AN AMERICAN PALACE, ONE OF THE MOST EXPENSIVE US HOMES FOR SALE

Right down the highway in coastal Hillsboro Beach there stands Le Palais Royal, a 60,500 sq ft estate on four acres of waterfront land – ocean to intracoastal – on the market for $159,000,000 – so, will the entity who has that much petty cash to purchase please step up? 

Planned to resemble France’s Palace of Versailles, a must-stop-by for your next trip to Paris, features include a huge $2MM marble staircase, more than $3MM of gold leaf, 11 bedrooms, 30-car underground garage, IMAX theatre, 3,000-bottle wine cellar, waterfalls  and a 1300 gallon fish tank.  Two guest houses, each about 3,000 sq ft, will be included on an extra lot.  Under construction are a go-kart track, ice-skating rink, bowling alley and night club, all to be ready in 2 years.

Right on: you never have to leave home.  It may take months to explore the complete house.

Wouldn’t this make a spectacular Winter White House?  But, can the US government afford it?  They would need to build an airstrip, perhaps a hospital and make mainland access readily available for cars and walkers.  It would definitely raise area home values.  A good move.

READY TO SHOP FOR THE BEST OF THE BEST?

Main Streets Across the World 2014-2015 tracked over 500 of the top retail streets, and two in our area came up HIGH on the list.

Lincoln Road in Miami Beach ranked as the 10^th most expensive retail street in the United States and Worth Avenue in Palm Beach ranked 14th, tied with Boston and Georgetown.  You, no doubt, won’t be surprised to learn that Manhattan’s Upper Fifth Avenue was at the very top of the list, 46% more expensive than #2, Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay. 

For our World Traveler readership, other streets on the list were England’s Bond Street, Paris’ Champs-Élysées, Milan’s Via Montenapoleone and Sydney’s Pitt Street Mall.  Rents rose impressively on the number one street, Manhattan’s Upper East Side, to $3500 per sq ft.  Between Madison Avenue’s East 72nd and 75th street, this usually thriving stretch is reported to be a “micro-pocket of retail that is really starting to flourish, thanks to the new Apple Store, the forthcoming Metropolitan Museum of Art building and new residential product.” Retail asking rents north of 72nd are increasingly exceeding $1,000 per square foot.

Lincoln Road rents, at $325 per sq ft, which sounds reasonable in comparison, have held steady for the past year.  National and international investors have sent Lincoln Road’s rents and property values way high.  Tenants include H&M, Anthropologie, Intermix, Forever 21, Apple, Gap, Urban Outfitters and lululemon and the same shops, as well as those on Worth Avenue listed below, can be found in local malls in other Florida cities.

Rents on Palm Beach’s Worth Avenue jumped up 20% to $150 per sq ft, resulting in one of the largest global growth rates.  Worth Avenue has attracted global luxury retailers, such as Cartier, Chanel, Giorgio Armani, Graff, Gucci, Hermès and Louis Vuitton.  Luxury real estate firm, Cushman & Wakefield, reports that part-time residents and international visitors have led to the growth.

An overhaul is planned for Lincoln Road with sidewalk enlargements, extensive landscaping and new pedestrian walkways on some side streets and in back alleys where new retail and restaurant venues will be found.  A Business Improvement District will be created by assessing area business and property owners to create a 10-year long maintenance and management program.

With rising consumer sentiment and increased tourism (100 MILLION tourists visited Florida in 2014 and more are expected this year) it might not be a bad idea to get on line on Worth Avenue and Lincoln Road and elsewhere on the Friday after Thanksgiving and going forward a few weeks after.  Online purchases are expected to be about 10% of retail sales, the other 10% visiting brick-and-mortar stores.

Sounds like our economy has severely improved, don’t-cha think?

IT’S ALL ABOUT PROGRESS

 

 

Now that Florida East Coast Railway has negated objections to the train route, Palm Beach county is about to thrive.

The Railway is building communities with apartments, condos, restaurants, offices, retail shops and parking garages at stops in Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, and that will boost inventory, much needed, when completed.  More stations will also have a windfall of new development and that will bring in tax revenue, some of which will be applied to the cost of running the railroad, and revitalize rundown areas.  Residents who live in these new properties may be train riders.  Shops may have their employees riding the rails.

Tri-Rail has proposed 28 stations and new developments in those areas along their Tri-Rail Coastal Link on their eastern tracks, from Jupiter to Miami, which run almost parallel to I-95. 

Nearly 2500 new residences and 4.4MM sq ft of commercial space may be built in the next 10 years, if the Coastal Link is built.  A $1.25MM federal grant for some of the developments has been given to Coastal Link.  Broward County stations could have 4,220 new residenceds and 3.2MM sq ft of commercial space.  Tribune

\That could translate into nearly $5 million in extra taxes collected in both Palm Beach and Broward counties.

"A lot of the cities are thinking, 'How can I attract a station here and get economic value from it?'" said Jack Stephens, Tri-Rail's executive director.  These cities will be expected to help maintain and operate the stations.  Cities are adjusting their zoning laws to encourage these developments which complement public transportation.

Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach, Lake Worth and Boynton Beach created special areas in their downtowns to allow these types of developments near potential stations.  Delray Beach also has been making similar adjustments to its rules. Even as its downtown is booming with development, Mayor Cary Glickstein said there is still room for office space.  "Not 'class-A' shiny buildings, but smaller-scale buildings that honor our town and will attract knowledge-based rather than service-based employment," he said.

Young folks and older adults want to live close to public transportation where it is easy to get around without a car.  In West Palm Beach, Transit Village, a 1.1MM sq ft development will include a hotel, offices, 400 apartments, retail shops, civic and community space.

Construction will begin early next year.  One place may just offer housing while another offers office buildings. Each location is expected to be distinctive, fitting in with each downtown's character.

Positive spin here!

LOCAL RENTAL MARKET

TOUGH these days for you and those you love to find the rental of your dreams at the price you want to pay.  Rentals have gone up in the past year, especially on the waterfront or near a thriving downtown area like Delray Beach or Boca Raton.  Demand is strong from those who want an ocean view to those who want to be near amenities, entertainment and restaurants.

Many prospects call me and give me addresses and MLS numbers for units they saw online… but most are already rented!

When you see a rental you like: GRAB IT or next week someone else will.

One great reason to focus on rentals is that each year you can move to a different  “scenario” and perhaps eventually find where you want to stay, and we at Weichert Realtors, Health& Joseph, have LOADS OF RENTAL LEADS to tell you about.

If you have the information about a unit you want to see, give me a call and let’s go look!  SOME units are negotiable, some are not.  Some take pets, restricting them by weight, some do not.  Some are for age 55+, some are for all ages.

Good luck with your search… let me make your search easier!

Marilyn Jacobs

561-302-3388

Weichert Realtors, Heath & Joseph, Wellington, Florida

THREE WAYS TO GIVE YOUR CAT A PILL... AND SURVIVE

By Dr. Becker, Mercola.com

If you’re like the majority of people owned by a cat, pilling little Fluffy – otherwise known as trying to place a tiny, hard object into the mouth of an unwilling creature with sharp claws and teeth – is not something you look forward to.

If you’ve never had to do it, you’re probably thinking it’s not a big deal. In fact, it’s the people who’ve attempted this feat in the past that recoil in fear when their kitty’s veterinarian hands them a bottle of pills or a dietary supplement in pill form.

Fortunately, there are a few different techniques for pilling a cat, because every cat is a little different, and what works for one may not work for another.

Note: the following method works only for medications or supplements that can be given with food.

Pilling Advance Prep

The first steps in giving your kitty a pill or supplement should be taken long before she actually needs that pill or supplement. The goal is to help your cat learn to tolerate the handling that will be necessary to pill her, and also to take liquids and solids from a syringe or pill gun.

First get your cat used to being gently handled around her face and mouth, using treats to reward her for allowing the handling and to associate the activity with something pleasant. Make the initial face-and-mouth handling sessions short, and follow up with a meal, petting or playtime.

As your kitty gets more comfortable with having her face touched, you can begin using your thumb and middle finger to gently lift up slightly on her mouth, forming a C shape with your fingers. Place a special treat like a small morsel of meat that doesn’t need to be chewed into her mouth or immediately upon letting go.

The objective is to get her accustomed to the pilling motion and associate it with something positive.

Pilling in 5 Steps

Now that you’ve been fake-pilling your kitty for awhile, the day may come when you need to do it for real:

1.     Pick your cat’s favorite treat (you may need to try out a few different kinds to learn which one works best).

2.     Treat portion sizes must be small enough and soft enough so that your cat doesn’t chew, only licks and swallows. Chewing the pill can release a nasty taste into the treat; in addition, many medications must be swallowed whole to be metabolized properly.

3.     Have several treats ready before you begin, so that you can offer them in rapid succession once the fun begins.

4.     Hide the pill in one treat, and use your other hand to seal the pill in (so kitty won’t smell medication on the outside of the treat).

5.     Give a pill-free treat, followed by the treat with the pill, followed by another pill-free treat.

Since cats are extremely clever, it’s a good idea to vary the number of treats you give at each pilling session, as well as the order in which you give the treat holding the pill, so kitty doesn’t learn to predict which treat holds the pill.

Don’t Overlook the Benefits of Syringe- and Pill Gun-Training

It’s also a great idea to teach your cat early on to take things from a syringe or pill gun.

Start by rubbing a soft treat or some moist food on the outside of the device and letting her lick it clean. This will get her used to the feel of the thing in or near her mouth.

Next, place some moist food or tiny pieces of treat inside the device and gently push them into her mouth in very small amounts.

Once she’s reasonably comfortable taking solids from the device, switch to a few drops of water in the syringe (which she probably won’t enjoy) followed immediately by a syringe with a treat.

The goal is to get kitty comfortable taking liquid and swallowing the pill so the pill doesn’t get stuck in her esophagus. If she’ll take a small amount of broth, tuna juice, or soft food immediately after her pill, it can also help with proper digestion of the medication.

Warning regarding syringe dosing of liquid medication: A quite common cause of aspiration pneumonia is faulty administration of liquid medication either administered by drench (drench is when a stomach tube is passed down the back of the throat), or by a dose syringe. Any liquid that's given via syringe, whether medication or food, must not be given any faster than the animal can swallow, or the risk of aspiration pneumonia becomes very real.

What If My Cat’s Medication or Supplement Can’t Be Given with Food?

Ideally, your veterinarian can prescribe medication or supplements that can be given with food, because “treating” kitty at pill time as described above is the easiest and best way to keep her stress level down.

However, if the medication has to be given away from food, I recommend you practice the steps below a few times in your mind prior to actually engaging your kitty; the more efficient you are with your cat, the smoother the process will go.

(These instructions are for right-handed people. If you’re left-handed, you’ll need to adjust them accordingly.)

1.     Place kitty on a sturdy, flat surface like a tabletop. Your cat will naturally try to back away from the pill, so you want to rest your right arm on the table and tuck him into the crook of your right elbow.

Trying to approach your cat from the front will have him backing away and escaping from you and the pill. That’s why your body should be behind the cat, with both of you facing the same direction.

2.     Hold the pill in your left hand.

3.     With your right hand, place your right thumb on one side of your cat’s face on the cheek and your index finger on the other cheek and gently lift his nose toward the ceiling. This will make his mouth drop open a bit.

4.     Now use a finger of your left hand to open his lower jaw wider. This position prevents him from being able to bite because he can’t control his lower jaw.

5.     Place the pill as far back as possible into his mouth, then let go of his face, but keep him tucked into your elbow. If he licks his lips, it’s an indication the pill has gone down.

Please note: It’s futile, not to mention dangerous, to try to give your cat a pill with his head in a natural position. You will likely be bitten, which is why you must position his head vertically.

6.     Many cats actually pretend they’ve swallowed the pill when they haven’t. As soon as they get free, out pops the pill and the joke’s on you.

So don’t let kitty go before checking his mouth for the pill. Cats figure out pretty quickly we’re waiting for licking motions and many clever felines have been known to make the licking motion with the pill still in their mouth.

7.     If you can still see the pill in there, re-open your cat’s mouth as described above, reach a finger in and move the pill further back on the tongue if possible. If that doesn’t work, let kitty spit the pill out and start over.

8.     If possible, you can try to squirt a small amount of water into your cat’s mouth (see discussion above about teaching your cat to accept a syringe) to encourage him to swallow. This helps float the pill off the tongue and sends it on its way down to the stomach.