The ‘Economist’ finally caught up to Miami. The city where power came to play is now where power lives. And the numbers in this piece are wild. Miami’s metro economy grew 23% from 2020 to 2024, almost twice the national rate. Central Miami’s economy is now roughly half the size of Manhattan’s. Fifteen years ago, it was a quarter. More than 150 financial firms have moved here. Shout out to @FrancisSuarez for his leadership on this. I’ve lived here almost my entire life, so this headline means something to me. The article is also honest about the next part. Rents are higher than New York. Prices have jumped nearly 40% since 2020. Florida spends less on research than every other top-ten state economy. And a low-lying coastal city can’t shrug off climate risk. None of that makes me less bullish. It makes the assignment clearer. We have to make it possible for working families and young builders to stay, put real muscle behind universities, research and homegrown companies, and build infrastructure and resilience with the same urgency we bring to towers. New capital found a city generations of immigrants and entrepreneurs had already made global. Now we have to make this boom last AND make sure the people who built Miami can still see themselves in its future. I would never bet against Miami or Florida 🇺🇸

Miami turns 130 today. On July 28, 1896, 368 men crowded into The Lobby, a pool hall near the Miami River, to create a city. They cast 344 votes. The group included 162 Black men, many of them laborers who helped build the railroad and the young settlement, alongside merchants, farmers, tradesmen and railroad workers. Long before incorporation, the Tequesta lived along these waters. Modern Miami took shape because a few stubborn people believed an unlikely place could become a great American city. Julia Tuttle relentlessly pushed Henry Flagler to bring his railroad south. Mary Brickell backed the effort with her land and business savvy. Flagler laid the tracks. The railroad arrived in April. By July, they had incorporated a city. That is an astonishing amount of ambition packed into a few months. Miami was a gritty startup city before anyone used the term. There was no guarantee it would work. Just heat, mosquitoes, hard work and people willing to make an enormous bet on the future. Happy 130th birthday Miami!