At Commercial Observer’s South Florida Development & Capital Leadership Forum, R. Donahue Peebles Jr., chairman and CEO of The Peebles Corporation, discussed the region’s evolving real estate landscape and cultural identity. Speaking from The Bath Club, an oceanfront Miami Beach property he purchased in 2000 after becoming its first Black member in the late 1990s, Peebles reflected on acquiring the club as a way to confront Miami’s history of racism and antisemitism and to ensure such exclusion never recurs. On market trends, he noted that the next generation’s mobility and shifting values are redefining housing demand, predicting that “we’re going to become much more of a rental society.” His remarks concluded a day of discussions about Miami’s transformation from a pandemic-fueled boomtown into a more mature, globally competitive city—one still grappling with slower sales, affordability challenges, and infrastructure constraints.

Read the full recap from The Commercial Observer.