Sunny Isles Beach is nowadays a well-known and popular destination in South Florida, a sought-after resort place for both short-term vacation travel and second-home living in luxury, where residential and commercial investors from all over the world are looking to “steal a deal” after the world economic crisis. Our office of ES Miami Realty is based in the heart of Sunny Isles, in 170th St and Collins ave Plaza, we know the ins and outs of Sunny Isles real estate as well as its places of interest, parks and attractions and are happy to share our knowledge of the city, developments and history with all newcomers to the area. Here below you will find five interesting facts about Sunny isles, a sort of a quick quiz on how well you are familiar with Sunny Isles’ development past and present:

Fact 1. In 1920 a private investor purchased a 2.26-square-mile (5.9 km2) tract of land for development as a tourist resort. He called it Sunny Isles, Venice of America.

Fact 2. In 1926, a group of investors spent nearly one million dollars to build an all-wooden racetrack with stands for 12,000 spectators. After just one “international auto race,” the track was destroyed by a major hurricane, its wooden beams blown all over the county. This event, dubbed “Fulford’s Folly,” was a forerunner to the auto races at Sebring and Daytona, Florida.

Fact 3. Sunny Isles developed slowly until the 1950s when the first single-family homes were built in the Golden Shores area. During the 1950s and 1960s more than 30 motels sprang up along Collins Avenue including the Ocean Palm, the first two-story motel in the U.S. When the Ocean Palm Motel was built in 1950, a room cost $10.00. In 1974 a room was $20.00 per day; a room with a kitchen $30.00 per day, and a bus ride was $.50 cents. According to the architect, Norman Giller, “The developers of the Ocean Palm did not know if a two-story motel would work. Would families be willing to carry suitcases to a second level? Could a motel, not a hotel, become a destination instead of just a stop along a vacation route? With the Atlantic Ocean in its backyard, the developers decided to take a chance; they built the first two-story motel in the United States. It was an immediate success.”

Fact 4. The Norman S. Edelcup / Sunny Isles Beach K-8 public school is considered to be one of the best in the region and is currently educating students from Kindergarten through 8th Grade from all of Sunny Isles, Eastern Shores, and Golden Beach. The school opened in 2008, reducing class sizes in Ruth K. Broad Bay Harbor Elementary, Ojus Elementary, and Highland Oaks. The school has or is currently participating in: VMath Live, Accelerated Reader, Mock Elections, Book Drives, Toy Drives, etc. The school has state of the art technology that includes Smart Boards and surround sound microphones for both teachers and students. The school has Intracoastal and Ocean Views from almost every classroom in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floor.

Fact 5. Sunny Isles Beach began major redevelopment during the real estate boom of the early 2000s with mostly luxury high-rise condominiums and some hotels under construction along the beach side of Collins Avenue (A1A) replacing most of the historic one- and two-story motels along Motel Row. In 2011, construction began on two more high-rises, Regalia , located on the northern border of the city along A1A, and The Mansions at Acqualina , located adjacent to the Acqualina Resort. in 2012 – more new developments are starting to break the ground of Sunny Isles, such as CHÂTEAU – Beach Residences , Porsche Tower , 400 Sunny Isles , and two more new developments are planned for 2013 – Jade Signature Sunny Isles and PARQUE TOWERS IN SUNNY ISLES . All in all for 2013 Sunny Isles can boast of seven luxury new constructions going on, totally changing the landscape of the city and raising the luxury living standards of the area.

We hope we’ve given you a little more of an insight into Sunny Isles city past and present to get a feel of the area, for sure there are many more interesting facts and places to explore in Sunny Isles, and we at ES Miami realty are always glad to help you to visit, relocate and enjoy this unique and warm place at the Atlantic ocean shore!