The downtown in Pompano Beach, rich in history, is having a winning moment, notching many notable signs of improvement.
You don’t have to look far to see the upgrades taking shape: The Bank of Pompano, which closed in the 1930s because of the Great Depression, is being transformed. It will soon become the Vault at Old Town Pompano, at 61 NE 1st St. It opens this fall as a restaurant, saving both the bank’s facade and the original vault from what is considered the oldest commercial structure in the city.
It’s now one of the many new businesses downtown, which also is poised to welcome more homes, more businesses and a new City Hall.
The Vault’s food will be 1920s-style, “which is a melting pot of a lot of different things,” said owner Jessica Spill-Chaples, including Italian, Asian and American dishes.
The old bank’s vault, about 3 feet tall and the size of a “cannonball,” will be a decorative piece along the wall, Spill-Chaples said.
She said she’s excited about being part of Pompano Beach’s renaissance, as the city’s western end aims to catch up with its more well-known beach side.
“Before they even know what the restaurant is, I know I have support” from the community, Spill-Chaples said. “The whole city is growing, smartly growing, it’s another step in that direction.”
The Pompano Beach Historical Society had the vault, and gifted it back to the new owners, said Executive Director Patricia Rowley.
The bank is perhaps most famous for a Sept. 12, 1924, robbery by the desperado Ashley Gang, which terrorized the state, and made off with $4,000 in cash and $5,000 worth of Liberty bonds. They forced two employees to stand in the window “at the point of four revolvers and two rifles,” according to Palm Beach Post coverage, while a trio “whisked up all the currency on the counters, even to the dimes and pennies and then systematically cleaned the vault.”
Now that vault will be preserved.
“The history should be there, it belongs in the bank,” Rowley said of the vault.
She said she’s thrilled to see a new restaurant, and the steady growth of Pompano Beach’s downtown, which has been decades in the making.
“The transformation of the downtown has been very slow,” she said. “You are not going to get everybody to agree to everything.”
“We want history to be preserved,” but “we can’t let it sit stagnant.”
(Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
People dine during early dinner service at South Bar & Kitchen at Old Town Pompano in Pompano Beach. (Carline Jean/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Downtown’s success
In the decade from 2012 to 2022, the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency poured $48 million in capital projects into the downtown — an 180-acre area located east of I-95 and west of Dixie Highway — and more money as incentives for businesses.
The capital projects included streetscape and infrastructure improvements along the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. corridor to serve as the foundation for the downtown.
Among the city’s achievements downtown:
— It turned a falling-down 1932 hotel into Bailey Contemporary Arts, a place for artist studios and exhibitions, at 41 NE 1st St.
— It opened the historic Ali Building, now used for concerts and dance instruction at 353 Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd.
— The $20 million, 48,000-square-foot Library and Cultural Art Center, at 50 Atlantic Blvd., came in 2018.
— The City Vista Apartments, a seven-story mixed-use project of 111 rental apartments with office space on the ground floor, has been built in the historical district, also called the “Innovation District.”
In January, Old Town Square, a 10-story, 281-unit, mixed-use apartment and townhouse building, finally opened at 200 NE 1st Ave.
The same developer is also building Old Town II, a 10-story, 319-unit mixed use rental property, with construction scheduled for later this year on the site of a former Methodist church and adjacent land, at 210 NE 3rd St.
“A city’s downtown is the heart and soul of the community. It is the engine that fuels prosperity, provides opportunity, and creates a sense of place and unity for its residents,” city officials wrote commissioners in a June memo.
What’s next
There are multiple projects in the planning stages as the downtown becomes a destination place.
— City Hall: The current City Hall, built in 1990 along Atlantic Boulevard, “is definitely starting to feel its age,” said Suzette Sibble, assistant city manager. The plan is to sell the land, and build anew within the downtown in the area of Northwest Eighth Avenue and Northwest Seventh Terrace. It could anchor the area, and attract other businesses, especially because there would now be “300 employees (who will) not want to get in their cars for lunch.” The possible cost of a new City Hall is $71 million, and the design is underway. Infrastructure work, including water, sewer and required roadwork, could start in three years.
— Parking: A new parking garage would accommodate city employees and business and restaurant patrons. The project cost: $21.2 million.
— Community Center: The E. Pat Larkins Community Center will be built new and larger for about $10.3 million.
— Cultural: More office and retail space is planned, and studies are underway to find the best type of “cultural facility” to attract families.
— ‘Last-mile’ transportation: The city is expected to get a Tri-Rail commuter rail station on Dixie Highway in the downtown in about eight or nine years, once the bridge-tunnel debate is settled between Broward County and the city of Fort Lauderdale about the track’s path across the New River. The city also has a “circuit micro-transit” bus that gets residents to the beach. It will eventually be expanded to address the “last mile” traveled to reach the downtown.
— Finding your way: A “wayfinding” committee is figuring out the best kinds of signs to place around entryways and around the downtown to help people and motorists find their way.
“Downtown is a unique part of Pompano,” said Nguyen Tran, the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency director.
The new downtown doesn’t have to mimic Fort Lauderdale’s famed Las Olas Boulevard, but it should have a “home feel,” said Sibble, the assistant city manager. “Definitely something that’s walkable.”
She said she visualizes “yoga outdoors, pop up markets, movies under the stars.” A consultant is now drawing up with “the best fit (to attract) families and crowds.”
Tran called this a “very exciting time” for Pompano Beach. A live webcam is expected to be set up in the downtown to document construction projects.
“Most downtowns as most people think are very dense and overcrowded, this one will be nine acres of green space, it doesn’t make you feel like you’re in this cramped area,” he said. The future downtown is an “opportunity for job creation” in what has previously been a “severely blighted area.”
Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com. Follow on X, formerly Twitter, @LisaHuriash