Central Beach project on tap

Blighted area would get 312 condos and retail

In a proposal designed to make over a blighted area of Fort Lauderdale’s Central Beach District, a Kolter Group affiliate plans to build a mixed-use development that would include 312 multi-family units and 15,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.

The city’s Development Review Committee on Tuesday ran through a detailed schedule of infrastructure and site development requirements for a pair of 200-foot towers and adjacent land parcels acquired by KT Seabreeze Atlantic, an affiliate of West Palm Beach-based developer The Kolter Group.

“The site is 2.6 acres. It does have an extremely large open area at the east side, and it does have a very large pedestrian plaza,” said the project’s attorney, Stephanie Toothaker, of the Tripp Scott law firm in Fort Lauderdale. “And part of the development site will be open to the public and improved with landscaping and walkways.”

KT Seabreeze bought 2.2 acres from the city last year for $25 million. The deal gave it control of eight parcels between Alhambra Street on the north and Sebastian Street to the south. The beach is a short walking distance away on

the eastern side of North Seabreeze Boulevard.

The company spent another $2 million to acquire a small building at 3026 Alhambra St., south of the popular Casablanca Cafe.

Besides the building, the acquired properties contain a municipal lot generally used for beach parking, a private lot for restaurant patrons, and a small patch of wooded area.

The project aims to revitalize the area, which the city concluded was blighted.

In a March 22 letter accompanying the application to the city, Toothaker wrote that the Sebastian Street property “had the greatest concentration of blight conditions found in the Central Beach area.” Among other things, the area had “faulty lot layout,” “deteriorating and deteriorated building conditions and properties,” “underutilized land” and “high incidences of crime.”

The Kolter Group in West Palm Beach could not be reached for comment.

KOBI KARP ARCHITECTURE & INTERIOR DESIGN/COURTESY The plan includes a mixed-use development that would contain more than 300 multifamily units and 15,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.