Aldi market and apartments might be in store for Sunrise

SUNRISE – Right now, it’s just another struggling strip center, an eyesore on the corner of University Drive and Oakland Park Boulevard in Sunrise.

But a Coral Gables developer wants to level the longshuttered BJ’s Plaza to build a new apartment complex and an Aldi supermarket, City Manager Richard Salamon said.

Sunrise commissioners approved plans for the 18,600-square-foot Aldi market Tuesday night, saying it will spruce up a corner that’s been vacant for nearly 10 years.

Mayor Mike Ryan predicted the project will transform the corner and give other developers some more ideas as to what’s possible.

“I want to thank you for your vision for what we think will be a big improvement,” Ryan said.

The developer, Luxcom, is still working out details for the residential portion of the project, Salamon told the Sun Sentinel.

If commissioners approve those plans later this year, the BJ’s Plaza would become the second struggling shopping center in Sunrise that will be knocked down to make way for new apartment homes.

Last fall, commissioners approved a plan that will bring 288 luxury apartments to Pine Plaza, where stores started closing after the anchor tenant Winn-Dixie closed its doors last year.

A portion of the center will be torn down, but not all. A movie theater and some shops and restaurants will remain standing, with a new brick walkway leading to the new apartment buildings.

“There’s so little land left,” Salamon said. “We’re going to see more of this — which is great. We need to get rid of the old and bring in the new.”

Salamon says the developer who bought the BJ’s Plaza parcel has talked about building an apartment building with four stories and as many as 300 units.

“Aldi will go up first before the apartments,” he said. “They’ll work with the city to rezone the property, to have commercial and residential on the same parcel.”