Riverparc Square OK’d

3 towers will house apartments, hotel rooms, offices, more

One of the largest downtown developments of the recent building boom won approval Tuesday night, clearing the city of Fort Lauderdale without a City Commission vote.

Riverparc Square will take up an entire city block south of the river downtown, with 790 apartments or condos, 297 hotel rooms,

nearly 300,000 square feet of office space and about 45,000 square feet of retail. The complex is forecast to generate 10,491 car trips, 872 of them during morning rush hour, and 942 during afternoon rush hour.

Under rules designed to encourage dense development downtown, the three-tower complex was approved by city development staff. City Commissioner Ben Sorensen attempted to subject the giant complex to public hearings and votes, but that effort failed Tuesday night.

“The public has not been a thorough part of the process,” Sorensen said. “That’s where we need to improve.”

Commissioners

Steve Glassman, Heather Moraitis and Robert McKinzie said the project meets the city’s rules and thus can’t be subjected to further city vetting.

“I have not seen anything or read anything or heard anything … that would lead me to believe anything was not applied correctly,” Glassman said.

Mayor Dean Trantalis, who espouses closer scrutiny for development, was absent and did not call in to vote. He and his office aide are in Taiwan this week for a “trade mission and cultural exchange” plus “a couple conferences regarding climate change in coastal communities,” Trantalis announced on Facebook on Monday.

Riverparc had a lot of support, with residents saying they’re glad to see it coming. But some of the same speakers expressed concern for the water-sewer system, and the road network, both of which are groaning under intense development. Several asked the city to change its rules so that projects of significant magnitude go through a public process.

The way city law works now, in order to call for a public hearing and vote, city commissioners would have to conclude that city staff “misapplied or failed to apply” the land development rules.

Janet Scraper, president of the Tarpon River Civic Association where Riverparc is located, said it’s “a world class project and an awesome flagship” for the downtown. But she said “things of some significant size” should go through the city’s Planning and Zoning Board and City Commission.

“I know that’s not the policy right now,” Scraper said, “but I would like to see that changed.”

The City Commission went through the same call-up process for another downtown tower recently, the Alexan-Tarpon River, at 501 SE Sixth Ave., and then rejected the project on a 3-2 vote. The applicant sued the city last week.

Riverparc is one of the largest developments proposed downtown. Most high-rises in the recent building boom have contained between 300 and 400 apartments or condos. Riverparc, formerly called Southside Centre, will have 1,087 residential units and hotel rooms in three towers that are 36, 42 and 43 stories tall, designed by Dorsky + Yue International Architecture. The tallest towers downtown are between 45 and 49 stories, just shy of 500 feet.

One larger development is under construction a few blocks north. X Las Olas, rising where the failed Las Olas Riverfront complex stood, will have 1,214 residential units.

On the Riverparc property currently are small buildings and parking lots, including one where drivers were frequently towed while running over to the courthouse to the east, or into Publix, which is immediately to the south.

The project will stretch from Southwest Fifth to Sixth Streets on the north and south, and from Andrews Avenue to Southwest 1st Avenue on the east and west.

Lawyer-lobbyist Robert Lochrie said the Riverparc isn’t required to offer below-market affordable housing, but he said units likely would be small — one- and twobedroom — and available at “workforce” pricing.

In order to ensure the city’s water-sewer system can handle the hundreds of toilets and taps, the developer will have to construct a pumping station, gravity sewer system and pipe to connect to the city system, and lay a new and larger water main.

Lochrie said the developer also has to contribute about $2 million to the city’s water and sewer fund. He gave commissioners credit for pushing for infrastructure improvements, saying that city staff increased the developer’s water-sewer requirements over the past year.

“I have not seen anything or read anything or heard anything … that would lead me to believe anything was not applied correctly.”

Steve Glassman, city commissioner