Downtown Fort Lauderdale has a bigger economic footprint than either the nearby international airport or busy cruise and cargo port.
“It’s a real powerhouse you know, packed in a 2.2 square mile site,” said Walter Duke, president of his own commercial real estate valuation firm.
Duke led a study of the economic impact of downtown Fort Lauderdale conducted for the area’s downtown development authority.
The 2025 study pegs the neighborhood’s total economic impact at $43 billion a year. That represents a 44% jump from the first report in 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic.