Fort Lauderdale’s popular beachfront basketball courts — once at risk of being moved to make way for pickleball — may yet survive.
Mayor Dean Trantalis announced a tentative agreement with the developers of Bahia Mar during a neighborhood meeting Thursday night, prompting applause from residents who want the courts to say right where they’ve been for at least four decades.
The courts sit across the street from Bahia Mar, directly on the sand just north of the pedestrian bridge that crosses State Road A1A. The plan to keep the courts in place won’t happen without approval from several entities, including an official sign-off by Bahia Mar’s developer.
In January 2024, Fort Lauderdale approved off-site improvements that included the conversion of basketball courts into pickleball courts by January 2027.
A loud and swift outcry from fans of the basketball courts had city officials scrambling to come up with a compromise.
A first, Fort Lauderdale proposed new basketball courts farther south on the beach, but critics gave the idea a thumbs down, insisting the courts stay put.
Some of those same critics were in the room Thursday night when Trantalis shared the latest news.
“I had a meeting last week with the developer (of Bahia Mar) and he’s agreed to not only keep them there but also improve them by resurfacing the basketball courts and maybe even add another basket or two to the area,” Trantalis said Thursday during a monthly meeting hosted by the River Oaks Civic Association. “The only thing that’s going to happen to the basketball courts is they’re going to be shinier and prettier and they’re going to stay where they are.”
Ted Inserra, the association’s president, said he invited the mayor to speak at the meeting but had no idea he’d share that kind of news.
“We were ecstatic,” Inserra said of the crowd, which included members of the Beach Ballers group that formed to help save the courts. “We had no idea he was going to come out last night and say that. When he said that there was a lot of high-fiving and chest bumping after the meeting.”
Fort Lauderdale has already approved a plan that allows developer Jimmy Tate to build a five-star resort and four condo towers on taxpayer-owned land at Bahia Mar. Tate, whose company owns the 100-year lease on Bahia Mar, has teamed up with the Related Group to build the project.
The Bahia Mar Community Development District plans to contribute up to $1 million for off-site improvements at the beach. The city plans to kick in another $1.3 million.
Switching gears now would require a commission vote along with approval from the developer of a new resort and condo towers slated to rise at Bahia Mar. It would also need a green light from the Bahia Mar Community Development District that represents the interests of the future condo owners.
Pickleball coming too
Pickleball courts are still in the plans, Tate told the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Friday.
At the request of the city, Tate said he has put in a request with the Community Development District to extend the January 2027 deadline for the proposed public improvements.
“We have a proposed solution that will include keeping the basketball courts in the same location,” Tate said. “We are here to be good partners and responsible community leaders and as such, we will regroup and work toward a solution.”
Any changes to the plan will require the approval of condo buyers and attorneys, Tate added.
“There are lots of details that need to be worked out, but we are community developers,” Tate said. “We do not destroy communities and therefore, we will find a reasonable solution that works for the vast majority, if not everyone. Stay tuned.”
‘No plans are set in stone’
Commissioner Steve Glassman was not at the neighborhood meeting. But after he heard about the announcement, he questioned whether the mayor spoke too soon.
“I sincerely hope that the mayor’s comments are not premature,” said Glassman, a pickleball enthusiast who prefers to stick to the original plan.
“The pickleball courts will get built. Four of them,” Glassman said Friday. “There will be new pickleball courts. There will be new basketball courts. There will be new grills and benches. It will be a nice little activated campus of activities.”
Last month, commissioners were expected to approve the controversial proposal to move the basketball courts. But after critics came to protest the move, the commission agreed to delay the vote.
The commission appointed the mayor to act as a liaison and meet with the developer to see if they could come up with a new plan that would let the basketball courts stay in place.
“No plans are set in stone,” Glassman said. “The Community Development District is going to have to come to some sort of agreement, then it will come back to the commission. The commission will have the final say.”
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan