Locals in South Florida's 'Little Moscow' say the city's nickname is built on a misconception

• Locals in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, will tell you the city is more than its "Little Moscow" nickname.
• The area is home to many post-Soviet Union immigrants, from Ukraine to Belarus.

In Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, not everyone likes the nickname "Little Moscow."

"I don't believe that 'Little Moscow' is a representation of what Sunny Isles Beach is," Jennifer Levin, former Sunny Isles Beach commissioner, wrote in a Facebook post earlier this month. "And it's not what it was ever meant to be known as, and it's not how it's marketed."

I visited the city a few weeks ago, and the Russian influence was palpable, from the Russian grocery and deli Matryoshka to the Sunny Terrace restaurant serving up Siberian-style dumplings. But in the same plaza was an Argentinian restaurant, an Armenian restaurant, and a boutique selling fashion from Brazil. While it's easy to see where the "Little Moscow" nickname comes from, Sunny Isles Beach is overall a melting pot of Eastern European and Latin American influences.

One local originally from Ukraine told me that the nickname is never used by the Russian-speaking people who live in the city, adding that the name was created by locals many years ago as a joke. He said some locals are indifferent to the nickname, while others think it's "abusable since we have nothing to do with Moscow."

A seaside escape for Eastern Europeans and Latin Americans

Back in the 1950s and 1960s, the 1.5-mile piece of island was known for its strip of seaside motels. The charming tourist town attracted Russian Jewish immigrants fleeing discrimination, according to a Sun Sentinel article from 1997. Over time, their children would visit and eventually buy property as the market developed, laying the foundation for a strong community.

As more Russians flooded into the area to escape communism from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s, some of the emigres called the area "Little Moscow," per the Sun Sentinel. The city was a symbol of freedom, and it wasn't just Russians who wanted an escape. Alexandra Peters, of ONE Sotheby's International Realty, who works with high-end clients in the area, told me that an overwhelming Russian presence of Sunny Isles Beach is a misconception, as the many Ukrainians living there get mistaken for Russians.

"There's always been a large Russian-speaking community in Sunny Isles, but they've been there for decades and many are middle-class US citizens by now," she said. "We tend to put all 'Russians' in one basket, whereas many who live and move here are from all parts of the former Soviet Union: Ukraine, Belarus, even Kyrkistan."

It's why the area is also known as Little Kyiv, Little Odessa, and Little Minsk. According to the most recent data from the Census' American Community Survey that tracked population from 2015 to 2019, Sunny Isles Beach is home 2,624 Eastern European-born residents, more residents than those born elsewhere in Europe. Of these, 1,079 were born in Russia. This doesn't take into account those who didn't answer the Census or the Russian-speakers who identify as Americans.

The city is also home to a strong Israeli community. And, like much of South Florida, there's a large immigrant population from Latin America. Census data puts the Latin American-born population at 8,370 people, more than the Eastern European-born. Peters said the area is even known as "Little Brazil."

A luxury development boom brought the rich

The 1990s also saw a development boom that revitalized the city's economy. Zoning laws enabled developers to build high-rise condos that towered over the beach. Around this time, a wealthier class of Russians began snapping up property in the area as a way to move their money in a post-Soviet economy.

In recent years, Florida saw the highest number of Russian property purchases in the US. Sunny Isles Beach was a natural choice given the already strong Russian immigrant population and the area's association with luxury thanks to the towering condos, some of whom held the appeal of the Trump brand.

Right before Russia invaded Ukraine, NewsNation's Brian Entin first reported on the concerns of the "Little Moscow" elite who worried that they'll be blacklisted from buying luxury real estate in the area.

But it's not just Russian money that flows through Sunny Isles. The city's economy has also been propped up by overseas buyers from Europe and Latin America. Three real estate agents I spoke with often referenced clients from Brazil, Germany, and Canada.

Peters provided Insider a screenshot of her website's analytics showing where most potential clients were searching from. Outside of the US, the top three searches came from were Canada, India, and Brazil. Russia didn't even make the top 10. She noted that they used to see more South American buyers, which have dropped because of low currency and travel restrictions. Foreign buyers overall have dropped since the pandemic began, agents said.

Ramon Rodriguez, director of sales at a Compass real estate team based in Miami, told me that the area is a luxury riviera for the elite partially because it's anchored by two high-end shopping destinations: Aventura Mall to the north and the Bal Harbour Shops to the south.

"When you're wealthy and living in a state of fear, you feel very free here," Peters seconded. "You can enjoy life and go shopping."