Condo tower to bring flash and curves
POMPANO BEACH — A curvy head turner of a condo tower will rise 10 stories and 105 feet, adding a little Miami spice to the Pompano Beach skyline between A1A and Briny Avenue.
On Tuesday, city commissioners approved a Canadian developer’s request to build 40 condos on a 1.3-acre parcel south of Atlantic Boulevard. The ground floor would have a few spots reserved for shops and possibly a restaurant.
The project, named Briny Residences, has some neighbors eager to see the new tower open and others griping about more traffic from another 40 or so cars on the nearby roads. But even those critics admit to liking the look of the new tower.
“I think this is going to be another beautiful building for Pompano Beach,” Commissioner Andrea McGee said before an earlier vote in March.
Jack McCabe, a real estate analyst based in Deerfield Beach, predicts more stand-out designs are on the way.
“Everybody is trying to differentiate their projects now,” McCabe said. “We’ve seen a lot of world-class architects putting
in harder to build projects because they want to be eye-catching and differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack. I think we’re going to see more of it.”
The new towers will stand in sharp contrast to their older neighbors.
“Most of the Old Florida square rectangular buildings kind of look like prisons,” McCabe said. “That’s when simple construction ruled the day. When they’re done [with construction], we’re going to have these spectacular buildings and it’s going to keep differentiating South Florida from the rest of the world.”
With the new zoning approved Tuesday, the developer can build as many as 44 condos, but only plans to build 40. Without the rezoning, he would have been required to stick with 26 units.
The market is hot right now for luxury condos.
“There’s an incredible demand coming from Northeast buyers looking for a permanent residence down here or at least half the year,” McCabe said. “Pompano, like Hollywood and Dania Beach, has become a valuable area for new construction.”
Larry Levine and his wife live on the top floor of the Christopher House, a sevenstory condo building next door to the incoming project at 305 Briny Ave.
Christopher House opened in 1972 with 96 units, more than twice the units allowed under today’s code.
Still, Levine doesn’t like the idea of more cars on the road, predicting the new tower will forever change the character of Briny Avenue.
“My wife and I sit on our balconies and we watch people walking up Southeast Fourth Street, pushing baby carriages,” he told commissioners. “And cars go speeding down Briny Avenue. We don’t need any more traffic.”
Levine’s neighbor, Ed Potenta, warned commissioners that allowing the developer to build an extra 14 units would only mean more cars cruising along Briny Avenue and adjacent streets.
Another neighbor, Jim Rausch, argued residents of the new condo should be required to exit and enter on A1A, not Briny Avenue as planned.
“We have walkers,” he said. “We have riders. We’ve got baby carriages. We’ve got dogs on multiple leashes.”
McCabe said the new project illustrates a clash between old and new.
“The folks on the beach are going to have to adapt to the gentrification going on in so many coastal communities,” he said. “It’s hard to complain that 40 units are going to cause more traffic when there’s been 200 and 500 units approved in other areas. Ten stories is not huge. We’re seeing some 90- and 100-story towers going up in Miami.”
City Attorney Mark Berman chalked up all the griping to people just being human.
“I’ve been doing this for 26 years,” he said. “Every time there’s a vacant lot in the beach area … no one wants to see anything [built]. No one wants to see more traffic. That’s just human nature.”