Fort Lauderdale commissioners torpedoed the Arts Park project Tuesday, citing concerns over the developer’s ability to find the millions needed to build a concert venue and food hall on city-owned land.
The $140 million project, slated for 3.3 acres of city-owned land in downtown’s trendy Flagler Village, never broke ground despite winning commission approval more than three years ago.
Commissioner Steve Glassman championed the project from the start, but on Tuesday told his colleagues he was ready to pull the plug after developer Jeff John and his partners failed to come forward with a $250,000 “good-faith” payment as promised.
“I am asking at this point in time that we consider a termination,” Glassman said. “There comes a point in time where you have to have a trust factor, and I no longer have that. I no longer have confidence in the ability of this project to move forward.”
Commissioners Ben Sorensen and Pamela Beasley-Pittman quickly agreed.
In previous meetings, Mayor Dean Trantalis and Vice Mayor John Herbst had expressed concerns about the development team’s ability to secure funding for the project.
Herbst, a CPA and former city auditor, insisted during a City Hall meeting two weeks ago that city staff get independent confirmation that the money was in place for the project by contacting the lender directly.
According to a recent city memo, the money is not in place.
Soon after the commission agreed to end the Arts Park deal, John told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that politics was to blame.
“My investors backed out today,” John said Tuesday afternoon. “At the end of the day, the political climate got too hot. There was a lot of negativity toward this project. It got toxic. There was a lot of contention.”
John and his partners have threatened to file a lawsuit against Fort Lauderdale if the commission walked away from the deal. On Tuesday, John declined to say whether he planned to move forward with a lawsuit.
An official commission vote to terminate the deal is planned at a future City Hall meeting on Oct. 7.
“This has been going on for three years,” Trantalis said. “This project was supposed to have been done by now, and we have not even gotten to first base. I feel the city is on strong grounds to terminate this agreement and I guess we’ll see where it goes from there.”
Five residents spoke at the meeting, praising commissioners for terminating the deal but urging them to find the best use for the land.
“I definitely don’t want it to be more condo buildings and parking lots,” said resident Chris Nelson. “It’s too bad this happened. I hope that parcel land can be used for something similar to what was envisioned.”
John Rodstrom III, an attorney and son of a former county commissioner, urged city officials to do a better job vetting future comprehensive agreements with future developers.
“I think this project had a lot of potential,” he said. “But I think the project had a lot of red flags here.”
Barbra Stern, also an attorney, urged the commission to listen to Herbst, who won a seat on the commission after being fired from his job as the city auditor in February 2022.
As the city auditor, Herbst shared concerns about the Arts Park project with his commission bosses, but was fired later that night.
“I would encourage the commission to listen to him,” Stern said. “He was a watchdog then and he’s trying to be one now. You have finally come to the decision that the project can’t be done. It was a horrible deal. We need an arts park. But we need a good deal for it.”
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan