South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Low-income tower may be headed for defeat
A development proposal that packs more people into smaller spaces than Fort Lauderdale’s ever seen could send the city into a legal tango this year.
The 680-unit AIDS Healthcare Foundation low-income tower, proposed at 700 SE 4th Ave., across U.S. 1 from the pricey Rio Vista neighborhood, does not have support from the City Commission, according to public and private statements of elected officials.
Four of the five City Commission members — Mayor Dean Trantalis and C o mmi s s i o n e r s St eve G l a s s ma n , He a t h e r Moraitis and Ben Sorensen — said the plans would have to change in order to get their support. The fifth, Robert McKinzie, publicly voiced general support for the organization’s property rights, but could not be reached on his cellphone or by email or text message.
The aggressive, California-based nonprofit is well practiced in taking on government, suing the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, for example. But the standoff also could lead to a change in plans for the lowincome tower, touted as a place where the formerly homeless could afford to live. Though AHF officials previously said they would n o t c o n s i d e r ma k i n g changes, a representative did not rule that out Thursday.
“I guess anything’s possible,” said AHF Southern Bureau Chief Mike Kahane, when asked if the number of apartments might be reduced. “We’re working with city staff to get their approval and to discuss all the issues that are of concern to them, and get a submittal in that meets with their approval.”
The 345,000 square foot proposal puts 680 microunits in a 15-story building between Southeast 7th and 8th streets, at Fourth Avenue, south of the river. Rents would be as low as $500, with a $100 deposit. It would be built by the Healthy Housing Foundation, a subsidiary of AIDS Healthcare Foundation, but the apartments would not exclusively be for those living with HIV/AIDS, according to the project website. Apartments would range from 263 square feet — smaller than the typical hotel room — to 400 square feet.
Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis, who won his office after campaigning against overdevelopment, also is the city’s first openly gay mayor, and an ally of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. He said he was in- volved early on, after his occasional “plus-1” date and campaign consultant Jason King, then working for AHF, introduced him to CEO Michael Weinstein.
Over Greek dinner one evening, Weinstein relayed his vision, and Trantalis, a city commissioner at the time, encouraged him.
“Any community would welcome someone who would want to help with affordable housing and homelessness,” Trantalis said, “but nobody really felt this was going to be the final outcome.”
His reaction to the plans, he said, was: “Whoa!” He thought it would “overwhelm the site.”
He said he is “disappointed in the final product” and the fact that Weinstein didn’t work with neighbors.
The low-income midrise would wrap like an L around Villa Tuscany, a 17-unit, three-story townhouse development where condos sell in excess of $400,000. Kahane said all 17 owners were sent certified letters, 12 of which were signed for. The owners were told in the letters that AHF is interested in paying “fair market value” for their condos. The project can move forward without a purchase of the complex, Kahane said.
In emails to City Hall, residents have urged commissioners to reject the complex, emails obtained under Florida’s public records laws show.
“I am terrified by the prospect of the numbers of homeless people that will be drawn to this facility from far and wide,” one mother of four who lives near the site, Katie Frawley, emailed to Commissioner Moraitis. “I am not blind to the plight of the homeless, or drug-addicted, or mentally ill. But this proposal would not help those people or the surrounding business owners, homeowners, residents, and tourists.”
Just a year ago, the plans were met with embrace. That changed when AHF failed to gain support from the community, commissioners and community leaders said.
Bob Swindell, president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance, which was listed in an AHF email as a supporter, said he was “deeply disappointed in the lack of receptivity shown by AHF in building a strong base of local support.”
Commissioner Sorensen, who has been outspoken about helping homeless people, announced that the project lost his support because AHF wouldn’t compromise on the size of the apartments, the number of units, and wouldn’t consider building it elsewhere.
In the application, lawye r- l o b by i st St e p h a n i e Toothaker said the location was critical to the project’s success. Most renters won’t have cars and will rely on county buses, she said, and the tower “will not contain a service component” so it needs to be close to the hospital, grocery store, library and courthouse.
“Neighbors are overwhelmingly opposed to this project — as am I,” Sorensen announced in a Dec. 13 email to constituents. This week, he said his position has not changed.
Commissioner Glassman said this week that the lowincome apartment complex would have to meet the downtown guidelines and development rules, and he is “looking for a reduction in the number of units.”
Moraitis said the organization should consider what would “work well for the community and the neighbors” and “not just say how many units can I get on the land.”
She said she wants to see fewer apartments, and larger ones, and it “needs a lot more input from the community.”
Under the rules applied to the “Fort Lauderdale Housing Campus Project,” city development staff have the power to approve it, with no public hearing at the planning and zoning board or City Commission.
After a staff-level approval, however, a member of the City Commission could “call it up” to a public hearing, if there is evidence that city staff misapplied the rules.
That’s what happened with the last controversial downtown tower, the Alexan Tarpon River, also proposed across U.S. 1 from Rio Vista, at 501 SE 6th Ave. The City Commission then rejected t h e 21- s t o r y, 181-unit tower, and the developer filed a lawsuit in September.
The AHF application al- ready has met with some resistance from city staff. It “does not meet certain Downtown Master Plan intents and guidelines,” city staff said in responses to the application. For example, the floorplate, or footprint of the tower, is larger than allowed. The building is too monolithic and massive, and needs a redesign, city staff also said.
Kahane said he expects to win staff approval, and doesn’t expect the City Commission to call it up for a hearing.
“We anticipate building this development,” he said Thursday. “I think the mayor and the City Commission in general want to do the right thing with regard to this issue.”
Weinstein, dubbed the “CEO of HIV” by the New York Times, is a confrontational activist who ordered critics to stop interrupting him at his recent Fort Lauderdale press conference. He expressed incredulity that the project would face such backlash, when there are high-rise construction cranes all over and the community has said it wanted to resolve homelessness.
“This is supposed to be, I’m told, when I watched the election tournaments, the most liberal community in America,” he said at the December press conference. He said his charity is making a $71 million commitment, and “it would be nice if there were more people who acknowledge that generosity.”
In an attempt to counter vocal opposition, AHF hired a survey company to poll Fort Lauderdale residents about the affordable housing complex, and said 59 percent supported it. The nonprofit also placed a full-page ad in the Sun Sentinel urging readers to “Love Thy Neighbor (that means all of them).” Next is a candlelight vigil scheduled for Monday night at City Hall. Supporters will be bused from an AHF office, and given T-shirts.
“The vocal minority that is currently speaking out against this does not reflect what the city wants or needs,” Kahane said.