California's wealth creates a multi-billion dollar waste on Florida's Gulf Coast
Florida real estate experts and California transplants talk to Fox News Digital about why young people and families are moving to the Sunshine State's West Coast, from Tampa to Naples.
For decades, the typical play of the wealthy transplants outside the state was a direct insight into the high-octane shine of Florida's East Coast. But as California's housing affordability challenges, homelessness and higher tax proposals push some families into a state of constant “high alert,” the corporate and residential gold rush is quietly coming along the Gulf Coast.
Driven by the I-75 corridor from Tampa to Marco Island, Hollywood dignitaries and high-net-worth families are trading the challenges of the West Coast's big cities for what the transplant describes as “smaller, safer Beverly Hills,” helping fuel a multibillion-dollar housing boom in historically quiet resorts.
“This is very common, especially young people with a family. I think older people get them, they come for one reason, and that's to retire or be closer to family. But if you have a small family … I want to know what it's like to live there,” Compass agent and Naples native Madeline Tracy told Fox News Digital.
His clients, longtime Los Angeles actors Philip Levens and Carolyn Stotesbery, recently bought a home in Naples after spending more than two decades in California.
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“I flew to Tampa, St. Pete, Sarasota, I always went down the coast and I kept saying, 'No, that's not where I want to live.' And I was actually getting a little bit of a mindset, okay, maybe this side of Florida isn't what we need,” Levens recalled. “I remember that I drove towards the city of Naples, and then I took it to the edge of the beach. I got out of the car… I called my wife and I said, 'That's where we're going to stay.'
Following I-75 from California to Florida, many young people and families are planting new roots along the Gulf Coast. (Getty Images)
“He was FaceTiming me on the beach,” Stotesbery said, “and he had a twinkle in his eye, he showed me the beach and the city, and he loved the architecture and the colors, and it just really resonated with us.”
“Tampa to Naples is a unique route because it gives you, in that two-and-a-half-hour country drive that you can have … you have both the heartland, you have the art there, but you're able to live in a community that's not as suburban as it might be on the East Coast,” Ed Jahn, president of Urban News told Fox News.
Gulf Coast migration could soon see an increase as newly minted billionaires from tech IPOs like SpaceX — and eventually Anthropic and OpenAI — move their capital and residences to tax-friendly Florida, gaining more flexibility on the state's west coast as markets like Miami become overcrowded.
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For Levens and Stotesbery, their movement is motivated by what they describe as a desire to escape the concerns of public safety and urban management in large metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles.
“The first thing I see is that there are no homeless people in homeless tents, [homeless] cities and trash,” Levens said. “When you come from a city that's not well run, like Los Angeles, you quickly notice the difference, and everything seems to work.”
“I was walking my daughter in a stroller in Los Angeles and there was a homeless man lying on the floor when I passed,” Stotesbery said. “It just kept my nervous system alert, so when we got here, the whole vibe of the city made us feel relaxed and peaceful.”
Naples has changed dramatically in the last 15 years from a quiet retirement town with agricultural remnants to a luxury destination that now attracts top brands from around the world. During his first visit, Levens said it reminded him of Beverly Hills.
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“Downtown Naples has a similar architectural style to Beverly Hills. That struck a chord with me. [away]I saw that right away. But again, Beverly Hills is very clean, a safe place, but still surrounded by Los Angeles. And so you don't have that here. You've got the swamps or… the ocean,” he explained. “So Naples as a whole is a lot safer than Beverly Hills, and a lot cleaner.”
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“When I was 5 years old, OK, the Waterside Shops wasn't the Waterside Shops. It was a mall with a Victoria's Secret in it, and next to the CVS was a chicken farm. So it's changed a lot over time and the commercial aspect of it really developed,” added Tracy. “They have this special feeling, but also this extension of feeling like, 'Oh, this feels like home, this feels like something normal where I just came from' that you can't get. [anywhere] something else.”
“The East Coast has proven to be hectic for us and our family,” Stotesbery noted. “Peace was a big part of what I valued in my daughters growing up and our kids in general … If we want to go on a weekend trip to Miami, like we can go on a weekend trip to Miami or Delray or the East Coast, have a date night there, bring grandma in, watch the kids. But what do we want with all our knowledge day in and day out?”
A wave of spending from recent gains in the technology sector, private sector events and financial markets has lowered the average age of prime buyers, creating a younger class of wealthy citizens. This trend has benefited developers like Kolter Urban, which has invested more than $3.2 billion in active Gulf Coast development.
“When you come from a city that's not well run, like Los Angeles, you immediately see the difference.”
“These buyers who are in the financial markets, whether they're in cryptocurrency … or private equity, that buyer group wants flexibility, they want freedom. And a high-end urban condo living focused on the best places to go, like Sarasota, St. Pete, Tampa, down to Naples, provides that,” Jahn said.
According to real estate experts and recent transplants, overcoming reluctance to move often leads to a negative impact: Once the family has moved, friends and colleagues in high-tax states tend to show interest in following suit.
“Focus on the lifestyle, not on the house. You can make a house a house by changing the floor, by changing anything you want. But of course, it's very important that you do what Carolyn and Philip do and go down, meet the neighbors,” encouraged Tracy.
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“It's a big move from California to here. It's 3,000 miles and there are a lot of things your friends say, 'Why? How can you go?' Levens said. “So it's a tough move, but I'd say just go for it… Fortune is smiling bravely. Just make the move and things will go your way.”
“There's always a reason to pull yourself out of something like this,” Stotesbery said. “But if you decide, 'I want to change, I want a new way of life, this isn't working for me anymore,' and you stop procrastinating and get past that fear and that anxiety, it's so worth it.”
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