Futures market

Harbor Promenade work underway by Intracoastal

The festive tent heralded a longawaited moment for the city of Pompano Beach and for a dusty lot located where Atlantic Boulevard meets the Intracoastal Waterway. On Nov. 8, the tent was filled with temporary tables, a drawing, and a podium.

As officials from Pompano Beach and Verdex Construction dug ceremonial shovels into temporary dirt, Harbor Promenade, Pompano’s answer to a festival marketplace, was officially underway.

Sometime next year, Montreal developer Steve Tsatas will cut the ribbon on Harbor NYC, a 500-seat casual restaurant with a view of the Intracoastal Waterway.

On this day, however, he was happily breaking ground on the project, on a dusty lot shaded by a temporary tent.

“Where we are standing now, soon will be a mainstay of Pompano Beach and many will be making their ways here,” he said. “We see a vision of the future here ... and don’t want to miss an opportunity to be part of a wonderful city.”

“I promise our new restaurant will offer something for the whole family – and we’ll have a seafood restaurant the following year.”

Located at 101 S. Riverside Drive, the latest addition to Pompano Beach’s redeveloping waterfront, is the first phase of a 2.2-acre retail and dining complex that extends from the east side of the Intracoastal to the 3200 block of East Atlantic Boulevard.

“It’s a restaurant retail development that will add value to the East CRA and it is being built on some land that has been empty for many years,” said Ray Lubomski, a member of the East CRA Advisory Committee, of Harbor Promenade. “There was an old house on that land long time ago but it has been empty.”

The area will be anchored by Harbor NYC, a casual restaurant making the most of the Intracoastal Waterway location with a 350-seat space. It will invite boaters with dock space for 10, entice diners with a menu featuring everything from burgers to prime beef, and establish street cred with a pedigree rooted in Madisons New York Grill & Bar in Boca Raton.

On hand for the celebration was Pompano Mayor Lamar Fisher, who officially welcomed the project, along with members of the Community Redevelopment Authority and executives from Verdex Construction, the West Palm Beach company that will realize the vision.