$31M affordable housing project planned

Land once set aside as maintenance area for streetcars would host 7-story building

FORT LAUDERDALE – Land once designated for Fort Lauderdale’s scrapped trolley car system may instead rise as an $30.8 million affordable housing project.

Poinciana Crossing will be a 7-story building at 1801 SW First Ave., where the rent will fluctuate based on a family’s income.

A family of three, for example, whose household annual income falls between $22,740 and $74,000 would pay between $568 and $1,851 a month for a two-bedroom apartment.

The project is 113 apartments; about half are one-bedroom and the rest are two-bedrooms. The units, which range from 600 square feet to 998 square feet, include modern kitchens with garbage disposals and dishwashers, as well as hook-ups for washer and dryers. A communal laundry room will be available as well.

Amenities will include an exercise room and community meeting space.

The project sits along the Brightline track (soon to be rebranded as Virgin Trains USA), and a walking path will be added.

The site was once set aside as a maintenance area for the Wave streetcar project, which was killed last year because of mounting costs for the proposed 2.8-mile downtown rail line.

The streetcars were intended to run in a lane of traffic, along with other vehicles.

After the project failed, the city gifted about 2.3 acres to the Housing Authority in November.

The project goes to a city board next month. If all goes as planned, construction will start in mid-2020.

The city is lacking affordable housing for its workforce, said the authority’s CEO, Tam English.

“There are hotels up and down the beach, restaurants up and

down the beach” and the people who bus the tables and clean the hotel rooms need housing, he said. “All your service workers in Fort Lauderdale have to live somewhere.”

If a commuter from another city finds another job closer to home, they’ll leave, he said.

“You’ve got to have them close enough to your community or your community is going to stop growing because it doesn’t have a workforce to meet the needs.”

CITY OF FORT LAUDERDALE/COURTESY An artist’s illustration of an affordable housing project proposed for Fort Lauderdale. Poinciana Crossing would be at 1801 SW 1st Ave.