Welcome to The Dirt! I’m real estate, weather and critter reporter Kimberly Miller with the latest developments in the sizzling market.
Ho-hum, it’s the dog days of summer in South Florida and if you’re not endlessly circling the parking lot looking for shade or dodging Coldplay’s kiss cam, you may find yourself embroiled in a pickleball civil war in one of Palm Beach County’s many gated communities.
RiverWalk of the Palm Beaches is toying with the idea of building six new pickleball courts in an area of greenspace that some community members really like. But RiverWalk’s pickleball committee (yes, there’s a pickleball committee and it’s something we should all aspire to in retirement) says that two Realtors told it that new pickleball courts will increase home values.
There are already pickleball courts at RiverWalk, but they’re clay. Quelle horreur! Now the anti-picklers have formed a limited liability company to fight the pro-picklers because this is South Florida and we love us some LLCs. So pick a side, make your bets and stay tuned.
In other real estate-related news, two Reality TV stars are teaming up to hawk homes in Palm Beach County, there’s an old cabin in Northwood Shores that may or may not date back to 1893, there’s a plan for rooftop dining at the Offices At The Press, and take a tour of some of the reject homes in Palm Beach that ARCOM put the kibosh on.
Former ‘Bachelorette’ star joins Ryan Serhant’s real estate team in Jupiter
Jupiter native and veteran of the reality television scene Tyler Cameron is now selling real estate with “Owning Manhattan” star Ryan Serhant, and it’s like “The Bachelorette” and “Million Dollar Listing New York” had a really handsome baby who wants to sell you a house. Because I live my life vicariously through the crewmembers on Bravo’s “Below Deck” (espresso martini anyone?), I wasn’t as familiar with Cameron, who is already a real estate pro with his Emmy-nominated home remodeling show “Going Home with Tyler Cameron.”
Besides the intrigue of two reality stars joining forces, it was also another sign of Serhant’s longterm business plan in Palm Beach County which is to crush his enemies, see them driven before him and hear the lamentations of their women because that’s what’s best in life. But no, really, Serhant has opened three offices in Palm Beach County since 2023 and recruited powerhouses such as Palm Beach-based agent Gary Pohrer. Is there a franchise of the “Million Dollar Listing” juggernaut headed to South Florida? It’s already been attempted once, so we’ll see.
Rooftop dining at the Offices At The Press
The landmark Palm Beach Post building at Belvedere Road and South Dixie Highway, which is still host to the award-winning 109-year-old newspaper but also a slew of other companies, could be getting a rooftop bar and restaurant under a plan pitched by its owner Boca Raton-based Pebb Capital. The four-story building has views of the Intracoastal Waterway and downtown West Palm Beach, and is part of the burgeoning South Dixie Corridor of design shops, restaurants and boutiques.
In the same plaza is Joseph’s Classic Market, Pink Steak steakhouse, Amped Fitness and a standalone Starbucks. The employment opportunities are appreciated as artificial intelligence takes all the desk jobs and we descend into a dystopian hellscape à la “The Purge.” My money’s on the Gen Xers because their survival skills were honed from years of climbing out bedroom windows with smuggled Boone’s Farm and Bartles & Jaymes. Thank you for your support.
Old home in West Palm Beach needs a new home
A cabin hidden for years on a property in West Palm Beach’s Northwood Shores community may be that of early pioneers to the area Lucretia and Henry Hannong. If so, that means it dates to 1893. While additions and modifications have obscured much of its original construction, neighborhood historian Carl Flick has gathered enough evidence to make a convincing argument that it is the Hannong’s cabin.
The death of the previous owner, who had built a 12-foot security fence around the property, and two subsequent sales left the cabin open for inspection by Flick, city officials and descendants of Lucretia and Henry. The race is on to move the structure and set it up as a museum to the area and the pioneers who persevered without air conditioning, bug repellent or White Claw hard seltzer. It was a tough life.
Live lightly.
Kimberly Miller is a journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She covers real estate, weather, and the environment. Subscribe to The Dirt for a weekly real estate roundup. If you have news tips, please send them to kmiller@pbpost.com. Help support our local journalism, subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Pickleball civil war erupts in West Palm Beach gated community RiverWalk
Reporting by Kimberly Miller, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
