Downtown Fort Lauderdale has a bigger economic footprint than either the nearby international airport or busy cruise and cargo port.
"It's a real powerhouse you know, packed in a 2.2 square mile site," said Walter Duke, president of his own commercial real estate valuation firm.
Duke led a study of the economic impact of downtown Fort Lauderdale conducted for the area's downtown development authority.
The 2025 study pegs the neighborhood's total economic impact at $43 billion a year. That represents a 44% jump from the first report in 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The estimate indicates the downtown area generates activity that trumps PortEverglades and possibly the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
An economic impact study of the airport has not been released since 2019. The most recent study of the port credited it with generating $28.1 billion of economic activity in 2024. That represented a 13% decrease since 2019, primarily due to a drop in employment by "related users," which are firms using the port for cargo.
"The golden triangle" is how Duke described having the two travel and trade centers so near downtown.
"You have all that condensed into one little area. There's no other place like that in the country," he said. "It really creates some synergism and some economic outputs."
The proximity to the travel and trade centers in Broward County accounts for a large majority of the neighborhood’s growing economic prowess, but the neighborhood’s job growth has not been fueled by traditional hospitality and tourism positions.
Finance, health care and real estate are among the professional service industries that have helped swell downtown Fort Lauderdale with workers. Despite being the location for city and county governments, only one in every 14 workers is a government employee.
“ The economic output really does add up when you talk about where the location of downtown is and how it's impacted by the airport, the seaport, the marine industry tourism,” Duke said. “It's not that far from the beach, as well.”
Many of the downtown workers may not have much of a commute. The area has added thousands of apartments and condominiums in recent years as developers have concentrated on creating life-work-play environments.
“Typically, a downtown will have the majority of their buildings be office buildings, whereas in downtown Fort Lauderdale, the majority of the buildings are multi-family buildings,” noted Duke “It really creates a vibrant downtown.”
Duked credited the growth of residential real estate with underpinning the expanding economic activity in the area.
Fort Lauderdale was ranked highest in the state for interest by renters by RentCafe, an apartment search website. The city came in 20th nationwide, a significant increase from the first half of the year. Rent averages around $2,700 according to various market data sources.
Buying a condo has gotten more expensive even as the pace of sales has plummeted 30%. The median price of a condo in the second quarter was $755,000, up 10% from a year earlier, according to data from Miami Association of Realtors.
It adds up to familiar affordability challenges and an uncertain future for those downtown workers who can and choose to live in the same neighborhood. The downtown development agency’s report finds Fort Lauderdale has been more successful than other regional downtowns at attracting younger workers. Four in 10 are considered early to mid-career employees, which produces another challenge to planners – how to keep those younger residents in the area as they start families.
“ It used to be, when you saw strollers downtown, there were little puppies and little dogs (inside). Now, it’s kids,” said Duke. “There are a lot of young kids downtown. The question is where are they gonna go (to school)?”
Infrastructure is another concern about keeping pace with the area’s growing prominence. In 2020, Fort Lauderdale was besieged by sewer pipe breaks, including one that led to the largest sewage spill in Florida history. Water rates were increased to help generate money to pay for fixes.
Flooding also can strike the area, as it did in April 2023 after a slow-moving storm dumped around 20 inches of rain in the area around the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood airport. Flood data firm estimates 91% of properties in downtown Fort Lauderdale face some risk of flooding.
And then there’s the uncertainty of the economy and efforts by Gov. Ron DeSantis to audit local government spending. When DeSantis rolled out the effort in July, the first stop was Fort Lauderdale where he announced the state would start its inspections with Broward County, a predominately Democratic area.
“That's something that we're all on the edge of our seat (and) concerned about,” Duke said.
