South Florida Residents Nix Firm's $502-M Offer For Their "Paradise"

A whopping $502 million offer. One very big decision to make. Should we sell our tiny beachside South Florida community?

Photo Insert: An aerial shot of the Briny Breezes Florida

As it turns out, this developer’s offer — for $502,496,000 — wasn’t too good to resist: The residents of Briny Breezes turned it down, they said, Lisa J. Huriash reported for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

“Not on my slice of paradise,” vowed Briny Breezes resident Chuck Swift.

The residents’ decision comes as South Florida faces a housing affordability crisis and a big demand for land. It also marks only the latest offer to try to buy the community, a quaint town of homes sandwiched between cities of multimillion-dollar mega-mansions in Palm Beach County.

It’s the town where residents can see from the Intracoastal to the ocean. It was in 1958 when the “tin-can tourists” banded together to buy their 43-acre property from their landlord, and incorporated in 1963.

On April 11, management emailed the residents that an unnamed developer offered $502,496,000 for the town. The email, obtained by the South Florida Sun Sentinel, warned them there was “no clear idea of what the buyer proposes for redevelopment.”

At a standing room-only meeting Wednesday, many residents refused to even think about selling.

“We’re the last vestige of Old World Florida,” said Lynne Weiner, who has been in Briny Breezes since the 1950s, and has lived there full-time since 2000. “We’re a kitschy place. I’d love to stay here forever. This used to be a really, really nice neighborhood,” she said.

“Now, it’s just a really nice location.”

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