For luxury real estate developer Michael Stamm, Delray Beach was never too far out of mind. He’d spent the better part of 20 years vacationing in the Palm Beaches, all the while learning what’s where, who the biggest players in the real estate game are, which restaurants you just can’t miss. But in Delray, he says, he found something unique.
“I love Delray because it checks off both spectrums from a nightlife perspective all the way down to a casual beach town, and I don’t think there’s anywhere else in Palm Beach County that can say the same thing,” says Stamm, whose Philadelphia-based development company, Stamm Development Group, will soon be opening the doors of its Florida headquarters right in the heart of Atlantic Avenue after expanding operations to South Florida three years ago. With our region’s red-hot real estate market, he knew there would be a demand for the luxury homes developed by his company.
Stamm’s professional career started in corporate America, working in real estate valuation and structuring right out of college. Stamm always thought of himself as an entrepreneur and always had a passion for real estate; after two years of assessing values and trends, he decided he wanted to try his hand at the development and construction side of the business. This transition, he says, was not without its challenges. “It was definitely difficult. The first couple of years were like riding a bike with training wheels,” he says. Now, as one of the most active luxury residential developers in the city, he’s fully hit his stride.
“It’s fun to create an investment opportunity and then be standing on the completed rooftop deck looking at the city and knowing the years of work that went behind the scenes to get there,” Stamm says.
Whereas many big-time developers would just parachute into a new area, throw up some developments, rake in the cash and move on to the next big thing, Stamm has decided to take a more active role in the Delray Beach community.
The Stamm Development Group (SDG) Foundation, a nonprofit he founded in 2019 to serve the Philadelphia community, has already made inroads to the philanthropic scene of South Florida. So far, the organization has worked with Adopt-A-Family, various homeless shelters and some of the area’s feeding organizations in an effort to uplift those in need. “There’s a huge necessity,” says Stamm. “I know we build high-end homes … but that’s not the only reality in [Delray] nor in Palm Beach County. The spectrum of wealth and everything that comes along with it is just as drastic here as it is in Philadelphia.”
Stamm says that continuing the tradition of community service that began in Philadelphia is simply part of his company’s entrepreneurial spirit. Over the next year, he plans to donate more than $200,000 to the Palm Beach County community. As the company continues to grow, so too will the amount that it gives back.
“We’re excited as we get more and more open [in Palm Beach County] to show the community the way that we can touch families and change the youth and the existing properties and set people up to be successful,” he says, and that part of being a market leader in an area means more than just making money; it means helping out.
Stamm currently splits his time between Philadelphia and South Florida, and while moving down here full-time isn’t in the cards quite yet (he has two young children in school), he sees in Delray Beach what so many are also seeing: a potential home.
“[Delray]’s got a lot of flair, a lot of momentum, a lot of uniqueness to it that I think is really starting to appeal to people as they go there,” Stamm says. “You’re seeing more and more people fall in love with it, and it’s exciting.”
This article is from the November/December 2022 issue of Delray magazine. For more like this, click here to subscribe to the magazine.
