Tag Archive for: office space

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Two massive towers are rising in West Palm Beach, reaching 426 feet high to clutch the tile for the city’s tallest high-rises.

They’re just the latest sign of the expansive growth as the downtown lures more businesses and residents.

The 30-story mixed-use complex, titled One West Palm, will contain 326 luxury residential units, 200,000 square feet of Class A office space, a hotel and a long list of amenities, including a fitness club, spa, movie theater and indoor tennis courts.

“These aren’t just the tallest,” One West Palm developer Jeff Greene said. “They’re certainly going to be the iconic landmark buildings in the skyline of West Palm Beach.”

One West Palm sits at 550 N. Quadrille Blvd. in West Palm Beach on Sept. 15. Developer Jeff Greene said the project will be completed some time next year. (PHOTO CREDIT: Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

Residing at 550 N. Quadrille Boulevard, the 426-foot behemoths could fit the length of nearly one-and-half American football fields. They may be the buildings closest to the sky in West Palm Beach, but the project is certainly not the only one in the works.

The “Wall Street of the South” has become a magnet for developers, especially as people migrate from the cities south of it and move from states in the Northeastern United States.

‘The Most Exciting Thing ’

Construction on One West Palm began more than four years ago, and delays pushed completion to 2024, Greene said. But his excitement for the project remains, especially as it will now join other newly developed current and future projects.

“We started out with a kind of out-of-the-way location that really was across from a bunch of boarded-up buildings in Palm Beach,” Greene said. “And now we’re sitting kind of dead center in the middle of the most exciting thing happening in all of South Florida. So it’s really an exciting time for our project.”

The AKA Hotel is at 695 S Olive Ave. in West Palm Beach, seen here on Sept. 15. This luxury hotel opened last year. (PHOTO CREDIT: Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

Greene said his vision was to create something the city did not yet have. While One West Palm will tout the title of highest buildings in the city, the surge of development in the area has produced several projects, some of which were recently completed, some of which are under construction and some of which were recently approved.

Among those projects are:

  • 360 Rosemary, a nearly 300,000-square-foot office building at 360 S. Rosemary Ave., Suite 1100. This project was completed in 2021.
  • AKA Hotel, a luxury hotel at 695 S. Olive Ave., recently opened last year.
  • One Flagler, a 25-floor Class A-office building with luxury amenities at 154 Lakeview Ave., is under construction.
  • Olara, a luxury waterfront residence at 1919 N. Flagler Drive, is under construction and expected to open in the next few years.
  • NORA, a mixed-use district featuring casual to high-end dining, desserts, coffee shops, boutique fitness spots and retail, will open its first phase in 2024. Its first food and fitness tenants were recently announced.
  • Transit Village, a mixed-use transit-oriented development with residential units planned for 150 Clearwater Drive and 203 S. Tamarind Ave.
  • 515 Fern, a 25-floor mixed-use building expected to become the largest office building in downtown West Palm Beach at 515 Fern St.

Unlocking A Formula

“Those years of great planning and foresight and investment into the city are now bearing fruit by the private sector recognizing that this is a great place,” said Christopher Roog, the executive director for West Palm Beach’s Community Redevelopment Agency. “The growth is occurring in a managed but high-quality way that is benefiting the residents.”

Roog said the city has unlocked a formula for creating places people want to work and live, leaning into the ever-popular ‘Live, Work, Play’ concept so many other cities, such as Boca Raton, are adopting.

“We’re intentionally building our built environment, like our streets and our sidewalks, to make them so comfortable and so inviting that it makes it very easy for that ‘Live, Work, Play’ concept to happen,” Roog said.

“More than 10,000 people now live in downtown West Palm Beach, and even four years ago, the population didn’t hit anywhere close to that,” said Diane G. Papadakos, the city’s director of communications.

“It doesn’t matter where you come from, you can live in the city of West Palm Beach and thrive here,” Roog said.

Growing As A Destination

The flocks of developers, Northeasterners and companies moving to the area is accelerating West Palm’s trajectory, said Jaime Sturgis, the CEO and founder of Native Realty, the real estate firm behind the AKA Hotel and other West Palm Beach projects.

“When a number of these really large funds or private equity groups or even development companies have moved down here, they want to build things that are in their backyard,” Sturgis said. “With all of that wealth that’s migrated down here, there’s also been a tremendous demand to build projects to support the people that are coming. A company coming from Manhattan, for example, is accustomed to state-of-the-art facilities and rental properties to support the company’s workforce.”

For the past 10 to 15 years, West Palm seemingly stalled behind cities such as Miami in “urban core development,” Sturgis said, meaning a lack of construction, new office buildings, retail and multifamily residences.

“The urbanization of formerly industrial neighborhoods, which we’ve seen take off on a massive scale in both Miami and Fort Lauderdale, right through Wynwood and through Flagler Village, has been very successful,” Sturgis said. “And now West Palm is doing that with Nora, which I think is phenomenal. 
 It really starts to become like a true urban core.”

While not entirely new, the Brightline station in West Palm affords more flexibility for people who live in the city but work elsewhere, Sturgis said. And with more than $70 million in Tri-Rail funds for updated coaches, accessible transportation continues to play an integral role in not only taking people to West Palm Beach to enjoy a night on Clematis Street or a day walking in The Square, but keeping them there and turning them into new residents, too.

Rapid growth, especially when coupled with the arrival of large, successful businesses to an area still coming into its own, could create an environment where standalone spots are swallowed whole by chains. But Sturgis does not feel this threat looms over West Palm Beach or anywhere in South Florida for that matter as he watches communities rally around small businesses.

“We’re still seeing a desire for local and regional tenants,” Sturgis said. “A local coffee shop, or the owner of the local bakery where the husband and wife are working there each day, that sort of thing.”

‘Unique Environment’

Clusters of new buildings popping up in a city are not enough to support people’s desire to visit or stay, no matter how nice they may be. Take it from Jordan Rathlev, a senior vice president of Related Southeast, the real estate company behind West Palm’s 360 Rosemary, One Flagler and 515 Fern.

The ability to cultivate a desired lifestyle, whether that revolves around golfing, beach access, walkable downtowns, outdoor restaurants or all of the above, is an important factor in the decision to move, Rathlev said, which is why Related considers those aspects when deciding where and how they want to move forward with particular developments.

“We start to recognize if people want to come and be successful in South Florida, there’s a lot of critical infrastructure pieces that we’re looking to address because they come to these cities, they expect some of the same amenity base and offering that you would have in some of the other world class cities around the country,” Rathlev said.

West Palm’s planning department, which Rathlev said is “very progressive” in encouraging a variety of architectural types, helps achieve that goal. But the city also remains sensible. Developers aren’t constructing buildings 100 stories in the air, he said.

“I don’t think you will ever see West Palm evolve to the scale and density of a Miami and New York, and frankly, I don’t think we personally want it to,” Rathlev said.

 

Source: SunSentinel

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The Westgate/Belvedere Homes Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) could partner with a developer to build a mixed-use project about 10 blocks north of Palm Beach International Airport.

The Palm Beach County Zoning Commission will consider plans for Westgate Terrace on Feb. 2. It would be located on the vacant site of two acres at the southeast corner of Westgate Avenue and Seminole Boulevard. The CRA owns six of the seven parcels there. The remaining parcel at 2634 Westgate Ave. is owned by Danza of Westgate LLC, managed by Charles Lesnick in Wellington.

“The CRA wants to redevelop the Westgate Avenue corridor by cleaning vacant lots and demolishing dilapidated buildings to create a safer and more vibrant area where people can live and work,” said Elizee Michel, executive director of the CRA. “It is a mixed-use mixed-income proposal that provides office space, workforce housing and modern architecture to lift up the area economically and esthetically.”

Rising four stories, Westgate Terrace would feature 46 apartments, a 5,600-square-foot office for the CRA and 5,015 square feet of medical offices. Michel said that would include 10 apartments for workforce housing, with two of them set aside for disabled veterans.

“The developers are currently working on financing the construction,” Michel said. “Depending on the amount of government funding they receive, the majority of the units will either be affordable or workforce housing. The units, even if they are not all income restricted, will be made affordable to middle-class earners to help address the shortage of affordable housing in Palm Beach County.”

The developer is seeking a waiver to allow an entrance into the project from Nokomis Avenue with a 40-foot right-of-way, instead of 80 feet as required by county code. Aaron M. Taylor of Belle Glade-based Arc Development Global represents the CRA and the developer in the application.

 

Source: SFBJ

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A recently converted warehouse in Fort Lauderdale’s Progresso Village is now 100% leased with retail and office tenants that will altogether employ about 100 people.

Called Fabrick, the former industrial space at 801, 807, 815, and 819 N.E 2nd Ave. has 24,000 square feet of office and retail. The developer, BH3 Management, moved its headquarters from Aventura to the project’s office component in April. It’s larger than BH3’s previous office in Aventura, which was only 5,000 square feet.

The other seven businesses leasing space in Fabrick will employ an estimated 75 people. The final employee count for all tenants will not be known until they have completed their build outs and are open for business, Freedman stated in an e-mail to the Business Journal.

A subsidiary of BH3, BH3 DJ Flagler LLC, bought the warehouse in November 2017 for $2.8 million, according to online records from the Broward County Property Appraiser office. Another subsidiary, BH3 DJ Sub LLC, purchased the warehouse from BH3 DJ Flagler LLC for $1.64 million in May 2020.

After receiving $350,000 in incentives from the Fort Lauderdale Community Redevelopment Agency in December 2020, BH3 launched an adaptive reuse project of the warehouse building.

Besides the incentives, the project was financed through a $5.1 million loan from New York-based Maxim Capital Group.

 

Source: SFBJ

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Downtown West Palm Beach’s growth has caught the eye of developers and real estate investors, but one district has been left out of the activity.

Now, this is poised to change. The city, working with NDT Development and Place Projects, wants to implement a set of building regulations aimed at breathing life into the area anointed the Nora District.

A rendering of the Nora District Redevelopment (IMAGE CREDIT: ArquitectonicaGEO)

Stretching between Quadrille and Palm Beach Lakes boulevards and from Dixie Highway to the FEC Railroad tracks, the area is poised to be redeveloped in a manner reminiscent of Miami’s Wynwood Arts District.

Commissioners just took the first step by voting unanimously on to change the comprehensive plan, a blueprint for growth and development, for the Nora District. Next, the state plans to review the tweaks, and if it approves them, the commission is expected to take a final vote on Feb. 7, 2022. In the meantime, the city also is working on zoning and land development rules for the Nora District.

“NDT and Place Projects, which together own 13 acres in Nora, approached the city in 2019 to discuss how to breathe new life into the district,” said Joe Furst, founder and managing principal of Place Projects. “The city had tried before to encourage other development in the area that had not come to fruition,” referring to regulations implemented over a decade ago.

Despite that effort, 39 percent of properties remain vacant, even as roughly 211 residential units and 50,000 square feet of commercial space have been built annually over the past 15 years in the rest of downtown, according to the city.

A rendering of the Nora District Redevelopment (IMAGE CREDIT: ArquitectonicaGEO)

The vision for Nora is to create a multi-section neighborhood, where towers would rise in some places, and existing buildings would be preserved or renovated in others. The northern section, with mostly vacant lots, is expected to see buildings of up to 20-stories at the corner of Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard and the train tracks, scaling down to 15 stories on lots to the east along the boulevard, according to the city. The height that is currently allowed is two stories along Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard and five stories along Dixie Highway.

“NDT and Place Projects, which own most of the vacant lots in the northern Nora area, envision a multifamily project and potentially offices,” Furst said. “The maximum proposed heights would be allowed through the transfer of development rights, including from historic buildings elsewhere in downtown. Transferring development rights means developers also would have to include affordable and workforce housing.”

But the big projects won’t be the first step by NDT and Place Projects. Instead, they would start with infrastructure improvements and repurposing the mostly vacant buildings they own along Railroad Avenue, the future main street in Nora.

Aerial of the Nora District Redevelopment (IMAGE CREDIT: ArquitectonicaGEO)

The mid-section of Nora, roughly between Eighth and 10th streets and home to single-family houses and duplexes, will be preserved. The southern section along Quadrille Boulevard could see buildings up to 10 stories, double the currently allowed height, according to the city.

NDT and Place Projects have put roughly $40 million into property acquisitions and other costs associated with drawing the Nora vision, according to Furst.

“Ultimately, the Nora District could bring in other developers as well,” Furst said.

Based in West Palm Beach, NDT’s other recent ventures include buying a West Palm Beach office tower in July with three other partners for $60.7 million. The firm is led by Ned and Sam Grace, as well as Damien Barr.

Miami-based Place Projects has ventures in Brickell, Wynwood and St. Petersburg, according to its website. It was a development partner in the 545 Wyn office building in Wynwood.

In another part of downtown West Palm Beach, Stephen Ross’ Related Companies has amassed the majority of the office towers in a bet on financial firm influx to the area. Its latest downtown project is the One Flagler office building, dubbed in real estate circles the “hedge fund tower.”

 

Source: The Real Deal

 

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Boynton Beach Mall could have half the square footage for retail businesses once it’s redeveloped, but it might add apartments, a hotel and offices.

The plans reflect attempts across America to transform malls as fewer people go there to shop. Apartments also are planned at the Coral Square Mall in Coral Springs and at the former Fashion Mall in Plantation.

The Boynton Beach Mall once had tenants including Burdines, JCPenney, Jordan Marsh and Lord & Taylor. But like other malls facing less in-store shopping and an increase in online shopping by consumers, retail tenants have dwindled over the years, with new types of tenants coming in.

“According to city documents, 30 percent of the mall is now vacant, and its proposed redevelopment would not only stabilize it, but make it a desirable destination once again,” said Bonnie Miskel, a lawyer representing primary mall owner Washington Prime.

The proposal would reduce the existing mall square footage for retail from about 1 million square feet to 482,750 square feet, and build separate, mixed-use buildings with retail use on the first floor and residential units above. Developers also would add up to 1,420 residential apartments on the site, along the north end and southwest side of the mall property, and inside the new mixed-use buildings. The redeveloped mall would include a 400-room hotel, 65,000 square feet each of medical office space, and general office space, and 35,000 of new restaurant space.

The master plan and rezoning request for the 116-acre site was filed with the Boynton Beach City Commission, which gave initial approval, but meets again on the plans Jan. 21. Some Boynton Beach residents expressed concerns on the NextDoor app about mounting traffic off Congress Avenue near the mall and that mall redevelopment plans didn’t seem to include any new entertainment venues for the community, such as a park, bowling alley or sports center.

The plan doesn’t affect Macy’s and JCPenney, the two major department stores remaining at the mall, which are owned separately, and Christ Fellowship Church, owner of a former Dillard’s department store space in the mall. The redevelopment would happen over five phases, with the first phase removing the former Sears buildings and adding a 400-unit apartment building, Washington Prime said.

In its proposal for redevelopment, Washington Prime says that “the current use of the property as an aging mall is in steady decline as it no longer meets the needs of the community and is slowly becoming a source of blight in the city.” Occupancy at the mall has dropped by 11.5 percent between 2015 and 2016, according to documents submitted to the city to justify rezoning.

 

Source: Sun-Sentinel

The Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency approved plans for AltaWest, a $100 million mixed-use project on West Atlantic Avenue.

The CRA board OK’d the sale agreement with BH3 Management for 7.4 acres at 600 to 800 West Atlantic Avenue. The developer has 30 days from the date of obtaining a construction permit to close on the land, according to the South Florida Business Journal.

Aventura-based BH3, led by Dan Lebensohn and Greg Freedman, was the winning bidder of six groups for the public-private partnership project. The development will include 43,000 square feet of ground floor retail, 21,600 square feet of professional office space, a 33,000-square-foot grocery store, 165 residential units totaling 272,242 square feet, 744 parking spaces, about 45,000 square feet of public space called “Frog Alley” and up to 30 workforce housing units, the latter of which includes 18 affordable housing units being built on an adjacent site.

The site is in an Opportunity Zone, which means the developer can qualify for a major federal tax incentive for developing the project. The federal program allows developers and property owners to defer and possibly forgo paying some of their capital gains taxes, or taxes resulting from the sale of certain assets.

While BH3 was the only bidder to not offer money in exchange for the land, the company said it plans to spend the most on development.

BH3 has to put $250,000 into escrow. The city commission still needs to grant the project final site plan approval.

 

Source: The Real Deal

According to the new 1Q 2018 The Quarterly Report – South Florida Commercial Real Estate released this week by data firm Vizzda and the MIAMI Association of Realtors, South Florida‘s multifamily real estate transactions jumped 8.5 percent year-over-year in 1Q 2018 and per-unit multifamily prices increased in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

“Increasing population, job growth and rising single-family home prices are increasing demand for South Florida multifamily properties,” said 2018 MIAMI Commercial President Brian Sharpe. “South Florida’s new transit options such as the new Brightline Miami-to-West Palm train service is fueling more multifamily growth.”

Palm Beach County Posts a Banner Quarter for Multifamily Sales

Palm Beach County posted a record 34 multifamily transactions in 1Q 2018, totaling nearly 2,200 units for $151,600 per unit. The West Palm/Riviera Beach and Green Acres/Palm Springs sub-markets had the most transactions with 12.

The South Florida tri-county region finished with 140 multifamily transactions in 1Q 2018, an 8.5 percent increase over the same period last year.

Miami-Dade County had the highest number of transactions at 65, which was in line with the third and first quarters of 2007 but lower than the strong showing in 4Q 2017. Broward, meanwhile, saw an increase in multifamily transactions because of a rise in transactions in Fort Lauderdale.

Miami-Dade County Enjoys Retail Growth in 1Q 2018

Miami-Dade County retail enjoyed strong year-over-year growth in transactions, square footage and dollar volume transacted. Nearly half of the sub-markets in Miami-Dade County had price appreciation on a per square foot basis quarter over quarter.

South Florida average per square foot valuation for retail property increased by 11.1 percent to $304 market wide in the 1Q of 2018.

Broward had year-over-year declines in retail transactions, square footage and dollar volume. Fort Lauderdale was Broward‘s only submarket with quarterly and annual growth in square footage transacted.

Palm Beach square footage transacted went down slightly but both transactions and dollar volume transacted increased on a quarterly basis.

Broward County Office Surges in Several Metrics in 1Q 2018

The Broward County office sector showed robust year-over-year growth in square footage and dollar volume. The sector posted 15 percent more office transactions than this time last year. The increase in sales volume led to a decline in per square foot valuations on an annual basis.

The Miami-Dade office market saw declines in transactions, square footage and dollar volume on an annual basis.

Palm Beach office also saw declines in all four metrics tracked by Vizzda. The Boynton Beach/Delray Beach is the submarket with highest per square foot valuation at $634 per square foot.

South Florida Posts More than 200 Industrial Transactions for the Fifth Consecutive Quarter

South Florida registered 213 industrial transactions in 1Q 2018, showing the continued strength of the market. South Florida is a top-tier U.S. industrial real estate market. New warehouses and distribution centers continue popping up throughout South Florida, adding jobs and boosting the economy.

The Miami-Dade industrial market saw the same number of transactions as the 4Q 2017 but saw declines in square footage and dollar volume transacted on an annual basis.

“While volume of industrial square footage declined in Miami-Dade, values did not,” Vizzda CEO Kris Thompson said. “This is indicative of an increased demand for a scarce supply. In layman’s terms, industrial properties in Miami-Dade are white hot.”

Broward saw a decline in industrial square footage transacted, number of transactions and dollar volume. Broward office’s first quarter of 2018 was the first quarter in which fewer than 1 million square feet of industrial property was transacted in more than a year.

The Palm Beach industrial market also saw declines on every metric other than transaction volume on an annual basis. The Green Acres/Palm Springs submarket grew its industrial transactions by double digits over the same period last year.

 

Source: WPJ

Finally, it seems, we have gotten a handle on Millennials — their desires, their habits and ideas of how to live life.

Now with Millennials a known entity we turn our attention to the next generation: a cohort that has been dubbed Generation Z. Born between the mid-1990s to early 2010, many are just starting to enter the workforce. And they will be just as, if not more, a potent force than Millennials as they make up 25% of the population.

To find how Gen Z will affect commercial real estate — both within as brokers and without, as apartment and office occupiers — we turn to Pushpa Gowda, the Miami-based Global Technology Engagement Director for JLL.

“In 2015, Millennials became the largest generation in the American workforce, according to Pew,” Gowda tells GlobeSt.com.

Little surprise, then, that real estate decision makers are tuned into what millennials are looking for given their significant purchasing power.

“But,”Gowda continues, “they now need to turn towards the next generation and understand importance nuances between these cultural cousins. This generation will be influenced, marketed to, and sold differently than past generations, including real estate, where there is a great opportunity for Gen Z to help shape the future of real estate sales, particularly as Gen Z becomes an increasingly important real estate buyer.”

Here, are seven ways this will happen.

Being Brokers

1. They’ll be very good at online cold calling. “Generation Z is the first to have truly grown up completely immersed in social media from birth – which shapes the way Generation Z makes major purchasing decisions. We’ve seen brokers begin to use social media, other than LinkedIn, to generate leads and new business opportunities.” Generation Z won’t know anything else and will likely be very successful in “online cold calling, Pushpa concludes.

2. Technology will be critical for recruiting and retention. Brokers relying on technology for their business is fairly new, Gowda says. Generation Z will expect the latest technology and will expect it to be seamlessly incorporated into business processes. “This will become critical for recruiting and retention.”

Apartment Dwellers versus Home Buyers

Generation Z outnumbers their Millennials peers by large margins, ultimately positioning them as the force driving the home buying and building market soon, Gowda says.

3. A suburbs revival. As Generation Z is just beginning to come of age, they are slowly entering the housing market, Gowda says. Yet while many are currently renters, they aren’t content staying renters for long, in part due skyrocketing rental prices across the country but more so because they are more family-oriented and will be settling down. They will be raising children. “It may not look the same as their elders’ generation, but they will need housing, and they will want to ease their work-life balance,” she says. For that reason, she adds, “the suburbs are not dead, and even though we’ve seen a lot of shift toward downtowns across the country, don’t count the suburbs out just yet.”

This will force companies to reexamine their headquarters when considering long term moves, she adds.

Office Occupier Trends

Workplace environments have changed dramatically, thanks to Millennials who have reshaped the very concept of work. But Generation Z will spur its own workplace revolution, Gowda says. “These new college graduates are not coming from environments where they sit in one place for hours at a time, as universities have adapted the student experience. This will directly translate to their expectations in the workplace.”

Generation Z is bringing with them an entirely new set of expectations that companies and buildings must strive to achieve in order to remain relevant and competitive to attract this next generation of workers, she says.

4. Less amenities, more flexibility. Generation Z is social, collaborative, and less focused on amenities, requiring flexible spaces that can be adapted to collaborative projects or individual work, Gowda says. In fact, 69% of Generation Z would rather have their own workspace than share it with someone else, while at the same time 74% of Generation Z prefer to communicate face-to-face with colleagues, so both private workspaces (or quiet zones) and collaboration spaces are important. “It will be interesting to see this play out at as Millennials become managers of Generation Z, this will likely be a good match with some differences to accommodate.”

5. Flexible roles too. “Expect Gen Z to be focused on more than just flexible spaces, they want flexibles roles too, Gowda says. Seventy-five percent of Generation Z would be interested in a situation in which they could have multiple roles within one place of employment. “Corporations will need to consider how to physically organize departments throughout the physical office to encourage hybrid roles.”

6. It’s the technology, stupid. “Generation Z is in need of corporate workplaces that support the highly interactive and tech-enabled environments they’ve grown up in,” Gowda says. In fact, 40% of Generation Z said that working Wifi was more important to them than working bathrooms. This is in line with Generation Z expecting not only technology basics but also the latest technology. ”Corporations should make certain to provide a variety of workplace sizes and styles accessible 24/7, as choice and individuality are defining characteristics of Generation Z.”

7. Free-flowing environment. But technology is just one element, Gowda says. “Generation Z demands a free-flowing environment that supports all their needs, from workout rooms, workspaces designed for any given day and spaces that build community and collaboration.”

 

Source: GlobeSt.

But for the hockey arena on it, the 143 acres of public land on the edge of the Everglades in Sunrise is a clean slate.

In the coming 20 years, the county intends to fill in the grassy blanks with Downtown West, a mix that could include condos, stores, restaurants, offices, maybe even a casino.

This week, Broward County embraced a development vision for the land, a potential playbook created by the Urban Land Institute. The nonprofit real estate consultancy visited the site, studied it and issued the report this month. To carry it out, the County Commission agreed Tuesday to hire two real estate employees, including a director of real estate.

The institute’s land-use experts said the county-owned BB&T Center, a giant venue surrounded by parking spaces, represents “an opportunity lost.’’ The consultants said visitors leave the arena after shows or games because there’s nothing there to capture them. They suggest the land be developed thoughtfully, and slowly, with a potential mix of housing, a hotel, office space, retail, a casino and the hockey arena.

“The undertaking is huge and could be controversial,” said Broward Commissioner Nan Rich, who represents most of Sunrise. “There’s a lot of potential. But we have to get it right, and that’s the challenge.’’

The mix of development — including whether casino rights are obtained and whether the Florida Panthers hockey team remains in the arena — will be determined in the coming years. The development is expected to complement what’s around it: America’s largest single-story retail mall, Sawgrass Mills, condo towers and  Metropica, a $1.5 billion development on Northwest 136th Avenue and Sunrise Boulevard that’s in the planning stages.

Sunrise Mayor Mike Ryan said he’s “thrilled’’ the county is taking the opportunity so seriously. He said the arena never was expected to stand alone, as it has since its 1998 construction. Sunrise supports development of the land, he said, and the market will determine the right mixture of uses.

“We’re a partner in trying to help find something that works in the context of what’s already there,’’ Mayor Ryan said.

The land for years was in the hands of the hockey team owners, who never used it. The Panthers, a National Hockey League team, plays in the county arena, and an affiliated company operates it. In a reworked agreement in December 2015, the county won back development rights to the land surrounding the arena. The deal increased the public subsidy of the team by $86 million, to $342 million. The new agreement aims to keep the team in the BB&T Center until 2028.

The county brought Urban Land Institute to town last summer to brainstorm possibilities for the land around the arena, and to look at possibilities if the Panthers ultimately depart. After visiting in June, the institute’s participating experts interviewed those involved in the arena and the site and conducted research, producing the report released this month.

The consultants explored three alternatives: the Panthers extend their lease, and a casino is added; the Panthers extend their lease, and office and housing are added; and the Panthers leave, the arena is demolished, and housing, a casino and offices are added. The third option would bring in the most tax revenue and income to the county, at an estimated $391.3 million over 11 years, the report said.

“Limited initial demand exists for new development on the site,’’ the report says, “However, over time, more opportunities will arise.’’

The development report lays out a timeline from now to 2040 for remaking the acreage.

“Redevelopment of the arena site will require a long-term, patient approach that will take more than 20 years,’’ the report says.

It also acknowledges that market forces, including potential downturns, remain unknown. The path to development started Tuesday with the agreement to hire real estate overseers. The expense of a real estate director and project coordinator is expected to be $275,000 a year, a county memo says.

The consultants suggest the county start by assembling a Downtown West Broward Leadership Council, a hub for public input and problem solving. Ryan said one thorny issue will be management of traffic. He’s advocating construction of Sawgrass Expressway ramps to and from the north, to help drivers reach and depart from the site. He also said it’s important that the county not build anything that would compete with or detract from nearby development.

“It’s critical to get participation from everyone from the beginning,’’ Broward Commissioner Nan Rich said.  “One thing is clear, there has got to be a lot of involvement from the community. When you’re developing something this size, I don’t want to superimpose things on people that live in an area.’’

Click here to view the SunSentinel video ‘Broward Embraces Development Vision of Downtown West’

Click here to view the SunSentinel video ‘Broward Explores Developing Land Around BB&T Center’

 

Source: SunSentinel