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It's not smart to move here -- or anywhere -- without a job, unless you have family money or a large financial cushion.
However ... I respectfully disagree that downtown Fort Lauderdale is full of vacancies.
Friends of mine work in the Broward Financial Center (corner of U.S. 1 and Broward Boulevard) and the New River Center (200 E. Las Olas). Both buildings are almost 100 percent leased and thriving, they say.
I don't spend a lot of time on Las Olas, which I consider part of downtown, but it's always bustling whenever I'm there. Same with Himmarshee Village.
Here's an article on the state of the downtown Fort Lauderdale office market that contradicts the statement that it's full of empty office space (the article is from last fall, but it's doubtful that things have deteriorated much, if at all, since the publication date). Please pay especially close attention to the second paragraph:
I work downtown Fort Lauderdale (on Las Olas) and it is not full of vacancies. Las Olas is busy. Even in the off season you may have to wait to be seated at a nice restaurant. I always run into people I know when I go out so it isn't really full of tourists this time of year.
It might take a while to find a job doing what you want (ie. if you're a professional, it could take some time to network and find a worthwhile job) but it is not impossible to find a retail or restaurant job. It's about being willing to take any job and not be super picky if there are not other options. Sure, it's not ideal, and as my mom puts it "a step down in your career," (<--- her reason for not wanting me to move away lol) but if you can pay the bills that way, who cares? It can be temporary until you find something else.
Momma_bear I think that poster must live somewhere other than downtown, because it's always busy.
... It's about being willing to take any job and not be super picky if there are not other options....but if you can pay the bills that way, who cares?... .
You are so right about that! Although, I'm not so sure that co-relating the desultory flux of Broward county's economy to the activities of busybodies in downtown Fort Lauderdale is appropriate. Downtown is an area where many of Broward's wealthier middle class people work, live, and go out to eat. But downtown Fort Lauderdale is a very small place and the number of these people who can afford to live, shop, and go out to eat there is relatively small in comparison the number of poorer people who live in Broward county. One certainly cannot do the 'downtown life' if one works a customer service job that pays $10.00 an hour, and many people in Broward county don't even earn that much. Also, just because those seemingly well-to-do people are buzzing about in fancy retail stores and eateries downtown doesn't necessarily mean that they have any money either. I know quite a few of them who are doing it though they are financially overextended and deep, deep, deep in debt. Thank God for Mastercard and Visa.
I know what the OP is talking about. I remember a time when Broward was a lot more alive and prosperous. It has changed. Now its mostly dead with a few pseudo rich people who like to show off themselves. Even experienced professional people with multiple college degrees have trouble finding jobs here---especially jobs that pay decent wages. This is largely a place of show and don't tell...just be aware that the new BMW in the driveway is rented, not owned. I definitely second the suggestion to not move here without viable employment lined up first. If you do you will regret it.
I come from money. Plenty of it. And I also earn a lot of it professionally. But I still wouldn't encourage any ambitious and educated young person to move here.
Empty office buildings and storefronts downtown? Where? I am looking up and down the street and see nothing but very busy businesses.
My office sits in the middle of Las Olas Boulevard and I cannot see a single empty storefront. The office buildings downtown are absolutely filled with tenants. Much of it is the City of Fort Lauderdale along with Firestone, Carnival, and other Fortune 500 companies.
I agree with don't even think about moving here without a job but your assessment of downtown is wrong.
Even downtown communities like Sistrunk, that were once blighted are now vibrant areas.
With the new All Aboard Florida! train station being built, it will continue to add to the thriving downtown.
Himmarshee Village is absolutely gorgeous.
Your Suntrust banker is an idiot. The majority of his clients are unemployed? Right.
You must sit inside your office and look out but not get out on the streets much. Almost every single office building in downtown Fort Lauderdale has For Lease signs in front and if you meander over to the Las Olas Riverfront, the place is closed down looking because most of the tenants, including the movie complex that was there, are long gone.
And if you call a strip of bars that are empty most of the day on weekdays as is the case on Himmarshee "gorgeous", then I'd guess you must be in the business of selling real estate in downtown Fort Lauderdale to out of towners.
Sure, there's a lot of new high rise residential buildings downtown but most of the area is devoid of both residents and tourists walking around. They must be going elsewhere for their entertainment or just stay holed up in their homes or stay close to the beach after some run-ins with the downtown "homeless" population that hangs out at the Broward County Library grounds and can be seen day and night on Broward in and round the Broward County transit station.
When you refer to "downtown" not having empty store fronts, you must be talking about the area along Las Olas Boulevard to the east of downtown because the rest of downtown Fort Lauderdale is crying for tenants.
Sure, Sistrunk has a few storefront with tenants in them but most are empty and the rest of the boulevard is full of empty lots where buildings were torn down AND Sistrunk is not considered "downtown" by most people who know Fort Lauderdale well.
Maybe you need to get out of your car and office and ride a bike or walk around the downtown area and take a long look at it close-up instead of out of an office window or through the
windows of your car.
And guess what? Just because someone is unemployed and looking for a job doesn't mean they don't have a bank account or talk to their banker about looking for a job since anything might be a lead when you don't have a job.
Last edited by HotandHumid; 07-31-2015 at 01:41 PM..
Do you live in the same Fort Lauderdale as me? Fort Lauderdale is pretty busy. I work in a large office building and it is pretty close to full. When I walk down Las Olas (which I do almost daily) I see vibrant restaurants full of patrons. Jobs are not that hard to find.
Going east along Las Olas to the boutiques and restaurants there does not give you the full picture of downtown Fort Lauderdale and you might try walking north, south or west on Broward Boulevard or Las Olas Boulevard to the Las Olas Riverfront complex and then give your opinion of how vibrant it is as there are no trendy little boutique shops, cafes or vibrant street life in that area unless you want to count the homeless in those areas who sleep in the front of empty buildings, lounge around in the park areas and hang out in front of the McDonald's restaurant on Broward.
That always seems to be this thing with people in Fort Lauderdale as they seem to have blinders on to everything except the area they live and or hang out in and forget there's are large sections of the city that aren't "pretty," due to the neglect by city government to not do much of anything to attract new businesses to areas like the Las Olas Riverfront and north and south of downtown except to allow more residential buildings to be built in the area that don't have retail or restaurant spaces on the first floors leaving the tenants to have to drive elsewhere for most of their entertainment and shopping needs.
Last edited by HotandHumid; 07-31-2015 at 02:11 PM..
Why are other places okay to move without a job? It's never good to move without a job lined up, but as I posted earlier, sometimes it's impossible to find something living out of state. I'm moving without a job, because I know how difficult it is to find one living in NYC, much less applying from Florida. I 100% that before moving anywhere, you need to have a substantial about of money saved, and that you are willing to part with in order to get by for a few months. I've been saving for about 3 years and could survive for a year without working, so if you want to move, just make sure you have a plan.
People have always moved to where the jobs are and that's why the Fort Lauderdale area has seen such spurts of growth over the years when the area was being developed and tourism increased because of the building of new hotels, shopping plazas, etc. Think about when Atlanta was the big boom city to move to for office work some years back and people poured into Houston when that city's economy was booming.
Fort Lauderdale used to be a big mecca for working class people who could move here and find jobs that are considered a bit low end in other places such as working as maids, wait-staff and other service industry jobs but were at least something to start out at.
Those days are long gone as Fort Lauderdale now advertises itself to the "luxury" market, meaning that city officials want to impress on you that you have to have a lot of money to vacation here, and now as is increasingly the case, to live here also, as it's regularly reported that this area has the 3rd highest cost of housing in the U.S. in regard to what people earn in other places in the U.S. and pay for their housing.
There are long waiting lists for public housing in this area and there has been an increase in the people in the Fort Lauderdale area who qualify and receive food purchasing assistance from the state and federal governments through a program that used to be referred to as Food Stamps, because of the amount of money they make in regard to what they have to pay to live here.
It's human nature for many people to throw caution to the wind when they are financially struggling and/or watching a large part of the population leave because of a bad job market, such as was the case with Detroit for years, and head out to "hot" areas in regard to what they heard by word of mouth or read about the job market there.
Some people head out with large savings without a job lined up because they believe they will find decent paying work if they work hard to find it and some people can't move with a large savings because of their current employment situation where they now live but in either case, people thinking of moving to this area should not be mislead into thinking that the what they see on the surface, meaning the luxury homes on the water and high rises on or near the coast, yachts docked near the beach area and the often vibrant looking but now few and far between upscale shopping areas, are a true reflection of how the average working person lives in this area
The majority of most working people in Fort Lauderdale can't live the "luxury" lifestyle in Fort Lauderdale as a large part of the "luxury" seen in this area is owned by people who either made their money somewhere else and retired with it here, or make their money somewhere else and have a "second" home in Fort Lauderdale set up for their vacations or as a tax write off, which means that there isn't much money flowing around in Fort Lauderdale, thus the proliferation of discount out-let stores and busy thrift shops.
It's now, because of the lack of many good paying jobs here, very, very difficult to try to better your station in life in Fort Lauderdale unless you are selling real estate to upscale out-of-town customers which usually means having an expensive "luxury" automobile and expensive clothing to "look the part" as you take them around to properties to try to get them to buy through you, or own a business that caters to an upscale market or work taking care of sick and dying people in the large health care industry here that it seems like everyone here who can afford it is now going to school to try get a degree to work in.
HotandHumid you have absolutely no clue about what you are talking about.
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What About Las Olas Riverfront?
