
For $400 you get a desk, internet, fax, phone and a conference room. You can even ride your skateboard to work.
"It's a lot better than Starbucks and this is perfect for people who are creators," Buro Miami founder Michael Feinstein said.
Feinstein says move over Starbucks, this is the new wave for shoppers and creative businesses are choosing to share this space over hanging out at a coffee shop.
