Developers modify plans for Galleria
After hearing concerns from residents, the developers of a $1 billion complex around the Galleria mall have scaled back their plans.
The original plan presented last fall by Galleria Keystone-Florida Property Holding Corp. outlined seven buildings around the mall with room for 1,600 luxury apartments or condos, 150 hotel rooms, retail and restaurant space. The tallest building was projected to rise 45 stories, the tallest in Fort Lauderdale.
But in more than 20 community meetings, residents expressed concerns about traffic, privacy and compatibility with the neighborhood.
Developers now have lowered the height and location of some proposed buildings — so that fu- ture occupants are not looking directly into houses’ back yards and so buildings are not blocking neighbors’ skyline views. The tallest building under the new proposal would be 38 stories high.
The number of residential units was reduced, too. Instead of 1,600 units, there would just be 1,250 to reduce density, according to the developer. The number of hotel rooms jumped from 150 to 163 rooms, and another commercial building was added to the blueprint.
The new price tag for the project: $750 million.
Developers are still emphasizing tree-lined streets, walkways and bike lanes that would transform the region into a community that’s more walkable, safe and easy to get around.
Peter Flotz, whose Fort Lau-
derdale-based company, FLL Development Enterprise, is working with Keystone to develop the project, says the investment is designed not only to add value to the property, but to create a sense of community for those who visit the Galleria and who will eventually live, work and entertain there.
The 40-acre site is bounded by Sunrise Boulevard to the north, Middle River Drive to the west, Northeast Ninth Street to the South and Northeast 26th Avenue to the east.
“In a way, we are stewards of this part of town,” Flotz said last week as he walked around a room at the mall with walls covered with pictures of traffic studies, renderings of landscapes and the eight proposed buildings. The development team brings neighbors into that room to show and explain how they want to transform the region.
“It’s our responsibility to reflect what the neighborhood wants,” Flotz said.
Christian Petersen, who lives near the Galleria and presides over the Coral Ridge Association — a neighborhood of about 1,800 homes — said he’s been in touch with the developers, who he said have “gone out of their way to work with the community.”
Petersen said that while his community wants the Galleria to succeed, he’s heard from residents on both sides of the issue. Traffic concerns always come up at meetings, he said.
“On one hand, people recognize a vibrant, successful mall helps property values,” he said. “Nobody wants to see the Galleria mall go away or turn into an undesirable place to go. The better the Galleria mall is, the better our property values are.
“We are not anti-development,” he said, “but we want to make sure development is reasonable and fits in our community.”
Flotz says the development team is conducting traffic studies and looking at solutions that would improve mobility along the Sunrise Boulevard corridor and key intersections.
The Galleria, at 2414 E. Sunrise Blvd., opened in the 1950s as an open-air mall called Sunrise Shopping Center. It became an enclosed mall in the early 1980s and was renamed the Galleria. It now has about 100 retailers and restaurants, including Macy’s, Dillard’s, P.F. Chang’s and The Capital Grille.
Developers are working to answer lingering questions and recommendations that Fort Lauderdale’s Development Review Committee had last week, when Keystone presented its revised proposal.
If plans are eventually approved by the City Commission, developers believe it would take seven to 10 years to complete the redevelopment project.
“We can invest anywhere in the world,” Flotz said. “But we want to invest here.”
“In a way, we are stewards of this part of town. … It’s our responsibility to reflect what the neighborhood wants.” Peter Flotz, FLL Development Enterprise