Highland Beach and Manalapan: Beachside Building Opportunities

Palm Beach County's coastal residential market is dominated in public attention by Palm Beach island, Boca Raton, and Delray Beach. Between and around those markets, several smaller coastal municipalities offer custom home opportunities that often fly under the broader market radar. Highland Beach and Manalapan are two of them. Both have beachside and Intracoastal residential inventory, both have a mix of older homes and newer custom construction, and both reward builders and buyers who understand what makes each specific municipality distinctive.

Highland Beach

Highland Beach sits on the A1A corridor between Delray Beach and Boca Raton, occupying a narrow strip of the barrier island about three miles long. Population is roughly 4,500, mostly concentrated in mid-rise and high-rise residential condominium buildings along the oceanfront. Single-family and duplex residential makes up a smaller portion of the town's inventory, concentrated primarily on the Intracoastal side and in a small number of oceanfront lots.

The single-family residential market in Highland Beach is characterized by older homes (many from the 1960s to 1980s) on lots that often have not been rebuilt. The land values support teardown and rebuild in many cases, and SouthShore has completed coastal custom work in the broader area. The building department is small and direct, similar to Ocean Ridge. Plan review runs 45 to 90 days typically.

Building considerations in Highland Beach include:

• Full coastal construction zone applies (Zone AE or VE for most lots)
• Older seawalls on Intracoastal properties often need evaluation
• Condominium development limits the single-family market, but the available lots often have strong appreciation trajectories
• The town's building department is responsive but has less volume than larger jurisdictions, which means personal relationships matter

Manalapan

Manalapan is a small town on the barrier island south of Palm Beach and north of Ocean Ridge, population approximately 400. The town is almost exclusively single-family residential, with properties stretching from the ocean across the barrier island to the Intracoastal. Lot sizes are generous, land values are high (oceanfront lots trade in the $10 to $30 million range), and the residential character is among the most exclusive in Palm Beach County.

Manalapan's building department is administered through contracts rather than in-house staff, which means permitting runs through a small dedicated process. Plan review timelines are typical for Palm Beach County (45 to 90 days). The town has specific architectural standards but does not operate a formal ARCOM-style review like Palm Beach island or Gulf Stream.

Building in Manalapan typically involves:

• Large lot sizes that support estate-scale homes (6,000 to 12,000+ square feet)
• Full coastal construction requirements with pile foundations on oceanfront lots
• CCCL permitting for oceanfront work, adding 3 to 6 months to permitting timeline
• Substantial landscaping budgets appropriate to the lot scale and land value
• Finish expectations matched to $20 to $50 million completed home values

Why these markets are under the radar

Neither Highland Beach nor Manalapan has the name recognition of Palm Beach or Boca Raton, and neither has the construction volume to attract sustained broader market attention. For buyers and builders, this can be an advantage: the markets are less competitive for available lots, the building departments are personal rather than bureaucratic, and the neighborhoods retain a quiet character that contrasts with higher-profile coastal communities.

Cost structure

Custom construction in both towns carries the coastal construction premium described in our separate post on coastal construction: typically 15 to 30 percent more per square foot than inland Palm Beach County construction. Highland Beach single-family work typically runs $900 to $1,300 per square foot hard construction cost. Manalapan runs higher, $1,200 to $1,800 per square foot, reflecting the larger lots, higher finish expectations, and logistical considerations of estate-scale construction on the barrier island.

SouthShore's approach

Our coastal work in Ocean Ridge (18 and 20 E Ocean Avenue) translates directly to Highland Beach and Manalapan: the same code framework, similar building department dynamics, and comparable coastal construction challenges. Projects in these two towns benefit from a builder who has worked the adjacent barrier island market rather than one approaching coastal construction for the first time.

For clients considering a property in either town, the pre-purchase diligence questions are similar to Ocean Ridge and Gulf Stream: what flood zone applies, what is the seawall condition (if Intracoastal), what does the buildable envelope support at the buyer's desired program, and does the land value justify the construction investment. Our [site due diligence](/services/site-due-diligence) service covers these questions for any lot in our service area.