Pickleball by day and concerts by night.
Fort Lauderdale’s popular Holiday Park just about has it all as far as parks go. But it’s still missing one key amenity: A big 1,000-space parking garage. And that’s a problem, city officials say.
The 93-acre park is bringing in big crowds these days, thanks to the Florida Panthers’ new Baptist Health IcePlex along with The Parker and War Memorial Auditorium. But people in search of parking wind up heading to unpaved grassy lots that turn mucky and slippery when it rains.
If Fort Lauderdale were to build the parking garage, it would take at least four years and cost more than $37 million, city officials say.
But there might be another option.
Two competing firms — Holiday Park Parking Partners and Park Place Garages — have come forward with unsolicited proposals offering to build a garage at Holiday Park as part of a public-private partnership.
Both firms say they can get a garage built in 12 months after acquiring the required approvals and permits.
Under each proposal, the city would pay annual lease payments to the developer while retaining the option to maintain and operate the parking garage. The city would also have the option to charge for parking, set rates and retain parking revenue.
During a recent meeting, Commissioner Steve Glassman said he expects the city will receive one or two more unsolicited proposals in the coming months.
“I think that we’ve delayed this for a long time,” Glassman said of the city parking garage that never got built. “We probably should have already had something there in this park to accommodate The Parker, War Memorial, the Panthers, the (new YMCA) coming. There’s so much happening in that park. I’m in favor of moving forward as quickly as possible and evaluating these proposals and seeing if they make sense for us.”
To help improve the parking situation at Holiday Park, Fort Lauderdale is currently working on a plan to pave the grassy parcel on the south end of the park.
The new parking lot would have anywhere from 300 to 400 spaces. But under the city’s current timeline, the project would be done by fall 2026.
Mayor Dean Trantalis objected to the drawn-out timeline.
“It shouldn’t take that long to put some asphalt on a parking lot,” he said.
If the commission were to sign a deal with one of the private firms, that company could take over the paving job in order to expedite the project, Acting Assistant City Manager Ben Rogers said.
“We should probably go ahead and get the surface parking lot done,” Trantalis said. “And then we can focus on the (parking) structure itself, which I think is going to be a game-changer for that area. I hate to delay the surface parking lot because it is an absolute mess (when it rains).”
Longtime resident Marilyn Mammano urged the commission to pave the grassy lot and say thanks but no thanks to the two unsolicited proposals.
“A simple parking lot with a forest of trees, solar lights, EV charging stations and natural stormwater drainage would be just fine with me,” she said during the meeting. “You always have the option to add parking structures at a later date if they are needed. We need a new City Hall. The police headquarters (now under construction) keeps getting more expensive. Our city budgets this year and in the future will be very difficult. The possibility of losing property taxes and state tax support are very real. Development is slowing down. The recession is looming. Winter may be coming.”
Trantalis and Glassman argued that Holiday Park truly needs a parking garage to accommodate the crowds today and tomorrow.
“The IcePlex has been an amazing success, and The Parker continues to be successful,” Trantalis said. “People love coming to the performances. I’ve been there four or five times in the past six months, which is probably more than I’ve been in the last five years. We clearly need more parking.”
Glassman agreed.
“We have to think about the future,” he said. “I’m all in support of doing that garage with approximately 1,000 spaces in addition to the 300 spaces in the surface lot. I think staff needs to be given the green light to go ahead and evaluate these proposals. We have to be forward thinking and not just looking around asking, ‘What do we need today?’”
Here are more details on the two current proposals that were submitted to the city.
Holiday Park Parking Partners
The parking garage would have up to 1,000 spaces and stand as high as six stories tall.
The total project cost would come to $33.45 million.
Fort Lauderdale would make a yearly lease payment of $2.3 million to the developer for 35 years. This yearly lease payment would be reduced by a Vertiport lease payment to the city of $125,000.
Because the financing will be structured as a long-term lease-purchase, ownership of the parking garage would revert to the city once the bonds have been retired.
Should Fort Lauderdale choose to charge for parking, the city could collect between $1 million and $1.9 million in annual gross parking revenues, assuming an average daily utilization of 50%.
Based on preliminary analysis, operating the parking garage will cost $700,000 per year.
The garage would include a fire substation with emergency medical services on the ground floor to help improve emergency response times in the area. Details on the cost of the fire station were not included in the unsolicited proposal.
Park Place Garages
The parking garage would have 985 spaces and stand five stories tall.
The total project cost would come to $39.3 million.
The city would make annual lease payments over a 30-year term. At the conclusion of the lease, full ownership of the garage would transfer to the city.
The design includes two key options: A two-bay, seven-bunk fire station on the ground floor to enhance emergency response times, and a rooftop solar photovoltaic array designed to meet all electrical needs for both the garage and fire station, including electric vehicle charging stations.
The fire station would cost $8.8 million. The solar array would cost $2.6 million.
Financial snapshot for garage only: Park Place Garages would work with Morgan Stanley to issue tax-exempt bonds. The monthly payment of the bonds for the parking garage would be $226,700 per month for the duration of the 30-year lease — or $2.7 million a year.
Financial snapshot for garage with fire station: The monthly payment of bonds for the parking garage would be $280,650 per month for the duration of the 30-year lease — or $3.36 million a year.
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan