If the fiercest critics of Fort Lauderdale’s evolving skyline had their way, they might just shut the door on new development, lock the deadbolt and throw away the key.
That’s not happening. They know it and so do the developers.
In today’s economic climate, construction has hit a slowdown — a fact of life celebrated by the critics. But there’s still a slew of projects in the pipeline for Broward County’s most populous city, many of them high-rise towers that will be teeming with new residences if and when they get built.
More than 27,000 new residential units would become available in Fort Lauderdale in the coming years if every planned project were approved and built. Four of five residences, or about 80%, would rise downtown, while the rest would be built in other parts of the city. This tally comes from the latest update that tracks development projects citywide, shedding light on the potential building boom.
Fort Lauderdale tracks those projects on its website, sharing details on the number of projects coming to four areas: Downtown, Central Beach, the Northwest Regional Activity Center and Uptown. The site was last updated in May.
Here’s a look at the number of residential units and hotel rooms coming to Fort Lauderdale if every project gets approved and built:
— Downtown: 21,958 units and 1,059 hotel rooms.
— Central Beach: 1,476 units and 1,822 hotel rooms.
— Northwest Regional Activity Center: 1,931 residential units and 100 hotel rooms.
— Uptown Master Plan Development Projects: 1,829 residential units.
Based on the most recent update, downtown has by far the most projects.
Thirteen towers are under construction downtown for a total of 5,213 residential units. Nine more are under review, with a total of 3,158 residential units. Another 39 projects have been approved, with a total of 13,587 residential units.
In Central Beach, three projects are under construction, with 643 residential units and 256 hotel rooms. Two are under review, with 500 residential units and 448 hotel rooms. And nine have been approved, with 333 residential units and 1,118 hotel rooms.
The Northwest Regional Activity Center has five projects under construction, with 1,061 residential units. Seven are under review, with 449 residential units. And six have been approved, with 421 residential units and 100 hotel rooms.
The Northwest Regional Activity Center sits between Sunrise Boulevard to the north and Broward Boulevard to the south, Federal Highway to the east and approximately four blocks west of I-95 to the west.
In Uptown, two projects have been approved, with 512 residential units. Three are under review, with 1,317 residential units. None are yet under construction.
Uptown encompasses the area near the Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, bordered by McNab Road to the north, NW 57th Street to the south, Powerline Road to the west and Interstate 95 to the east.
‘People want to be here’
Commissioner Steve Glassman defended the growth that’s brought dramatic change to the beach and downtown, too.
“How do you accommodate the people moving here in droves?” he told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “Do you build a wall around the city and say, ‘No more people allowed?’ No. You have to be smart and you have to be prepared. People forget, we created a downtown master plan. And guess what, we succeeded.”
All that growth didn’t happen overnight, Glassman noted. It took years.
“Those numbers show me that we are a city that is growing and that people want to be here,” Glassman said. “At the end of the day, development is cyclical. We are in a real sweet spot. We have the luxury of knowing people want to be in Fort Lauderdale. And not all of these projects will happen. I’ve seen some fall by the wayside. But others will come.”
Longtime resident Anne Hilmer had a vastly different reaction to the list of projects in the pipeline: “Oh my God. Think of all the toilets flushing. All the cars on the road. And our wonderful commissioners will say downtown residents are not driving, they’re walking to everything. But America was built on roads. And even these young people living downtown are using their cars.”
Hilmer, a member of the group Lauderdale Tomorrow, says many people in Fort Lauderdale are furious about what they consider to be runaway development.
“What they’re doing is building for all those who are going to come,” Hilmer said. “And they’ve forgotten all the people who live here now. If I were 20 years younger, I’d move. But at this point, we’re not going anywhere.”
‘When is enough enough?’
John Burns, whose condo near Las Olas and A1A gives him a view of the beach and downtown, has watched more and more towers go up with dismay.
The high-rises sprouting up on tiny lots downtown are changing the character of the city’s neighborhoods, Burns argued.
“There’s so much development downtown,” he said. “When is enough enough? I think it’s driven by developers wanting to turn a profit in an area that’s very appealing. And it’s very difficult to stop them.”
In the meantime, the traffic seems to get worse with each tower that goes up, Burns said.
“We’re stuck in traffic on failing roads, but traffic studies always support the proposed development,” he said. “Is the traffic study flawed or is it just my imagination that it’s hard to drive around here?”
Mayor Dean Trantalis remembers the days when you couldn’t give property away in Fort Lauderdale, whether it was downtown or at the beach.
“That was in the 1980s,” he said. “No one was buying anything. Flagler Heights — now known as Flagler Village — was nothing more than an urban wasteland that was dangerous to drive through, let alone live there.”
Becoming a hot spot
Today trendy Flagler Village is a thriving part of downtown, home to hundreds of newcomers who are flocking to the new restaurants, bars and shops that have opened in the past decade or so.
“Are developers building high-rises that remain empty?” Trantalis asked. “No, they’re filling them up. Anytime I see someone at Publix or the gym, so many people thank us for all the amenities and the options that have made their home better, with all the restaurant and nightlife activity and the IcePlex and the pickleball courts. We are fulfilling the vision the community collectively agreed on a generation ago. And we are now seeing that vision come to life.”
Charlie Ladd, a local developer who lives in Fort Lauderdale, says the towers cropping up downtown have breathed life into neighborhoods that were ugly and blighted before the investors came to town.
“The towers symbolize the creation of an urban residential neighborhood from a slum that was Flagler Village to a neighborhood that’s one of the most desirable in the country,” Ladd told the Sun Sentinel. “The population is continuing to grow. Do you want to not build any more product? Then the housing values are going to go even higher and no one will be able to live here.”
The way Ladd sees it, Fort Lauderdale has become a lively, walkable, exciting place to live.
“Other people say, ‘It sucks, the traffic is bad, there’s too many people,’” he said.
But Ladd says he sees a wealthy city that’s still growing and has managed to keep the same municipal tax rate for nearly 20 years, partly due to that growth.
“If there’s more demand, development will accelerate,” Ladd said. “And if there’s not, some of these projects won’t get built. The market is the ultimate arbiter of what gets built.”
But if growth is coming, there’s no stopping it, Ladd said.
“The days of someone waving a wand and saying, ‘I don’t want any more people here,’ unless we go to a king form of government, it’s not going to happen. Which side of the bed do you get up on? Do you get excited about the fact that older blighted neighborhoods are being upgraded and replaced with modern desirable places to live? Or do you say, ‘I have mine and I don’t want anybody else here?’”
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan