[StarfishKey]

Article from The Citizen on 3 major upscale resorts building in southern Key Largo, banking on it being the next major destination for those who want tropical island luxury with easy access to the Miami International Airport. (Northern Key Largo is already home to Ocean Reef, an exclusive enclave where celebrities own homes and presidents and dignitaries stay when they visit the Keys and Miami.) :
Is Key Largo becoming resort row? | KeysNews.com

But despite this, Key Largo still has some more affordable housing options, as does Tavernier, and Islamorada is still the boutique hotel favorite (and is the chosen site of the Netflix series 'Bloodline.')

Further down the island chain, Knights Key is the site of another new opulent resort, and there are new developments in the Marathon area also.

Will all of this money change the Keys even further? Or will it slow the tourism as prices rise and the number who can afford to visit narrows significantly?

It's interesting to note that the article discusses that Keys accommodations are feeling the pressure to modernize and provide good value for the high price, as are local tourist services. Increasingly, the islands need businesses and workers that can provide a high level of service and sophistication, in a competitive market where very wealthy people are willing to put down a large amount of money to get what they want. Cheap mom-and-pop motels can no longer afford to run ramshackle rooms, when island property and utility prices are so high, and hurricane insurance costs are through the roof. Property - both commercial and residential - is so expensive in the Keys to keep afloat that owners feel the need to rent out every room available, at very high prices. And the arrival of so many upscale resorts means that in order to compete in the price range, businesses need to provide a comparable level of accommodation. This is good and bad. Days when $200/night rooms that feature a 20-yr-old mattress and a room that hasn't been updated since the 60s are phasing out - but they might be replaced by rooms that charge $300/night for a 5-yr old mattress and a plasma TV on the wall.

Today, a fried fish meal still dominates Upper Keys fare, but as yoga studios and organic juice bars move in, how will old Keys culture change? Will all the plastic flamingos get replaced by electric gates and uniform potted topiaries? Will snooty HOAs and designer dogs in designer bags replace the carefree anything-goes atmosphere that has dominated Keys life for so long? Will we get Whole Foods and Louis Vitton, where once there were no major chains at all? Will the daily Keys uniform really stop being flip flops and Hawaiian shirts, in favor of shoes with actual enclosed toes and shirts that don't feature palm tree patterns? Right now, flip flops with rhinestones on them are considered as fancy as it gets here - the kind of swank reserved only for weddings and other rare formal occasions... assuming that is that it's the kind of affair that is so formal that people actually bother to wear shoes!

Waterfront real estate values are rising, and the Keys are being heavily gentrified. Given that Key Largo is the easiest island to get to without wasting hours in gridlocked traffic on the way down to destinations further South, what is this going to mean going forward for the Upper Keys in general? Sooner or later, even sleepy Tavernier may get engulfed by trendiness. This could mean a whole new kind of diversity, in people, in restaurants, and in general cultural influences. Or, it could mean a new kind of uniformity - one that emphasizes fitting in to the mainstream more than standing out as a cohesive misfit crowd.

Will the Keys become so exclusive that they no longer can fit the people who were actually born here and have called these islands home for generations? That is a possibility that has been tested more and more since the arrival of A/C to the Keys, and a highway that connected so many of them to the mainland. The article says you can't stop "progress" - but what is really progress, and what is actually decline? The definition of each is in the eye of the beholder.

[StarfishKey]

And in related news...:
$19 million sale, redevelopment hinges on state | KeysNews.com

[daytonadewd]

Um, don't most of the people in Ocean Reef (who ARE there), opt for Early Bird dining and are in bed by 8pm?

(Guess your definition of "trendy" might be based on "aging baby boomers!" )

Does this mean late night Restaurants & Clubs will be opened PAST 8pm? Will they now be serving craft beers instead of Budweiser?

And who doesn't want designer fishing tackle, the latest furnishings for mobile home/trailer/marina living and fashion boots to wrestle gators, catch shallow bait and gig frogs? (Oh no, are you just hinting a new Outlet Mall is coming there soon?)

[StarfishKey]

Originally Posted by daytonadewd

Um, don't most of the people in Ocean Reef (who ARE there), opt for Early Bird dining and are in bed by 8pm?

(Guess your definition of "trendy" might be based on "aging baby boomers!" )

Does this mean late night Restaurants & Clubs will be opened PAST 8pm? Will they now be serving craft beers instead of Budweiser?

And who doesn't want designer fishing tackle, the latest furnishings for mobile home/trailer/marina living and fashion boots to wrestle gators, catch shallow bait and gig frogs? (Oh no, are you just hinting a new Outlet Mall is coming there soon?)

What are you even talking about? I have no idea how to decipher this unintelligible response. I don't know what it has to do with the articles posted, which are talking about investors building top of the line resorts for the 1%.

I don't know of a single restaurant that closes at 8PM. The local bars and restaurants I know of are open as late at 2AM on weekends. Even Publix and the drugstores are open until 10PM. So I have no clue who this rant is aimed at, or what place in the world this is supposed to be talking about.

I feel sorry for people who feel the need to seek out threads just find somewhere to post something negative, even when it is not actually related. We have a lot of that in the Florida forum.