The municipal parking garage on Las Olas that serves Fort Lauderdale’s famous beach used to light up like the Fourth of July.
You wouldn’t know it now.
The five-story garage with the upscale address, 200 E. Las Olas Circle, opened in December 2018. The garage went dark in February 2023 when its pricey lighting system stopped working.
Fort Lauderdale has been looking into the problem for at least two years now — and Mayor Dean Trantalis is tired of waiting.
“We’ve been dancing around this issue for several years now,” he said during a recent City Hall meeting. “We need to sue them (the manufacturers and the general contractor). We can’t keep going back and forth and waiting for them to do nothing. This is a multimillion problem that the city is not going to pay for. I think they think they’re going to wear us down and we’re going to forget about it. And we’re not going to forget about it.”
The garage cost $21 million to build. The lighting system alone cost $1 million. And the exterior facade that simulates the motion of waves cost another $6 million.
Serious problems with the light display showed up less than two years later. The city contacted the manufacturer and repairs were made in 2021.
But by February 2023, nearly half the lights were no longer working. In addition, the metal mesh screening that supports the lights had already started rusting. It too needs to be replaced.
The original lighting fixtures are no longer made and the software that runs the light displays is obsolete, commissioners have been told.
The cost to replace the lights: At least $3 million, according to the latest estimate.
‘What is going on?’
During a public meeting in mid-June, Trantalis grilled staff on why the process had dragged on for more than two years.
“They had their experts out there,” he said. “We had our experts out there. It’s been months that have passed. What is going on with regard to their liability to compensate the city for the defective lighting system?”
Interim City Attorney D’Wayne Spence told the mayor the city was still trying to work out a solution with the vendors before heading to court.
Trantalis told Spence he’s been hearing that for months now.
“We’ve got to make a decision about moving forward on this,” Trantalis said. “When are we going to make a decision? When are we going to realize that time is not on our side anymore? We need to do something. This should not be taking this long. We need to do something aggressively on this and I don’t know what we’re waiting for.”
Trantalis told Spence he was “parroting” what he’s been hearing from the community.
“I’m tired of being accosted on the beach (by people asking) ‘What’s happening with our lights?’ And I don’t have an answer for them,” Trantalis said.
Spence told the mayor the city would likely enter into mediation in mid-July.
‘Put their feet to the fire’
Trantalis asked when the city could file a lawsuit.
Spence told him the city was required to try to find a solution through mediation before it can file suit.
“We know where we can buy new lights,” Trantalis said. “Who’s paying for them is the issue. And we’ve been dancing around on this for several years. Not months. Years. And we need to bring closure to this. We need to put their feet to the fire and say, ‘Look, you gave us bad stuff. It’s damaged goods. You’ve got to cough up the money. You have insurance. This is what insurance is for. We need to get this job done.’”
Commissioner Steve Glassman, whose district includes the beach, quickly agreed.
“This has been dragging on forever and ever and ever,” he said during the meeting. “We’ve got to get this done.”
The South Florida Sun Sentinel contacted the city attorney’s office this week.
Assistant City Attorney Rhonda Hasan referred questions to Gray Brown, the outside attorney hired to represent the city in negotiations with the general contractor that built the garage and other companies involved in building and installing the mesh screening and lighting system.
State law requires plaintiffs to enter a pre-suit process that aims to resolve construction defect claims without resorting to litigation. The process requires the claimant to provide written notice of a claim to the contractor, subcontractor, supplier or design professional potentially responsible for the defects at least 60 days before filing any legal action.
Brown and his firm were retained by Fort Lauderdale in late 2023 to investigate the issues with the lighting system and decorative wire mesh on the facade of the parking garage.
“Since that time, our firm has been evaluating the issues, including interviewing city staff involved with the project, and attending several site visits/inspections,” Brown told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Long and slow process
On behalf of the city, Brown sent a mandatory pre-suit statutory notice (referred to as a Chapter 558, Florida Statutes, construction defect notice) in May 2024 to the following five parties: Skanska USA Building Inc., the construction manager; EDSA Inc., the architect of record; Arquitectonica International Corp., a design subconsultant hired by EDSA; GKD-USA Inc., the manufacturer and installer of the mesh system; and Meisner Electric Inc., the subcontractor hired by Skanska to furnish and install the lighting system.
“The purpose of the notice was to formally put those parties on notice of potential construction defects at the garage,” Brown said.
Such a notice is a prerequisite under Chapter 558 of state law for the city to file suit regarding the identified defects, he said.
“The parties and/or their counsel reached out to our firm after receiving the notice to set up an inspection of the garage,” Brown said. “Due to coordination issues with the parties and counsel, two inspections occurred. The first one occurred on Feb. 25, 2025 with Skanska and Meisner, and the second on March 26, 2025 with EDSA and GKD. Our firm and city representatives attended both inspections.”
Since the inspections, some of the parties requested additional information from the city, including samples of the lighting system and wire mesh, Brown said. Those samples have since been provided.
“The city is waiting for the parties to finalize their respective evaluations of the issues,” Brown said. “We anticipate that upon completion, our firm will be provided with the results, and that the parties will proceed with pre-suit mediation and/or settlement discussions in an attempt to avoid the city having to file suit. While the typical 558 process normally takes less time to conclude, given the nature of the claims and number of parties involved, the city and the parties agreed to extend the statutory 558 period with a view towards trying to see if the claims can be resolved without litigation.”
Fort Lauderdale would be within its rights to file a lawsuit if the process of conducting pre-suit mediation does not move forward in a timely fashion, Brown said.
“The city’s goal has always been to expeditiously resolve the claim, preferably without litigation, but is prepared to file suit if that cannot happen,” he said.
The Sun Sentinel reached out to Skanska, GKD, EDSA, Arquitectonica and Meisner Electric.
Ashley Jeffery, a spokeswoman for Skanska, emailed this response: “We do not have any additional information to provide.”
As of Thursday, the other companies did not respond to emails or phone calls.
This week, Glassman told the Sun Sentinel the city needs to head to court if the vendors don’t agree to replace the lights using updated technology.
“I’m hoping that they’ll do the right thing,” he said.
Glassman says residents want to know why the lights aren’t fixed already.
“I hear about it all the time,” he said. “Why can’t we fix the lights? Why can’t the garage look the way it’s supposed to look?”
‘Magic of the lights’
Jo Ann Medalie is one resident who keeps asking those questions.
“That splash of color brightened up the entrance to the Las Olas corridor,” Medalie told the Sun Sentinel. “Everybody loved it. And then it just went kaput. It’s going to cost millions to fix it. I keep hoping they’ll fix it in my lifetime. I’m 88 right now. My husband just died. And it was such a big thing with us. We loved it. It is such a delight to see this garage lit up. I’d like to see it back.”
Elisabeth George, who lives in a condo nearby, also misses seeing the garage all lit up.
“It was nice having the magic of the lights,” she said. “It really added an artistic flair. It’s kind of depressing that it doesn’t have those beautiful lights anymore.”
George, vice president of the Central Beach Alliance neighborhood association, says many residents just assume the city is dragging its feet.
“People are wondering why the city isn’t going after the manufacturers,” she said. “I think a lot of people don’t realize what’s going on. Some people thought there was a wait because the marina was being built. They thought the lights would be back when the marina reopened. But the marina opened and the lights are still not back.”
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan