South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
‘Gateway to the Riverwalk’
Tunnel Top Park expected to bring even more pizazz to posh Las Olas
Right now, it’s far from a trendy gathering spot.
That would change under a long-awaited plan to transform a key corridor along Las Olas Boulevard into a swanky new park at the north end of the Henry E. Kinney Tunnel on Federal Highway.
The $11.6 million project, first talked about nearly 20 years ago, would get started as soon as April 2021.
Commissioner Ben Sorensen predicts the park, with its expanded pedestrian walkways, lush landscaping and terraced seating areas, will bring a wow factor to one of the core intersections of Fort Lauderdale.
“Las Olas Tunnel Top
Park will transform the crown jewel boulevard of our city by providing more green space, greater pedestrian safety and beautiful sight lines from the tunnel to the river,” Sorensen said. “This will create four distinct plaza areas: Tunnel Top Park on the north side of Las Olas; Cheesecake Factory Plaza on the east side; the Icon Plaza; and the Laura Ward Plaza along the New River.”
The tunnel opened in 1960, replacing a bridge drivers once used to cross over the New River along Federal Highway.
The tunnel has an entrance wall that butts up to the sidewalk on busy Las Olas. Critics say that wall
creates blind spots for pedestrians and acts as a psychological barrier that keeps them from venturing west of the tunnel.
The fancy new park would fix that, Sorensen says.
Stan Eichelbaum, president of the Downtown Fort Lauderdale Civic Association, says he’s glad to see the project finally moving forward after all these years.
“The park will create more of a gateway to the Riverwalk,” he said. “There is potential for it to be a very interesting space in the city.”
The park and its four plazas will be built in conjunction with a $16 million rehab of the state-owned tunnel by the Florida Department of Transportation.
Under the new design requested by the city, the tunnel will be extended 117 feet to the north instead of 60 feet as initially planned.
In public meetings, Sorensen said residents made it clear they wanted the park expanded so it would connect to the New River and Fort Lauderdale’s oldest building, the Stranahan House. That meant the project grew to four times its initial size.
After several redesigns, the cost skyrocketed from $3.8 million seven years ago to $20 million today. Commissioners balked at that price tag, insisting the project be scaled back.
A $200 million parks bond approved by voters in March will pay for the project.
The new design eliminates some wish list items, including up to $4 million in architectural elements.
Here’s the cost breakdown:
$4.1 million to extend the tunnel 117 feet to the north. $1 million to reconstruct the north side of a ventilation building and remove an FPL vault.
$1.5 million to raise Las Olas Boulevard and Southeast Sixth Avenue in the plaza section of the park.
$2.05 million for site work on four distinct sections of the park: Tunnel Top Plaza: $625,000. Icon Plaza: $415,000. Laura Ward Plaza :$600,000. Cheesecake Factory Plaza: $410,000.
$1 million for landscaping. $2 million contingency for unexpected cost overruns.
Four distinct plazas are planned, all the way south to the New River and the Historic Stranahan House Museum.
The house, built in 1901 by Fort Lauderdale’s founding father Frank Stranahan, had served as a trading post, post office and town hall. Now a museum, it is the oldest surviving structure in Fort Lauderdale.
The park will include tent staging for Stranahan House events.
April Kirk, executive director of the Stranahan House, says the new Tunnel Top Park will encourage more people to flock to that section of town.
“The whole idea is to make this iconic park, to bring people to this area,” she said. “We want this to be an iconic special place to be.”