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Miramar Beach · Condo Building

The Empress Condos for Sale

The Empress, on Scenic Gulf Drive in Miramar Beach, owns no ground that touches the water. Its common parcel stops about 340 feet short of the shoreline, and the recorded ground south of it belongs to the Majestic Sun owners association. Whatever beach right its 44 unit parcels carry sits in a recorded instrument the association can produce.

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Ask About The EmpressMarket AnalyticsAll Miramar Beach Buildings

No

Gulf Front

Guest rating

4.7 out of 5

From 177 guest reviews on Airbnb and Vrbo

Across 9 rental listings with guest reviews in this building

  • Airbnb 5.0
  • Vrbo 4.7
See what guests rate

About The Empress

The Empress is unusually legible on the public record. Walton County lists forty four condominium unit parcels and one common area parcel at a single address, 1272 Scenic Gulf Drive in Miramar Beach. Forty of those parcels carry designators that number them by level, 201 through 1104 in an unbroken pattern of four to a level, second level through eleventh, with nothing numbered on the ground floor at all. The remaining four are designated P-1 through P-4 in their legal descriptions, which give them no level, while the county's address field numbers those same four parcels 1201 through 1204. Because the two fields disagree, a sale of one of those four does not line up with the forty numbered by level, and a buyer comparing prices on The Empress market figures keeps those sales apart. The numbering hints at the building's height without settling it. No agency record gives a story count for this address, so a buyer who needs one asks the association.

Empress Owners Association, Inc. has been active on the Florida register since April 1997 and gives the building itself as its principal address. That is rare among the Miramar Beach condominiums along this stretch, where an association of this size is usually run from a management company's office somewhere else.

The beach arrangement is the claim worth reading slowly. The association's own common parcel stops roughly 340 feet short of the water. Where anything is recorded south and east of it, the parcel belongs to the Majestic Sun condominium and its owners association, and past that the roll shows no parcel at all before the Gulf shoreline that federal hydrography maps about 390 feet from these residences. Any right these owners hold in the sand therefore comes from recorded paper, because the association owns no ground there. A buyer should ask the association for that instrument by name and read what it grants to owners and to guests.

HOA & Fees

What is the HOA fee at The Empress?

As of November 11, 2026, the 3 The Empress condos for sale that report a fee on the MLS list HOA fees from $1,324 to $1,838 a month, with a median of $1,324 a month. Fees vary with unit size and type, so the fee for a specific residence is the one its listing and the association state.

Based on 3 active MLS listings that report an HOA fee. Fees billed quarterly, twice a year or yearly are shown as a monthly equivalent. See the listings

Empress Owners Association, Inc. has held its Florida charter since April 1997 and, unusually for a building this size, gives the building's own street address as its principal address, with a Fort Walton Beach attorney as registered agent. Two documents deserve to be read ahead of everything else. The first is whichever recorded instrument carries the beach right, because the association's parcel does not reach the water and the ground recorded between it and the sand belongs to a different condominium's owners association. An easement or covenant can be narrower than a marketing sentence, can restrict particular stretches, and can be amended. The second is the milestone inspection file. Florida keys that schedule to the date the certificate of occupancy was issued for the building, and Walton County's assessment roll carries no construction year for any parcel at this address, so the association is the only party who can supply that date and the deadline it produces. Ask for the report and its findings rather than for a reassurance.

Rental Policy

Short-term rentals: allowed. Confirm the current minimum stay and registration with the association.

At The Empress, the lodging license question lands on each owner. Florida lets a condo association skip a lodging license only when it owns no unit classed as a vacation rental. That leaves licensing with the unit and its owner, not the building. Read The Empress declaration and current rules on occupancy and guests. Ask what the recorded beach document allows a guest, as opposed to an owner. Then confirm state and Walton County rules for your plans.

What guests say about staying here

Combined Airbnb and Vrbo ratings for the vacation rentals in The Empress.

4.7 out of 5

177 reviews across 9 reviewed listings

  • Airbnb 5.0 from 20 reviews on 1 reviewed listing
  • Vrbo 4.7 from 157 reviews on 8 reviewed listings

These ratings describe the vacation rentals in this building, not any one unit for sale.

Market data by Key Data · 11 units tracked in this building · Nov 2025 to Nov 2026

  • Forty four unit parcels, forty of them numbered four to a level
  • Numbered designators running from a second level to an eleventh
  • Association registered office at the building itself
  • Flood mapping that changes across the property

Live Inventory

Active Listings at The Empress

Short-Term Rental Eligible

$1,100,000

1272 Scenic Gulf Drive Unit 502

Miramar Beach, FL 32550

3 bd 3 ba 1,926 sqft
LuxuryShort-Term Rental Eligible

$1,650,000

1272 Scenic Gulf Drive Unit 304

Miramar Beach, FL 32550

3 bd 3 ba 2,675 sqft
Short-Term Rental Eligible

$1,299,000

1272 Scenic Gulf Drive Unit 603

Miramar Beach, FL 32550

3 bd 3 ba 1,926 sqft

The short-term rental badge above is not a permission of record. It reflects the MLS short-term-rental field where a listing discloses one, and otherwise where the home sits. Confirm the association's current rules and the local registration requirement before relying on it.

Building Answers

The Empress FAQ

How much is the HOA fee at The Empress?

As of November 11, 2026, the 3 The Empress condos for sale that report a fee on the MLS list HOA fees from $1,324 to $1,838 a month, with a median of $1,324 a month. Fees vary with unit size and type, so the fee for a specific residence is the one its listing and the association state.

Does The Empress association own the beach south of 1272 Scenic Gulf Drive?

No, the record shows no beach ground owned by the association. Its common parcel stops roughly 340 feet short of the water, the ground recorded south and east of it belongs to the Majestic Sun condominium and its owners association, and no parcel at all appears between that and the Gulf shoreline federal hydrography maps about 390 feet away. Any beach right here rests on a recorded instrument, so a buyer asks the association for that instrument by name.

Why are four Empress parcels designated P-1 through P-4 while forty run from 201 to 1104?

The Empress holds forty four unit parcels plus one common area parcel, and only forty of them are numbered by level. Those forty carry designators running 201 to 1104 in groups of four, placing four on each of ten numbered levels beginning above the ground floor. The other four are designated P-1 through P-4 in their legal descriptions, which give them no level at all, though the county's address field numbers the same four parcels 1201 through 1204. Both fields sit on the county roll, and neither one cancels the other. A designator marks a level without measuring the building, and no agency record gives a story count for 1272 Scenic Gulf Drive, so the association is the party to ask.

What does the flood map say at 1272 Scenic Gulf Drive?

The flood map changes from parcel to parcel at 1272 Scenic Gulf Drive, so no single answer covers the address. Read by the ground each parcel actually covers rather than by one test point, sixteen of the forty four unit parcels sit wholly in the area of minimal flood hazard, twelve sit wholly in the shaded 0.2 percent band, and sixteen carry both because the edge between those two passes through the building's footprint. None of the forty four carries special flood hazard ground. The association's own common area parcel is the exception and has to be asked about separately: it covers roughly 71,000 square feet, about 395 by 375 feet, and about 21 percent of that ground is Zone A, which is a special flood hazard area. A buyer should pull the flood determination for the exact parcel, and for the common ground as well.

Does the county roll give a construction year for The Empress, and when is its milestone inspection due?

No, the roll carries no construction year for any parcel at 1272 Scenic Gulf Drive, and the association's April 1997 charter is a corporate date rather than a build date. Florida keys the milestone inspection to the date the certificate of occupancy was issued, so only Empress Owners Association, Inc. can supply that date and the deadline it sets. A buyer should ask for the inspection report and its findings in writing.

Can an Empress residence be rented, and does a guest share the owner's beach right?

Rental use at The Empress is set by its declaration and current rules, which the association holds. A guest's place on the sand is a separate matter, governed by the recorded beach instrument, which may treat guests differently from owners. Under Florida's lodging law the license question falls on each residence and its owner rather than on the association, so a buyer confirms the state and county position for the intended use.

Sources

Other Miramar Beach Condo Buildings

Miramar Beach Communities

Communities in This Market

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