{"id":1201,"date":"2025-10-30T10:47:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T15:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brickellsold.com\/blog\/palm-beach-development-family-with-billions-in-the-pipeline\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T10:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T14:46:08","slug":"palm-beach-development-family-with-billions-in-the-pipeline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brickellsold.com\/blog\/palm-beach-development-family-with-billions-in-the-pipeline\/","title":{"rendered":"Palm Beach Development Family with Billions in the Pipeline"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The real estate industry is no stranger to dynastic rule.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For as long as real estate has been a business, it\u2019s been a family business. That tradition is alive and well with the Frisbie Group, a Palm Beach homegrown development firm where nearly every employee shares the same last name. Decades into the business, the family is aiming for the big leagues, partnering on billion-dollar projects with Terra, Related Ross and the Trump-affiliated 1789 Capital.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They are leveling up their projects, taking bigger swings with higher price tags, but the risk rises with the reward. Some of their most ambitious endeavors have been dogged by controversy and litigation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The shift to more prodigious projects follows a quiet transition of power within their ranks in recent years. The first generation of Frisbies have handed over the reins to the second generation. Rob Frisbie Jr. and his brother-in-law, Cody Crowell, now stand at the helm of a small firm with growing ambitions in South Florida and beyond.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The first generation, brothers Rob Sr., Rick and Dave Frisbie, got their start in real estate renovating Boston brownstones while they were students at Harvard University in the 1970s. After separate careers, they launched the Frisbie Group in Palm Beach in 1996, starting with spec projects on the island and West Palm Beach\u2019s downtown Clematis corridor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Decades into the business, they were well positioned for Florida\u2019s pandemic boom. In 2020, they completed Via Flagler, a 1.3-acre mixed-use development at 221 Royal Poinciana Way in Palm Beach that includes restaurants, retail, offices and six condominiums.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That same year, they completed an oceanfront resort in the Florida Keys, called Islands of Islamorada, which the family sold last in 2024 for $72 million. They bought the site for $7 million in 2017. In 2021, the Frisbies completed an oceanfront four-unit townhome development at 456 South Ocean Boulevard in Palm Beach. They acquired the site for $26.3 million in 2018, and sold all the units of the project for $109.1 million, records show.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their current pipeline includes a 1,145-unit multifamily project slated for the former Palm Beach Kennel Club, for which they\u2019ve partnered with David Martin\u2019s Coconut Grove-based firm Terra. They also acquired 5,300 acres near Mountain City, Tennessee, where the family is planning a resort dubbed the Forge Mountain Club, WHJL reported last year.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It hasn\u2019t been all smooth sailing, though. The Frisbies partnered with Hines in 2021 to buy a West Palm Beach development site where they planned a Robert A.M. Stern-designed luxury condo project. Two Roads Development sued Frisbie, alleging it was cut out of the deal. They reached a settlement in 2023, and a month later Frisbie and Hines sold the project to Related Companies for $194.6 million. Suzanne Frisbie, Dave Frisbie\u2019s wife and a top agent with the Corcoran Group, stayed on to oversee sales for the project.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last year, the Frisbies proposed a 37-unit residential project for a 5.8-acre Palm Beach site owned by Wells Fargo. The property is mostly occupied by an underutilized surface parking lot, and the Frisbies sought to build luxury homes in the style of Palm Beach\u2019s celebrated early architects, John Volk, Maurice Fatio, Addison Mizner, Howard Major and Marion Sims Wyeth.<\/p>\n

Paul Leone, the longtime CEO of the Breakers and a partner with the Frisbies on Via Flagler, defended their proposal for the site.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho better to develop it than the Frisbie Group, our neighbors with a track record,\u201d he said at a town meeting last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, the Frisbies endured hours of withering criticism and accusations from their island neighbors in public meetings, and the project ultimately stalled out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Boca Raton, the Frisbies are partners with Terra on One Boca, a contentious redevelopment of the city\u2019s government campus. An opposition group has gathered more than 7,000 resident signatures to fight the project, and approval now rests on a referendum slated for March of next year. Earlier this week, the partners announced scaled back plans with fewer residential units and office space.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can be scary, and it can be overwhelming to work on projects that do build a consensus,\u201d Rob Frisbie Jr. said. \u201c[It\u2019s] not easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the sting of public backlash can be soothed by other projects with deep-pocketed backers. The firm is partnering with 1789 Capital, an \u201canti-woke\u201d investment firm led by co-founders Omeed Malik and Chris Buskirk. Donald Trump Jr. is also a partner in 1789, which is launching a $1 billion fund with the Frisbies to focus on South Florida real estate projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look at the Frisbie family:<\/p>\n

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