The sand below the high water line is public in Florida. What a building sells as a private beach is something narrower, and it is worth knowing exactly what.
This page covers the legal position. Which building suits you is a different question. Contact the desk at Miami Dossier for the current position on any building we cover.
In Florida, the land seaward of the mean high water line is sovereign submerged land held in trust for the public. Nobody owns it, and no condominium can close it.
That means anyone may walk the wet sand in front of any building on the coast. A person walking the shoreline past a private tower is exercising an ordinary public right.
So a brochure that says private beach is describing the dry sand above that line, the furniture on it, and the access to it. Not the shoreline.
The dry sand it owns or holds rights over. Many oceanfront parcels extend to the erosion control line, and the building can control who sets up on that portion, subject to state and local rules.
The access. The path, the gate, the boardwalk, the lift down. Controlling access is most of what private beach means in practice, and it is not nothing: it is the difference between a beach you walk onto from your lift and one you park for.
The service. Chairs, umbrellas, towels, attendants, food service. This is the part buyers actually experience and it is a service contract, not a property right. Ask what it costs, who provides it, and whether it survives a change of operator.
Beach renourishment. When the state rebuilds a beach, an erosion control line is fixed and the new sand seaward of it is public. Buildings that had sand to the water can end up with public beach in front of them. This has been litigated and the public position held.
Public access points. Municipalities maintain access every so many blocks. A building can be immediately adjacent to one, which changes the practical experience considerably and does not appear in any rendering.
Neither of these makes a building worse. They make the phrase private beach less absolute than it sounds, and the difference is worth pricing before you pay for it.
Ask for the survey and where the property line sits relative to the erosion control line. This is a document, not an opinion.
Ask what beach service is included in the monthly fee and what is charged separately, and whether the operator is contracted or in-house.
Ask how far the nearest public access point is. Then go stand on the sand on a Saturday, which tells you more than any of the above.
The shoreline itself is public in Florida and no building changes that. Ask the desk at Miami Dossier and we will get the survey and the beach service terms for the building you are considering.
We hold no inventory of our own and we are not the developer. Ask the desk at Miami Dossier and we will tell you what applies to your situation, what does not, and where we would not proceed. Here that starts with the survey, which settles the question the brochure leaves open. Where the question is legal, tax or immigration, we will introduce you to advisers who handle that properly rather than answering it ourselves.