A Live Local lawsuit making its way through the courts could bring dramatic change to the Hollywood beach skyline, potentially paving the way for taller towers far north of Hollywood Boulevard if the developer wins.
And if the city wins, the case would shed light on the limitations of the state’s controversial Live Local law.
In late 2024, Hollywood rejected a developer’s plan to build a 17-story tower several blocks north of Hollywood Boulevard on the barrier island, a section of the beach with a current height cap of 65 feet.
That denial triggered a lawsuit that’s reportedly being watched by cities and developers around the state.
The lawsuit, filed last year by Condra Property Group, accuses Hollywood of wrongly blocking the proposed apartment tower from being built under the state’s Live Local law.
The law, aimed at enticing developers to build more affordable housing throughout Florida, allows them to bypass certain zoning requirements as long as at least 40% of the residential units qualify as workforce housing.
A ruling in the case is expected as soon as February.
If the developer wins, a modern tower would rise 183 feet high on a 3-acre section of the barrier island that’s currently home to nearly a dozen motel properties that stand one or two stories tall. The new tower would sit seven blocks north of the Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel reached out to Mayor Josh Levy and Hollywood spokeswoman Joann Hussey. Both declined to comment.
Critics of the project say they are worried about the domino effect: If this project gets the green light, it will pave the way for more tall towers north of Hollywood Boulevard.
“Once you let it go up, it paves the way for more,” said longtime resident Ann Ralston. “That’s the section that’s quaint and beachy. You go south of Hollywood Boulevard and you feel like you’re in Sunny Isles Beach.”
Mark Drachman, co-founder and managing partner at Condra Property Group, told the Sun Sentinel it took close to $40 million and nearly three years to acquire the 11 properties that would be demolished to make way for the modern new tower.
“If we win this, we’d start demolition within the next couple months,” Drachman said. “We’d start construction six months later.”
The project calls for a three-story beach club with shops and restaurants. The beach club would sit along the Broadwalk with the high-rise tower behind it, closer to State Road A1A. A six-story parking garage would be built directly to the north.
“The architecture is meant to complement the beach vibes so it’s not this giant building on the beach,” Drachman said. “It’ll take two years to build. We’d open in fall 2028.”
Drachman said he’s well aware that some people don’t want the project built. But some do, he added.
“Some people spoke against it at the city’s Technical Advisory Committee meeting,” he said. “But some people we don’t even know got up and spoke in favor of it. When you’re building really nice new product, you’re getting rid of really, really bad product.”
If the developers win their case, the following properties that sit between Surf Road and A1A will be demolished: 20 Nebraska St., 309 Oklahoma St., 320 McKinley St., 322-324 Nebraska St., 324 McKinley St., 326 Nebraska St., 333 Oklahoma St., 341 Oklahoma St., 2007 N. Ocean Drive, 2012 N. Ocean Drive and 2115 N. Ocean Drive.
Drachman and his partners filed suit in January 2025 after Hollywood rejected their plan to build a high-rise tower with 282 residents, including 114 workforce housing apartments that would be reserved for people earning from 80% to 120% of the county’s area median income.
The Margaritaville resort is less than a mile away and 8 inches taller than the proposed apartment tower.
Under the Live Local law, developers can match the currently allowed height for a commercial or residential building up to a mile away.
The developers argue they can use Margaritaville as the height benchmark for the new tower.
Hollywood argues they can’t because Margaritaville was built on city-owned land in a Government Use District and was approved only under the discretion of the Hollywood commission.
The city denied the developer’s proposal in August 2024, saying Margaritaville sits within a specialized zone that allows the Hollywood commission to determine building height on a case-by-case basis.
The developer’s legal team says Hollywood officials are misinterpreting state law by refusing to accept Margaritaville as the height benchmark.
During a hearing on Jan. 13, both sides argued their case before Broward Circuit Judge David A. Haimes.
Dan Abbott, an attorney representing the city, gave the judge a quick background on how Margaritaville came to be built.
Hollywood taxpayers kicked in $28 million to help make the Jimmy Buffett-themed resort a reality.
“It was only built after getting commission approval based on the board’s discretion,” Abbott argued. “You only count buildings for the currently allowed height (to allow as a benchmark under Live Local). If you have to petition your government to allow you to build it, that’s not a currently allowed height.”
Jacob Korman, an attorney for the developer, argued that the height of the Margaritaville hotel is indeed currently allowed today. And even if it weren’t, “the entire purpose of the Live Local Act is to override local zoning codes,” Korman argued.
“No further time should be spent on the city’s intentional misrepresentation of the facts,” Korman said. “There is no doubt that our client’s project complies with the Live Local law.”
Korman pointed out that Hollywood already has several tall buildings near the beach, all of them south of Hollywood Boulevard.
He held up a poster board showing the height of those towers and the year they were built. Among those listed:
— Hyde Beach House (483 feet, built in 2019).
— The Diplomat hotel (444 feet, built in 2002).
— Trump Hollywood (443 feet, built in 2009).
— Hyde Resort & Residences (443 feet, built in 2016).
— Diplomat Oceanfront Residences (323 feet, built in 2007).
— Apogee Beach (254 feet, built in 2013).
The judge asked: “Why do you have to have that (new tower) on the beach?”
Korman pointed to the poster board.
The judge had this reply: “South of Hollywood Boulevard I guess they made the decision that’s going to be all high-rises.”
Korman told the judge: “(The Live Local law) applies on the beach. It applies everywhere. That’s what the Legislature wanted.”
Under the Live Local law, existing buildings that have received any bonus, variance or other special exception for height cannot be used as a height benchmark for a Live Local project.
The judge asked whether the developer received a variance or special exception to build Margaritaville.
“No, they did not,” Korman replied. “There is no special exception for Margaritaville. There is no variance. There is no bonus. They built it within the codes and zoning of the Government Use District. It could be rebuilt today under the current zoning code.”
Judge Haimes told Korman: “This whole case turns on whether Margaritaville received a bonus, variance or special exception. You say it didn’t. The city says it did.”
Korman agreed that question was in dispute, but argued the city was wrong.
“There is no height limit in a Government Use district,” Korman argued. “Live Local says we can use a building a mile away as a benchmark. When they approved it, it became a currently allowed building.”
Abbott, the attorney representing the city, continued to argue his point.
“There are developments as of right and there are developments as of discretionary approval,” he told the judge. “If you need discretionary approval, you can’t build the building as a matter of right. If you need discretionary approval, that’s a special exception at a minimum. This building is not currently allowed. You have to ask for discretionary approval. You can’t build anything without discretionary approval.”
Korman didn’t budge an inch: “My client, no matter what zoning he’s in, can match the height of any building within a mile.”
Judge Haimes told both sides he needed more time to review the arguments. He requested that each side provide him with a prepared order by Feb. 2.
Keith Poliakoff, another attorney representing the developer, spoke to the Sun Sentinel ahead of the hearing.
“The city’s entire position is that you can’t match the height in their Government Use zone,” he said. “They’re basically saying, ‘We set the height and no one can copy it. You’re not allowed to match the height we set for our own projects.’”
Poliakoff argues the new tower would change the beach in a positive way.
“It would transform an area that has dilapidated motels built in the 1960s and 1970s into a modern mixed-use development for people who want to live in affordable housing on the beach,” he said.
Poliakoff says he gets calls almost daily from developers around the state asking about the status of the case.
“The Florida Legislature created the Live Local law to keep cities from blocking affordable housing,” he said. “If we win, I think you will add a significant amount of new affordable housing along the coast. It will tell municipalities, ‘Sorry, you have to follow state law.’”
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan