Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Metropica gains traction in Sunrise
First condo tower nears completion, retailers sign leases
SUNRISE — It has taken the better part of 15 years, but the long-awaited master-planned development in Sunrise known as Metropica is gaining traction with the near-completion of its first residential tower, more condo buyers signing contracts, and retail and restaurant chains committing to leasing deals.
On 65 acres of land at the Sawgrass Expressway and Sunrise Boulevard, developer Joseph Kavana is looking to create a downtown area that offers an urban lifestyle and a “sense of place” for residents, visitors and employees of the enclave’s businesses.
Once completed, the $1.5 billion project is expected to encompass about 4 million square feet and include more than 2,250 residential units, retail, shopping and entertainment, class A office space, public spaces dedicated to the arts, and a boutique luxury hotel.
On Thursday, the first of eight planned 28-story, luxury residential towers was topped off by construction crews. The units are 65 percent sold, and move-in dates are planned for later this year, according to Kavana’s K Group Holdings.
Last week, K Group Holdings announced that Urban Outfitters of Philadelphia became the latest retailer to sign a lease for the first phase of the project’s “retail/entertainment lifestyle center.”
Scheduled to occupy 8,000 square feet, Urban Outfitters will join its sister store, Anthropologie, in a growing roster of commercial tenants that includes Fogo de Chao, City Works Eatery & Pour House, Genuine Pizza, Sugarboo & Co., Cru Wine Bar, Kendra Scott Jewelry and iPic Theaters.
The signings are a culmination of years of effort to secure zoning and environmental approvals and multimillion-dollar construction financing. Most of the acreage at 1800 NW 136th Ave. remains a blank canvas. But Kavana said the most recent achievement, aside from the 28-story tower’s ascent, was the completion of $50 million of road, water and sewer infrastructure.
Sunrise Mayor Michael Ryan said the project is a sign that western Broward County is coming into its own as a preferred destination for companies and residents who want to have workplaces and living spaces within close proximity of each other.
“You see the sense of livework-play starting to take hold here, as it has on the eastern seaboard,” he said.
Asked if Metropica could be regarded as the new downtown Sunrise, he said: “The vision of Metropica certainly has a potential to be part of that backbone to it.”
In 2016, the Sunrise City Commission signed off on the first phase of commercial construction, approving a site plan that allowed for 370,000 square feet of retail and a 345-unit
“Broward County’s high quality of life, marked by a broad scope of opportunities, positions it for continued expansion.” Cushman & Wakefield report
rental apartment building. The developer also can add a 240-room hotel and 140,000 square feet of offices.
“This first phase will fill some of the most important needs for our rapidly growing but underserved community: everyday retail, including food markets, entertainment, housing and some of the best local and international shopping in the country,” Erick Collazo, a vice president of Metropica Holdings, said in a statement at the time.
One issue Metropica will not address is the affordable housing shortfall in Broward County. Kavana said one-bedroom residences start at $300,000. Two-bedroom condos range from $450,000 to $600,000, and three-bedroom condos run from $650,000 and up. Penthouses are being offered for $1.1 million to $1.3 million.
“Metropica and similar project types do not address local housing demand,” said Ned Murray, associate director of The Metropolitan Center at Florida International University, which tracks urban development trends and policies in South Florida.
“Projects of this type are built and marketed to foreign buyers and investors,” he said. “Even the starting price points are unaffordable to most Broward and South Florida working families and households.”
Still, Murray sees potential relief for an area all but paralyzed by thick crosscounty commuter traffic during workdays.
“The Sawgrass Expressway/I-75 Corridor is in major need of real economic development with quality jobs and pay,” he said. “This would provide opportunities for workers who presently live along the corridor instead of traveling east each day clogging up the roadways.”
More new South Florida residents — and in turn, potential Metropica buyers — could soon be on the way. According to a new Florida population forecast released last week by Cushman & Wakefield, the real estate services firm, all three of South Florida’s counties can count on more growth in 2018.
The firm sees Broward’s population rising by 1.8 percent, from 1.89 million to 1.98 million year over year.
“Broward County’s high quality of life, marked by a broad scope of opportunities, positions it for continued expansion,” the report said.
Palm Beach County’s population is expected to rise by 2.8 percent to 1.52 million, while MiamiDade’s would go up by 1.4 percent to 2.8 million.
Kavana — citing Metropica’s proximity to major highways such as the Sawgrass, Interstate 595, Florida’s Turnpike and Interstate 95 — said he expects to hear from would-be condo buyers from all over South Florida as the project builds out over the next couple of years.
One such buyer, Patricia Scott Lopez, currently lives in a high-rise at Brickell City Centre in Miami. A native New Yorker, she wants out of the neighborhood. “The traffic gridlock is impossible, even to walk,” she said. “And it’s very dirty.”
She’s sold on Metropica for its “urban setting in a suburban background.”
“They topped off the 28th floor of the first building … that’s a very good sign,” she said. “As far as building the other buildings, to me it doesn’t matter if it takes 10 years to build them out. The concept that I want is going to be there.”