Developer Claims $350 Million ‘Plantation Walk’ Is A ‘Game-Changer’

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Plantation Walk is the new name of South Florida’s latest live, work, and play destination, with Encore Capital Management recently labeling its $350 million mega-center that’s replacing Plantation’s former Fashion Mall.

Rendering of Plantation Walk (Courtesy of Encore Capital Management)

Located at 321 North University Drive, the 32-acre property will feature 700 luxury rental apartments, 200,000 square feet of retail, and an existing 160,000-square-foot Class A office building. It’s about a 20-minute drive from the 65-acre Metropica, which is currently under construction in Sunrise. The office building is expecting to open by the end of 2017.

The project has been billed a “game-changer” by Encore Capital Management CEO and Principal Arthur Falcone, who is also on the development team of another city within a city in Paramount Miami Worldcenter.

“The name Plantation Walk describes what this will be – a walkable, enjoyable hotspot unique to Plantation and South Florida,” Falcone said. “This is a game-changer for the city and region. Once people arrive, whether to work, shop, or live, they’ll have little reason to leave.”

The current parking garage and the 263-key Sheraton Hotel, which remains open, are undergoing renovations as well.

 

Source: Curbed Miami

Boynton Beach To Consider Proposal For Apartments, Retail And Hotel On Federal Highway

Boynton Beach officials will consider plans for the mixed-use Ocean One project along Federal Highway/U.S. 1.

Click on the photo for a SFBJ slideshow of the Ocean One project

Ocean One Boynton LLC, an affiliate of Washington, D.C.-based Washington Real Estate Partners, wants to rezone the 3.63-acre site at 114 N. Federal Highway to allow 358 apartments, 12,075 square feet of commercial/retail, a 120-room hotel and 439 parking spaces. The property runs along the highway from Boynton Beach Boulevard to Ocean Avenue. It is not along the water, but it’s a quick drive across the bridge to the beach.

The City Commission will hold the first vote on Ocean One on March 21 and, should it pass, then a final vote on April 4. Attorney Bonnie Miskel, who represents the developer in the application, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

The vote would cover the rezoning and the site plan for the first phase, which would be developed on 1.93 acres of the site. The first phase calls for an 8-story building with 231 apartments in 218,935 square feet and 6,175 square feet of retail, including a health club, and a 7-story parking garage with 359 spaces.

The building would feature a public plaza, an interior courtyard with a pool, summer kitchen, grilling stations and a fountain wall. It would also have a clubhouse. The apartments in the first phase would break down to 152 with one bedroom, and 79 with two bedrooms. Units would range from 560 to 1,600 square feet.

Cohen, Freedman, Encinosa & Associates is the architect of Ocean One. The developer hopes to acquire 0.47 acre of the development site from the Boynton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency. Ocean One Boynton acquired the rest of the site for $9 million in 2005.

According to the Palm Beach Post, Washington Real Estate Partners Chairman F. Davis Camalier is seeking an incentive deal with the CRA to provide millions in property tax rebates for the project.

 

Source: SFBJ

Fort Lauderdale Development Likely To Intensify South Of The New River

Intense real estate development in Fort Lauderdale may shift from the downtown area and the beach to neighborhoods south of the New River and other areas.

“You’re going to see a tremendous development amount of activity downtown, and that will continue,” said Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler. But in upcoming years, “I think you’re going to see more on South Andrews Avenue.”

Seiler was one of five members of a panel who spoke Wednesday night at the sales center for the Gale Residences Fort Lauderdale Beach.

Another panelist, Ken Stiles, co-CEO of Fort Lauderdale-based Stiles Corp., cited the potential for development of the area around the Broward Health Medical Center at 1600 South Andrews Avenue.

“It’s just waiting for somebody to step in and do something there,” Stiles said. “There’s not a lot of opportunity downtown anymore … so you’re going to have to look elsewhere. Yet assembling large tracts of land in the South Andrews Avenue corridor is a challenge. There are a couple of big landholders there that make it difficult for us to go in there.”

Fort Lauderdale-based developer Dev Motwani said the city’s planned streetcar system, the Wave, will reinvigorate the South Andrews Avenue corridor when it starts operating there.

“Imagine what’s going to happen when the Wave starts operating,” Motwani said. “Housing is an obvious play” for developers in the South Andrews area, “but there’s also retail opportunity. You can bring restaurants and shops that you didn’t have the daytime population for.”

Sean Jones, vice president of Milton Jones Development Corp. in Dania Beach, said he expects more new construction to unfold northwest of downtown Fort Lauderdale in the Sistrunk Boulevard corridor.

“You’re going to see more intense development in the northwest,” Jones said, citing such catalysts as the summer startup of the Brightline passenger train service at its Fort Lauderdale station, located at 101 Northwest Second Avenue.

The Fort Lauderdale economy is on a roll. Employment in metropolitan Fort Lauderdale increased by 28,604 jobs in 2016, more than in Palm Beach County and Miami-Dade County combined, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“But financing development in Fort Lauderdale still can be difficult,” Jones said. “It’s a great place. But many times, banks are looking at things on a national basis, and on a national basis, they’re starting to pull back on financing.”

 

Source: The Real Deal

Free Publicity President Brings To Palm Beach May Overshadow Negatives

While airports and some retail locations have been hurt by traffic and road closures during President Donald Trump‘s four visits to his Mar-a-Lago estate since Inauguration Day, leaders of Palm Beach County area business associations see his visits as priceless free marketing.

“There is no question that President Trump’s Winter White House in Palm Beach has clearly elevated the profile of the island and the surrounding areas,” said Kelly Smallridge, president and CEO of the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County. “There is no way we could have ever been in a financial position to have the name ‘Palm Beach’ mentioned so many times on national and international media outlets as often as when the President visits Mar-a-Lago. Our county clearly benefits.”

In addition to the free marketing, the exposure is bringing more people to the region, although any net benefits are hard to deduce because it’s high-season for tourism in Palm Beach.

“All we’re hearing is that it’s good, there’s a trickle down of people coming down into town … they rent hotel rooms and go out to restaurants,” said Penny Pompei, chair of Palm Beach SCORE, an office of the national business counseling and development organization.

Rick Rose, who leads walking tours in the posh Worth Avenue shopping district and is a proprietor at the Grandview Gardens Bed and Breakfast, says he’s seen “no uptick at all” at either of his businesses since Trump has been president. That’s partly because this is the height of the tourism season. However, he gets more questions about Palm Beach and Mar-a-Lago on his walking tours, especially from international visitors and journalists wanting to know more about the history of the area.

“They’re a little more interested in Palm Beach than they have been in the past,” Rose said.

According to Marley Herring, president of the Worth Avenue Association and owner of Marley’s Palm Beach Collection, the first Trump weekend visit presented some obstacles like traffic, but Palm Beach has since adjusted and is benefiting from the exposure. The first presidential weekend stay brought closures which blocked a normal entrance to Worth Avenue, but now visitors are getting used to the traffic detours.

“It’s equaled out. At first, that initial weekend, because no one knew the traffic patterns, that was hard to deal with. But you can see an uptick every weekend since,” Herring said.

During the president’s fourth weekend visit, it was back to business as usual along Worth Avenue.

“It’s been positive, and the fact is it’s getting better every week,” Herring said. “I think he’s just doing what he normally does, and what a great place to do it. It’s just beautiful here.”

Like airports, the waters around Palm Beach and Mar-a-Lago have restrictions put in place when the president is in town. But the marine industry doesn’t seem to be as affected as the airports. In fact, Chuck Collins, executive director of the Marine Industries Association of Palm Beach County, seems to have an opposite view.

“It’s probably one of the best things that have ever happened to us,” Collins said.

Collins is a marine veteran, having served as the former South Regional Director for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. For Collins, who joined the Marine Industries Association a little over two years ago, Trump’s visits to Palm Beach County are some of the best advertising for the region’s beaches and waterways.

“Think of what happens when President Trump comes down here. This is the ‘Winter White House.’ What do you see when they film down here? Palm trees, greens, beaches, you see all the different boats in the marine industry, you see all different people paddle boarding, in swim suits,” Collins said. “People are watching this, and you know what they’re thinking? That’s where I want to be when I retire. That’s paradise.”

Collins is familiar with the benefits of free publicity. While at Fish and Wildlife, he was part of the team that decided to launch the python challenge, a special hunting season where hunters were allowed to target invasive Burmese pythons. And although at first there was some criticism, the python hunt netted Fish and Wildlife millions of dollars in free publicity.

“I got a bunch of criticism and I said, ‘Are you kidding? I’ve got 20-foot snakes down here.’ I ended up getting $40 million in free publicity,” Collins said. “That was one little event. Trump’s visits are going to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars in free publicity.”

This is Part IV and the final installment of the Business Journal’s series on the impact of President Donald Trump‘s weekend visits to Mar-a-Lago.

Click here to go to Part I of the Business Journal’s series on the impact of Trump’s visits to Mar-a-Lago, “Trump’s Winter White House visits hamper some businesses in Palm Beach, help others.”

Click here to go to Part II, “Regional airports suffer when Trump touches down.”

Click here to go to Part III, “The free publicity Trump brings may overshadow the negatives.”

 

Source: SFBJ