Hollywood on brink of upscale boom

By Robert Nolin
Staff Writer
Posted August 24 2004

HOLLYWOOD · Downtown here has always been quaint, yet ever shy of prosperous.

But that should change in a few years, say city planners who are overseeing a plethora of new projects designed to transform the city's core into an urbane streetscape of shops, condos and eateries where there once were flophouses, towing yards and gas stations.









In various stages of planning are 10 downtown projects, including a theater, renovated park and golf course and six town house and retail complexes. The idea is to attract new residents and upscale businesses that will bring an air of gentility to an otherwise struggling neighborhood.

"We're bringing people back downtown," said Jacqueline Gonzalez, the city's economic development director. "We're trying to get people out of their cars and create a place where they can live, work and play."

The concept, adopted nationwide by cities seeking to revitalize aging and poor downtown areas, is called "new urbanism," and it relies heavily on people. By offering attractive housing in the form of mid- or high-rise condos and town homes, new residents are expected to move downtown, bringing it to life at night and on weekends.

Once the people come, businesses should follow: movie theaters, restaurants, specialty shops, beauty salons, cafes.

"Downtown Hollywood's going to be hip," said housing specialist John McIlwain, senior fellow with the Urban Land Institute in Washington, D.C. "Buy some land there now. Once this starts happening, land values are going to shoot up."

The projects in the pipeline should solve the housing part of the equation. They will result in up to 1,500 new units either on or within blocks of Young Circle, the city's signature green space that is being transformed into an ArtsPark with amphitheater, fountains and manicured gardens.

Right on the circle's northwestern quadrant will be the Radius, a 12-story condominium with 25,000 square feet of retail space and a parking garage that's expected to open in May 2006. When preconstruction units went on sale last month, more than 200 prospective owners waited all night to make deposits on condos ranging in price from $170,000 to $400,000.

Those prices reflect the average unit cost for most of the condos being planned.

Another proposed development, unnamed so far and called simply "block 55," will hug Young Circle's northeastern shoulder. It has yet to be designed, but Gonzalez said it could boast up to 500 units and have 125,000 square feet of retail.

Several blocks west, along railroad tracks where now there is a towing yard and warehouse, will arise Hollywood Station, a 10-story, 500-unit condo with 20,000 square feet of retail space. Gonzalez expects another buying frenzy when its sales office opens in October or November.

"There is a tremendous demand for housing," she said. And in a city that's more than 90 percent built out, downtown is the best place left to construct mid-rise condos. The city can absorb about 3,000 new residents a year, Gonzalez said, and many of those can be expected to move downtown.

Low-rise housing will fill in the spaces between the taller developments. One such project is the Van Buren Street Lofts, with 52 units and 7,000 square feet of shops.

To keep the residents downtown, the city is encouraging the development of office centers, swank hotels,and a 400-seat theater and condo project. New growth is planned along bus or train lines, again to keep driving -- and frustrating traffic jams -- at a minimum.

McIlwain said much of the population growth in South Florida is younger people, just the demographic that favors a downtown lifestyle. "They're moving into smaller towns and older places like Hollywood," he said. "It's an opportunity for the city and the developers."

Revitalized downtowns may be all the rage, but there is a downside, McIlwain said. As property values soar, smaller, traditional downtown businesses will suddenly face higher rents, and homeowners will be hit with higher taxes.

However, for longer-term residents, taxes will be limited to a 3 percent cap under Florida's 1995 Save Our Homes law.

The land rush is on, and almost every property around Young Circle is itching for a project, said Bernard Zyskovich, a Miami architect and consultant for the city. And the transformation could come quickly.

"I think it'll be successful," Zyskovich said. "If they start today with a lot of enthusiasm, they could be done in three years."

Robert Nolin can be reached at rnolin@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7912.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-sbuild24aug24,0,7479450.story

thats great, another boom town! :cheers:

Current Builders To Construct Radius
By Melissa Bogdany
Last updated: Thursday, October 7, 2004 11:05am

HOLLYWOOD, FL-Lane Investment and Development Corp. and Firm Realty have named Current Builders the general contractor for Radius, a $70-million, 285-unit, luxury condominium project planned for here.

The 12-story project is being developed at 200 N. Young Circle. Unit prices range from $170,000 to $500,000. The project will also have 36,000 sf of retail space. Scheduled to break ground this month, the project has a May 2006 estimated completion date.

”Current Builders has an outstanding reputation in condominium construction, vast experience in southeast Florida and a diverse subcontractor base,” Marc Pollack, president of LIDC, says in a statement.

Current Builders, with offices in Pompano Beach, Naples and Altamonte Springs, has been in the general contracting and construction management business for 31 years. The company specializes in condominiums, multifamily projects, assisted-living facilities and commercial projects in Florida.

In addition, the developers have selected Miami-based Skyline Management as the owner’s representative for the project. The company, which focuses mainly on Broward, Dade and Palm Beach County projects, will work to keep construction on schedule and within budget.

Posted on Tue, Oct. 19, 2004
Click here to find out more!

HOLLYWOOD

Downtown, beach projects on commission's agenda

Hollywood commissioners will meet today and Wednesday to discuss several developments, including a downtown project and a beach hotel.

BY JERRY BERRIOS

jberrios@herald.com

Hollywood commissioners are slated to vote Wednesday on the site plan for Hollywood Station -- a complex that would spruce up the sagging southwest corner of Dixie Highway and Hollywood Boulevard with condominiums, townhomes and retail stores.

The development is part of a growing number of projects proposed for Hollywood's downtown. Radius, a planned condo on Young Circle, had potential residents camped out overnight for a chance to put money down.

Young Circle Commons, another condo project, is slated to be built above the historic Great Southern Hotel at 1858 Hollywood Blvd.

Hollywood Station is the first residential development proposed for the historically industrial Dixie Highway corridor.

Cornerstone Premier Communities, a Coral Gables-based development company, is building the project in three phases. The first includes a 10-story building with 214 condominiums. The second phase includes about 100 townhomes. About 275 units, a mix of condominiums and lofts, could be built in the third phase.

The second and third phases require state and county approval of an amendment to the city's downtown growth plan.

Hollywood Station also would have 15,000 square feet of retail space along Hollywood Boulevard and Dixie Highway.

Also on Wednesday, commissioners are scheduled to take a preliminary vote on a beach project represented by State Sen. Steve Geller, D-Hallandale Beach. The site at 2500 S. Ocean Dr. is now a parking lot across the street from The Wave, a condo conversion of the Presidential apartment building, 2501 S. Ocean Dr.

Bainbridge Presidential Towers Limited Partnership owned the 2500 S. Ocean Dr. property previously and had proposed building a 112-unit, 25-story condominium with an 18-slip marina and a 506-space parking garage.

Geller's new client, Chicago-based MCZ Development Corp. and Centrum Properties, is starting where Bainbridge left off.

The company is looking for an additional 56 residential units to build the 112 condominiums. MCZ Development also owns The Wave. Geller said the company is not asking for a zoning change on Wednesday, but wants to reserve the additional units.

''We are going to go back to the city with a plan that everyone is happy with,'' Geller said.

On Tuesday, Hollywood commissioners will meet as the city's Community Redevelopment Agency board.

They are scheduled to vote on a development agreement with Ocean Properties of Delray Beach and Portsmouth, N.H. The developers are converting the old Howard Johnson's hotel at 2501 N. Ocean Dr. into a Marriott Hotel with a spa and marina.

Commissioners also are slated to vote on whether to give La Piazza Pasta Cafe, 1885 Hollywood Blvd., a $300,000 loan for site improvements.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/9953847.htm

I think I posyed this already but here ya go


http://www.hollywoodlakes.com/Z%20Downtown%20drawing.jpg

In Hollywood after years of false starts, the old downtown has come back in a big way. About a year ago, people who might have gone there for a fun, affordable dinner and then left are now making a night of it, filling the bars and going to the clubs and even walking up and down the street--all this without knocking buildings down and with frugal incentives to would-be entrepreneurs.

The most significant improvements underway are four residential/mixed-use projects now in the design and approval stages. These projects, all located around Young Circle, will produce approximately 1,200 housing units (for sale) and 100,000 SF of commercial space during the next three to four years. Units will range in size from 900 to 1,700 square feet and sell for between $200 and $250 per square foot initially, perhaps more by the time of completion.

The first project on Young Circle is Radius, being developed by FIRM Realty of Hollywood and Lane Investment & Development Corp. of Atlanta. The project will build 285 for sale units above 20,000 SF of commercial space. Units will average 1,300 SF in size. The developer will also build an 800-space public parking garage which will contain 16,000 SF of leasable space. This project should begin sales in June 2004 and construction in the first quarter of 2005.

This sold out in one day (People camped out in front of the sales office the night before)

http://miamirealestatetrends.com/images/StarterImages/RadiusRenderingv3_0001.jpg

Project number two is as yet unnamed and is being developed by HART District, LLC of Hollywood. It is a multi-phase project consisting of a K-8 charter school specializing in the arts, a 400+ seat performance theater and a mixed-use condominium project. The residential project will build between 200 and 250 units above approximately 25,000 SF of commercial space. The school is currently under construction for an August 2004 opening. The theater will begin construction in early 2005 with the residential project following shortly thereafter. Parking will be integrated into the structure.

Next in line in terms of timing is Young Circle Commons at Hollywood Boulevard and Young Circle on the west side of the Park. This project will build approximately 200 for sale units and 25,000 SF of commercial space. The historic Great Southern Hotel will be renovated as well. Parking will be integrated into the structure. Construction should commence during the first half of 2005. This project is being developed by Southern Facilities Development, Inc. of Miami.

http://www.downtownhollywood.com/images/content/redevelopment/southern1.jpg http://www.downtownhollywood.com/images/content/redevelopment/southern2.jpg

Two other projects are in the preliminary concept stages and plan to build another 600 to 800 units of for sale housing above 100,000 SF of commercial space.

Another project has reached the final approval stage, but not on Young Circle, is located along Dixie Highway from Hollywood Blvd. south beyond Van Buren Street. It is comprised of almost 500 for sale residential units and 30,000 SF of commercial space. This $100+ million investment is being made by Cornerstone of Coral Gables.

http://www.downtownhollywood.com/images/content/redevelopment/cornerstone.jpg

These projects will bring at least 3,000 new residents to the immediate area. The new commercial space will allow us to attract regional as well as national retail tenants. Total investment will be approximately $450 million.

Finally, there are a number of smaller improvements underway or recently completed, including a 55,000 SF Class A office building on Harrison Street (just opened), the Holocaust Documentation Center, the Dance Academy (which just opened) and many smaller retail and restaurant projects.

The city of Hollywood recently broke ground on the $14.7 million ArtsPark at Young Circle, a 10-acre area that will feature a 35,000-square-foot cultural facility as well as landscaped gardens, pathways and bridges, performance plazas, public art, a shaded promenade, historical kiosk, fountains and children's playground. In addition, just west of ArtsPark, Hollywood Boulevard is continuing to be redeveloped with trendy restaurants and shops.

The park at the center of Young Circle will begin a $15 million transformation this year into Broward County's first Arts Park. In addition to quality urban open space, the park will have a dramatic fountain, 2,000+ seat amphitheater, indoor theater, working artist's studios and education and play areas for children. It will become the centerpiece that its location demands.



http://www.downtownhollywood.com/images/content/redevelopment/park.jpg



http://www.broward.org/arts/images/artspark/hollywood3.jpg

On my way to North Broward about 3 month ago and decided to stop by Hollywood to see what the buzz was about (20 minutes south of DT FTL and 2 or 3 miles from the beach)

I went on a weekday but this place is indeed booming...and will continue to soar ever more as more condos and shops and restaurants flood the area! What I like about Hollywood most is that mainstream retail has not penetrated the area....I wouldn't exactly say that it's quaint...but it's unique...too bad I couldn't stay and take pics...but I got a few snapshots here and there)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v255/kleclerc/IMG_0691.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v255/kleclerc/IMG_0690.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v255/kleclerc/IMG_0692.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v255/kleclerc/IMG_0693.jpg

I really liked this building

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v255/kleclerc/IMG_0694.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v255/kleclerc/IMG_0695.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v255/kleclerc/IMG_0696.jpg

This place is ecclectic....(keep in mind, I havn't nearly covered the whole dowtnown area)

Yeah and here's a larger rendering of Hollywood Station. She's a beauty!



http://hollywoodstation.com/images/p_build.jpg

I found the streets there kinda uplifting, and noticed many things going up. Plus having one lane to drive in and diagonal parking on each side of the lane on some streets.

This Is The Next Ftl

Demolition Clears Path for Hollywood Station's $50M Phase I
By Marita Thomas
Last updated: December 16, 2004 12:56pm

HOLLYWOOD, FL-The wrecking ball takes down 20,000-sf Hollywood Shopping Center in order for Coral Gables-based Cornerstone Premier Communities to begin construction of the first phase of Hollywood Station. The three-building, primarily residential, development will occupy a four-block, eight-acre site along South Dixie Highway, starting at the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Van Buren Street.

The development will take place in three phases. Construction of Phase I will begin in spring 2005, and a Cornerstone spokeswoman tells GlobeSt.com the construction cost of this phase is between $50 million and $51 million. It is a 10-story contemporary-design condominium with 214 one-, two-, and three-bedroom units. They range from about 796 sf with 77-sf terraces to 1,522 sf with 194-sf terraces and are being marketed at from the mid-$200,000s to the $400,000s. According to Cornerstone, sales began in October and the building is 60% presold.

Like construction, the demolition will take place in three phases. The second demolition in January and a third in March will clear the property of existing offices and residences for what Leonard Markowitz, Cornerstone’s project executive, describes as “extending the revitalization efforts to the west side of South Dixie Highway.”

On completion, Hollywood Station will contain 600 residential units in a combination of condo buildings, townhouses and lofts along with some boutique retail. Miami Beach-based Kobi Karp is the architect.
http://www.globest.com/news/181_181/miami/129568-1.html

Great news...Hollywood is a very nice and charming area, with inique shops, very outdorsy, very happening:):), great to see them urbanizing quickly:):)

hollywood station- thumbs up

COMEBACK CITY
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

ALREADY FULLY BUILT OUT, HOLLYWOOD IS COUNTING ON REDEVELOPMENT PROJECTS -- AND THEY'RE HAPPENING

BY JERRY BERRIOS
jberrios@herald.com

Hollywood is becoming a South Florida destination.

Drivers no longer just zoom through. They often linger on picturesque streets, devouring pasta, sipping lattes and savoring sweets.

There is a lot to do now and more to come, with several major redevelopment projects underway.

More than half a dozen condominiums and hotels are going up on Hollywood beach.

The Seminole Tribe of Florida has built a $279 million Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on its western Hollywood reservation. City leaders hope the entertainment and retail complex will spark redevelopment on the weary U.S. 441 corridor.

City leaders see the future Young Circle ArtsPark as a catalyst for economic development downtown and throughout the city.

With a recent $53.6 million bond issue that voters approved in November, the city will be able to fix up aging parks and fire stations throughout the city.

''We are doing the right kinds of things,'' Mayor Mara Giulianti said. ``I think this is a very good time for Hollywood.''

The city, all built out, is counting on redevelopment to bring in more tax money.

The ArtsPark will have an amphitheater, fountains, and a glass-blowing studio. It also will have a visual arts building with artist studios and a teaching area for such arts as metalwork and painting.

Developers are building around Young Circle Park, long considered the heart of the city.

In July, potential condominium buyers camped out overnight for a chance to buy into Radius, on the northwestern portion of Young Circle, that is yet to be built. Developer Steve Berman, who is building the 14-story, 311-unit condominium with 45,000 square feet of retail space, said construction is slated to start before the end of the year. It could be completed in two years.

''Downtown was my old stomping ground as a teenager,'' said Berman, who at 15 worked as a busboy at the Conca D'Oro restaurant off Young Circle. ``I have seen downtown in good times. I have seen it in bad times. I have always seen downtown with so much potential.''

All 311 units at Radius have been sold from $180,000 to more than $500,000.

Berman, president of FIRM Realty, also built La Piazza, a 21-unit apartment complex with 25,000 square feet of retail space on the northwest corner of Young Circle.

Hollywood Station, a future development on the southwest corner of Dixie Highway and Hollywood Boulevard just west of the Floroda East Coast railroad tracks, is doing brisk sales.

''We chose Hollywood because we felt it was one of the most progressive cities in South Florida,'' said Richard Lamondin, president of Coral Gables-based Cornerstone Premier Communities, which is building the project. ``They want development. They are willing to work with developers.''

The location, adjacent to downtown, was a big plus, Lamondin said.

''A lot of people are looking for the urban environment,'' he said.

Construction is slated to start next year.

FOREVER YOUNG

Developer Chip Abele, a managing member of Southern Facilities Development, is slated to build Young Circle Commons above the historic Great Southern Hotel at 1858 Hollywood Blvd. He plans to restore portions of the structure that Hollywood founder Joseph Young built.

Abele proposes to build up to 19 stories with about 200 condominiums and 25,000 square feet of commercial space on the site.

He also plans to build at least 400 condominiums on the Young Circle block where the Townhouse Apartments, Greyhound bus station and a Texaco gas station sit now.

On Hollywood beach, the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa led the way for the projects that have sprung up along State Road A1A.

The redevelopment projects include:

• Ocean Palms, a 240-unit, 38-story condominium, that is under construction north of the Diplomat.

• The Howard Johnson's hotel at 2501 N. Ocean Dr., between Carolina and Taft streets, will become the Hollywood Beach Marriott Spa and Marina. The project features a 229-room hotel, a 298-space parking garage, 1,800 square feet of retail space, 8,000 square feet of conference space, a restaurant and a tiki bar.

• Converting the 534 apartments at the Oceancrest Club, 3000 and 3001 S. Ocean Dr., into condominiums called The Residences on Hollywood Beach.

''Anyone who thinks of Hollywood now doesn't think of a small motel they stayed in years ago,'' Giulianti said. ``When they think of Hollywood, they think of quality. They think of excitement.''

AN EXTRA BOOST

In addition to the beach development, the Hollywood Beach Community Redevelopment Agency, a special taxing district created to make improvements in that area, is spending $23 million to upgrade sewer and water lines, bury utility lines and spruce up the barrier island. Even the Hollywood beach bridge will get a face-lift.

The last piece of the beach-development puzzle is the Johnson Street property -- the site of the city's former Casino pool. Four developers are vying to build on the six-acre site. A public workshop is slated for early next year.

SOME RESISTANCE

Most of the city's redevelopment is happening on the beach and in the downtown area, which puts more tax dollars into the coffers of the Community Redevelopment Agency on the beach and in downtown than into the city's general fund, which pays for such services as police and fire protection and capital improvements such as sidewalk repairs and alley repaving.

''It's helping the tourists on the beach and the downtown,'' said Sara Case, a Hollywood resident who wants commissioners to take a more measured approach to redevelopment. ``Residents who live in the CRA are going to get their power lines buried. You don't find that happening anywhere else in the city.''

Through the CRA, city leaders approved millions of dollars in financial incentives to developers. It's a practice Case disagrees with because that money isn't being spent on improvements that benefit the rest of the city.

Case also wants to see studies on growth issues such as traffic, schools and water and sewer capacity when redevelopment projects are approved.

Giulianti said incentives have their place.

''That is one of the tools we have. It is one of the ways to get the kind of development we want,'' Giulianti said. ``It gives us leverage that we don't have any other way.''

True Street :)

This Is The Next Ftl
TRUE Uptown-Midtown

Cause Chuck decided to go Psycho on us, I'm bumping this thread up, it has worthwhile information :ohno: :ohno:

Posted on Sun, Dec. 26, 2004

BRIEFLY

Villas on Hollywood beach to break ground in January

The Villas of Positano, a mixed-use 62-unit beachfront development in Hollywood, will break ground Jan. 6, according to Lon Tabatchnick, president and founder of The Lojeta Group.

The eight-story condominium will have penthouses from 3,700 square feet to 5,000 square feet priced from $2.5 million to $4.5 million. One-, two- and three-story townhomes will range from 3,253 square feet to 5,214 square feet, priced from $2.5 million to $4.3 million.

The Villas of Positano will be at 3501 N. Ocean Dr. Information: 954-922-6466.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/classifieds/real_estate/10492794.htm

Posted on Sun, Jan. 02, 2005
Click here to find out more!

Glitzy plans on table for beach site

Four developers are looking to build on the six-acre site south of Johnson Street on Hollywood beach. The city will hold a public workshop with presentations by developers on Thursday.

BY JERRY BERRIOS

jberrios@herald.com

The historic Casino Pool property on Hollywood beach is on the brink of a transformation -- again.

Hollywood commissioners this week will take a look at four distinct proposals to develop the six city-owned acres just south of Johnson Street.

Hollywood founder Joseph Young built the Casino Pool in the 1920s, and it became a popular playground for residents and visitors. Hoping to revive the site, Hollywood leaders are offering a 99-year lease to a developer who would build an entertainment, retail and hotel complex.

Previous proposals have fallen short.

The late Gus Boulis' Diamond on the Beach hotel never materialized. Michael Swerdlow's idea to move the International Swimming Hall of Fame to the site belly-flopped.

Now, four new and very different visions are on the table.

The Cordish Company has joined forces with Abus Development Group and K Group Holdings to propose the $235 million Hollywood Place, a sleek, modern complex in which Johnson Street would become a promenade with interactive fountains, seating, landscaping and retail stores.

''When the project was designed, it wasn't designed to look like some other places,'' said Scott Marder, an attorney for the project. '. . . It was designed so when people see it they will say, `I want our city to look like Hollywood.' ''

A 13-story, 300-room hotel could be an Orient Express, a high-end hotelier. Possible tenants in the entertainment, restaurant and retail space: Lucky Strike Lanes and possibly a Ruth's Chris Steak House, or Babalu, or Blue Sea Grill or Havana Club.

Cordish also proposes to develop south to Buchanan Street with a condo/hotel connected through the seventh-floor lobby.

Hollywood Place's plans include two restaurants, dock slips, plus a clear view of the ocean from the Intracoastal. Local Hollywood beach business owners Anthony Provenzano and Fabrizio Passalacqua want to take the site back to its early days with their $200 million Hollywood-By-The-Sea Resort Plaza.

Their concept includes a public Olympic-size pool, a 600- to 800-seat theater for community groups and a police substation. The pair is working with DDRM, an Anaheim, Calif.-based developer.

''There is only one deal that works, that is our deal,'' Provenzano said. ``It fits the site.''

The plan includes two hotels and a space-saving robotic parking garage that places vehicles in spaces according to size and expected pickup time.

On the Intracoastal Waterway, plans could include a mini marina, charter-fishing facility and boat trips to Anne Kolb Nature Center.

Provenzano owns 10 lots on the Intracoastal north of the site that could be added to the project.

Atlantica is a $400 million project proposing a Mediterranean look with concrete arches on the Broadwalk that will bring visitors to an open-air plaza.

The hotel could be an Intercontinental with 566 condominium/hotel units, plus six penthouses.

''It is probably on the same scale as the Hollywood Beach hotel when Joseph Young brought it to the city half a century ago,'' said Wilson Atkinson, an attorney representing the project. ``It brings that much to the community.''

The developer hired a Hollywood CRA consultant, Andrew Dolkart, to study the financial impact of the project.

Atlantica proposes a fitness center, spa and 47,350 square feet of conference and meeting space.

Hotel guests and local residents would be able to use the facilities.

Two oceanfront restaurants with ''internationally renowned chefs'' are in the plan, along with a third restaurant catering to the boaters on the Intracoastal Waterway.

The plan includes 65,456 square feet of retail space and a 2,400-space parking garage.

Ocean Properties, of Delray Beach and Portsmouth, N.H., is proposing the $70 million, 264-room Marriott Ocean Village, Resort & Spa that would work in tandem with the developer's other Marriott property expected to open this year north of Johnson Street between Taft and Carolina streets.

The site, home of the old Howard Johnson's hotel at 2501 N. Ocean Dr., will include retail and conference space, a restaurant and a tiki bar.

The developer envisions a water taxi that would shuttle guests from one hotel to the other.

Potential tenants at Johnson Street include Starbuck's, McCormick & Schmick, Big Pink, Café Tu Tu Tango, Max's Grille, Legal Sea Foods and Outback Steakhouse.

Ocean Properties has hired architectural firm Zyscovich Inc., which also created the city's vision for Young Circle.

The developer also is proposing an interactive water park for families on the Intracoastal.

''Ocean Properties is synonymous with quality and getting the job done,'' said Alan Koslow, an attorney for the project.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/10535105.htm

Posted on Fri, Jan. 07, 2005

HOLLYWOOD

Around Broward County

Developers push plans

for beachfront property

Four developers spent Thursday trying to convince Hollywood commissioners that their plan for an entertainment, retail and hotel complex is the right one for six city-owned acres on Hollywood beach just south of Johnson Street.

Commissioners could take a final vote in February or March.

Colonial Development Group started the all-day workshop by talking about its 566 condo/hotel units, plus six regular condos at the $400 million Atlantica project.

The Cordish Co., Abus Development Group and K Group Holdings followed with their proposal for the $235 million Hollywood Place, with a Johnson Street promenade.

Ocean Properties' presentation -- complete with computer animation and architectural models -- lauded the benefits of the $70 million Marriott Ocean Village, Resort & Spa.

Local Hollywood beach business owners Anthony Provenzano and Fabrizio Passalacqua and DDRM, an Anaheim, Calif.-based developer, showed a video highlighting amenities and the vision for the $200 million Hollywood-by-the-Sea Resort Plaza.

Developers are scheduled to make public presentations of the Johnson Street proposals from 5 to 9 p.m. Jan. 20 at the Hollywood Beach Culture and Community Center, 1301 S. Ocean Dr.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/10585326.htm

HOLLYWOOD

DEVELOPERS TO OFFER PROPOSALS TO CITY

Four developers are scheduled to make public presentations of their vision for six city-owned acres on Johnson Street from 5 to 9 p.m. today at the Hollywood Beach Culture and Community Center, 1301 S. Ocean Dr. The public will be allowed to ask questions. Developers will have 30 minutes for presentations and another 30 minutes for questions and answers.

Earlier this month, commissioners heard the proposals for an entertainment, retail and hotel complex on Hollywood beach and the south side of Johnson Street. Commissioners could take a final vote in February or March. Colonial Development Group has proposed Atlantica, a $400 million project with 566 condo/hotel units.

The Cordish Co., Abus Development Group and K Group Holdings want to build Hollywood Place, a $235 million project with a Johnson Street promenade.

Ocean Properties wants to build the $70 million Marriott Ocean Village, Resort & Spa, which would work in tandem with another Marriott hotel farther north on Hollywood beach.

Local Hollywood beach business owners Anthony Provenzano and Fabrizio Passalacqua and DDRM, an Anaheim, Calif.-based developer, are proposing the $200 million Hollywood-by-the-Sea Resort Plaza.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/10685843.htm

HOLLYWOOD

DEVELOPERS TO OFFER PROPOSALS TO CITY

Four developers are scheduled to make public presentations of their vision for six city-owned acres on Johnson Street from 5 to 9 p.m. today at the Hollywood Beach Culture and Community Center, 1301 S. Ocean Dr. The public will be allowed to ask questions. Developers will have 30 minutes for presentations and another 30 minutes for questions and answers.

Earlier this month, commissioners heard the proposals for an entertainment, retail and hotel complex on Hollywood beach and the south side of Johnson Street. Commissioners could take a final vote in February or March. Colonial Development Group has proposed Atlantica, a $400 million project with 566 condo/hotel units.

The Cordish Co., Abus Development Group and K Group Holdings want to build Hollywood Place, a $235 million project with a Johnson Street promenade.

Ocean Properties wants to build the $70 million Marriott Ocean Village, Resort & Spa, which would work in tandem with another Marriott hotel farther north on Hollywood beach.

Local Hollywood beach business owners Anthony Provenzano and Fabrizio Passalacqua and DDRM, an Anaheim, Calif.-based developer, are proposing the $200 million Hollywood-by-the-Sea Resort Plaza.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/10685843.htm

Hollywood Station Debuts Most Spacious Floorplan


Hollywood Station, a mixed-use development of Cornerstone Premier Communities in downtown Hollywood, has introduced its most spacious model, an “E” floorplan of 1,522 square feet with three bedrooms and two baths. The new residences priced between $388,000 and $434,000 are available on floors one through ten.

The corner wrap-around residence features three balconies and large windows on three sides that admit natural light. Other E plans provide panoramic views of city streets and the landscaped Hollywood Station swimming pool deck.

Exceptional quality of interiors is evidenced by the European-styled kitchen with designer cabinetry, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and tile flooring. Baths are equally elegant with marble countertops and a whirlpool tub.
“Each floorplan offers a different space arrangement to best suit a person’s lifestyle with flexibility to meet a variety of wants or needs,” said Richard Lamondin, Cornerstone president.

Hollywood Station at 140 So. Dixie Hwy. provides an urban-community lifestyle where residents enjoy private amenities like a rooftop sports lounge and deck and club room, the convenience of 15,000 sq. ft. of retail shopping and the thriving downtown Hollywood scene with shopping, dining and gallery-hopping, all within walking distance.
Designed by Kobi Karp, Hollywood Station will be built in three phases, the first with 214 residences from just under 800 to 1,520 sq. ft. and the building’s retail spaces. Prices range from the mid-$200’s to the $400’s.

For information, visit the onsite information center at 140 So. Dixie Hwy (corner of Van Buren St.); tel. 954-926-6363; or visit the website at www.hollywoodstation.com.
http://www.communitynewspapers.com/2005/digest/local4.htm

Hollywood Beach
http://southfloridaceo.com/article65.html
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Hollywood boasts beachside restaurants, shops and a pedestrian walkway, yet the city has struggled to gain traction for redevelopment. The city plans to spend $100 million to improve the beach area, but after years of fits and starts, citizens are asking, “Is it going to happen in our lifetime,” according to area activist Audrey Joint. Small, visible improvements, such as new benches and trash receptacles, are on the way, says Richard Lemack, interim Beach Community Redevelopment Area director. But the planned beach re-nourishment scheduled for April is what has residents and city leaders excited. “I can’t wait to see our first barge,” Lemack says.
>> On these two pages, a look at the landmarks and projects re-shaping Hollywood Beach.

The Villas of Positano: The typical buyer for a unit in this eight-story condo and townhouse project is between 40- and 60-years old, says developer Lon Tabatchnick, president of the Lojeta Group. With unit sizes that start at 3,700 square feet and average prices of $400 a square foot, he says, buyers are mostly South Floridians moving out of the western suburbs. Tabatchnick is spending more than $60 million to acquire land and build the project, which he expects to complete in March 2006. This is also the location where the city Broadwalk improvements will begin.

Marriott Hollywood Beach: The first new hotel on the beach under a major international flag, the 229-room resort is set to open in early spring. “This and the Johnson Street property are just the two things that make everything happen, the catalyst to central beach,” says Audrey Joint. Delray Beach-based Ocean Properties Ltd. spent $40 million rebuilding what used to be a Howard Johnson, according to attorney Alan Koslow of Fort Lauderdale-based Becker & Poliakoff PA, who represents the company. Koslow says the family-run firm also owns the property across from the Marriott on the Intracoastal Waterway and will build a marina there next.

Ruffy’s Marina: A New York-based investment group purchased the property late last year and has given the restaurant a facelift. Koslow says the group is lining up financing for a condo-hotel, a new restaurant and a refurbished marina. The same group also purchased two blocks on the Intracoastal Waterway for a boutique condo.

The Johnson Street Site: For years, the city has been trying to get a hotel on this five-acre parcel of land it owns. Four proposals under consideration: a Marriott by Ocean Properties; a resort and public swimming pool by Hollywood Grande developers Anthony Provenzano and Fabrizio Passalacqua; and two condo-hotels, including one from the developer that built the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on Hollywood’s western border.

Hollywood Grande Hotel: Structuring this as a condo hotel was an “expeditious means to obtain financing,” says developer Fabrizio Passalacqua, who is spending $49 million on land and development. Real estate investors and vacationers from Miami-Dade and Broward counties, as well as New York, Canada and the Midwest, have been buying units.

The Wave: The March 2004 condo conversion sold out in four months, says Rosalia Picot, president of Picot and Co. Realty Advisors Inc., which handled sales. At prices averaging $325 a square foot for waterfront, “It brought in second-home buyers that could not have been second-home buyers before,” she says, mostly from South Florida. Chicago-based MCZ/Centrum, which purchased the 112-unit property from Charles E. Smith Residential for $97 million, has around 3,000 units under development or proposed throughout Hollywood, says president Michael Lerner. “Hollywood is a natural extension of the beachfront between Miami and Fort Lauderdale,” he says.

Ramada Inn Hollywood Beach Resort: A film and entertainment museum planned for the historic hotel’s Oceanwalk shopping complex fell through, and redevelopment is stalled until the various owners of the hotel, several of its condo-hotel units, the on-site parking garage and Oceanwalk can negotiate a sale to a single buyer.

Ocean Palms: “People who lived in Hollywood and west Broward wanted to stay in Hollywood and Broward County, and there was no place for them to buy oceanfront property,” says The Plaza Group president Neil Fairman, who is developing Ocean Palms along with Avatar Development. The 240-condo building, where unit sizes start at 2,115 square feet, is completely sold out. According to a real estate source familiar with the project, prices averaged “in the high $300s” a square foot — 18 months ago. Fairman says half the buyers are from Broward and another 20 percent from Miami-Dade County, and plan to live there full-time. The $225 million (sell-out price) project should take occupancy this fall.

Diplomat Oceanfront Residences: These units will average a relatively large 3,000 square feet each. With 90 percent of them under contract, the average selling price was $1 million each, according to Ian Kramer, project manager for developer Taylor Woodrow North America’s US Tower division.

Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa: The 1,000-room hotel opened in March 2000, and Picot says it was the catalyst for beach redevelopment. “The Diplomat Hotel was an $890 million infusion in the area — that has ripples throughout,” she says. The hotel has established itself in the convention market, says general manager Mark Kukulski. “We draw business that wouldn’t have been in South Florida at all,” he says. But the hotel has not been as successful drawing a base of family leisure travelers, perhaps because of beach erosion. Nonetheless, says Kukulski, “The hotel is exceeding expectations. I’m speaking financially and market share performance.”

Diplomat Landing: The 52,000-square-foot retail and restaurant complex is 40 percent occupied, says Tony O’Malley, managing director of leasing agent LaSalle Investment Management. South Beach restaurateurs Jack & Lucia Penrod opened Nikki Marina at the complex in February 2004, and O’Malley says he is negotiating with “four prospects that have a hotel-entertainment complex.”

Indigo Beach Resort: MCZ/Centrum is negotiating to buy this property and create a beach club to service its other projects, The Tides and The Wave, says Koslow, who represents the company.

The Tides: MCZ/Centrum purchased this 950-unit, three-building apartment property from Charles E. Smith Residential for $160 million, and is selling the 812-square-foot-and-up units for an average of $325 a square foot, says Centrum properties vice president of sales and marketing Jennifer Arons. So far, 550 have been sold, mostly to full-time residents, she says. Another 200 units recently came on the market.

The Ambassador Hotel: this eyesore has been vacant for several years, and at least one deal to sell it has fallen through because of financing difficulties. Koslow says a client who “is a very significant investor on Hollywood Beach,” may buy it. “They have the ability to close.”

Vacant lot: Koslow says Miami-based real estate developer Fortune International may purchase the lot and build a condo-hotel on it.










hollywood no longer a secret

With the Diplomat resort and the Hard Rock hotel and casino as bookends, has Hollywood finally become the hotspot it has always aspired to be? By Rochelle Broder-Singer

Chef Michael Blum wanted to be internationally famous, and to do that he knew his restaurant would have to move from its small location in Dania Beach to a more noticeable, buzz-worthy setting. Looking at his options, from South Beach to Las Olas Boulevard and even downtown Miami, Blum picked a new location in downtown Hollywood.
“[I wanted] to be in a more visible, more high-volume location where we could generate a lot of money, and also make a name for ourselves on a national scale,” Blum says.
The City of Hollywood has, for the last few years, been on the verge of being hot — so much so that phrases like “diamond in the rough” and “well-kept secret” are almost reflexively spoken alongside the city’s name. But, somehow, the city never quite got traction. Even the 2002 opening of the glamorous Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa on Hollywood Beach did little to move the city from undiscovered to hip.
Last year, Hollywood turned a corner. The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino opened on US-441, an equally glamorous western counter-balance to the Diplomat. Two large condominium projects started sales in downtown, and one, Radius, broke ground. Construction also kicked into high gear on the $1 million dollar-plus condos at Ocean Palms on Hollywood Beach. Plans for re-doing the Broadwalk—the strip of concrete that runs along the beach—inched a step closer to fruition.
“Hollywood is on the upswing as far as its national presence,” says Steve Waterford, president of Hollywood East Artful Designs, which makes high-tech camera-related products for the film industry. Waterford, who moved to Hollywood from Los Angeles a few years ago, says, “Now people are starting to see what I saw in Hollywood, that it is really becoming its own destination.”
Potential residents are paying attention, if a stream of sold-out and nearly sold-out condominium developments is any indication. Tourists are noticing, too. “We’ve forever and ever had the snowbirds and the Canadians,” says Rozeta Rad, director of tourism for the Hollywood Office of Tourism. “But now with having all these new hotels, we have the convention markets, we have the niche market, we have Europeans, Latins. It’s given us a better mix, which is always good.”
Restaurateurs are not the only ones to take notice of Hollywood. Michael Schatz, managing member of Creams of Distinction, moved to South Florida from Chicago to open up franchises of ice cream shop Cold Stone Creamery. So far, he has opened stores in Hallandale Beach, Aventura and Hollywood. “Hollywood was a natural because it’s a very … high-growth community,” he says. Shatz’s current Hollywood store is just west of I-95, but he is watching redevelopment in downtown and on the beach. “I will open up a store in downtown as well. I will probably ultimately end up being on the Broadwalk, too, once it goes through its transformation,” he says.

Central Office
Hollywood’s central location has long attracted businesses. “We kept coming back to Hollywood as being right in the center,” says Mike Rogers, regional director of operations for Seattle-based Starbucks Coffee Co. “Hollywood is centrally located between Palm Beach, Broward and Miami. It’s easily accessible from 95, the turnpike, Tri-Rail, 441.” Rogers oversees a 30-person office that covers the southeastern part of Florida, from Melbourne to the Keys. He says he has already taken more office space in Hollywood to house a planned expansion.
Fort Lauderdale-based BankAtlantic Bancorp. was attracted by Hollywood’s position, too. When it wanted to open a call center and back-office operation four years ago, the company leased 40,000 square feet of space in Port 95 Office Park at the corner of I-95 and I-595. “We need the flexibility to be able to recruit people from all three counties, and this is really a very central location for that,” says Jarett Levan, BankAtlantic’s chief marketing officer. “Also, we do have a lot of vendors that come in to make presentations, and the building’s access to the airport makes it very attractive.” Levan expects the 200-person office to grow around 30 percent in the next year.
Port 95 Office Park is part of a larger office and industrial development, the 220-acre Port 95 Commerce Park. Industrial tenants and office tenants alike want the convenient address, says Walter Byrd, Trammel Crow Co.’s senior vice president of industrial brokerage. He oversees leasing at Port 95 Business Center within the commerce park. “As congestion in South Florida gets worse, as the center of the tri-county area has continued to move north, distribution companies large or small, local or national … are looking for a more convenient location for their employees to get to and to distribute out of,” Byrd says. Hollywood, he adds, “just makes a very good distribution point.”
To be sure, the city’s allure is more than just that of a central location, says Trammel Crow’s Laurel Lucas, who manages leasing of the Presidential Circle office building, a class-A building on Hollywood Boulevard west of I-95. She says the restaurants and shops in downtown, big-box retail west of I-95 and the Diplomat, with its 500 rooms and convention facilities, are raising interest. “Hollywood is kind-of becoming a destination,” she says. Although the 282,000-square-foot Presidential Circle is 95 percent leased, Lucas says she has seen an “uptick” in inquiries for 4,000 to 10,000 square feet of space.
High demand has also caused a slow rise in rental rates, says Stuart Litvin, who recently left his position as president of public-private economic development group the Hollywood Business Council. Property owners, he says, have also begun to realize the value of their holdings. “The other side of the sword is they’re looking for prices that kind-of deter developers and buyers,” Litvin says.
That is one reason Blum, of Michael’s Kitchen, wanted to get in on Hollywood a little bit early. He figures the city is still on the cusp of being South Beach-hip, and that rental rates will only rise in the future.
Hollywood Mayor Mara Giulianti hopes more people like Blum, Cold Stone’s Schatz and camera equipment maker Waterford will be attracted to the city. She says its greatest strength has nothing to do with a prime location or a beautiful beachfront. “We have every demographic, and we’ve tried to make that our strength,” she says. “I think we’re quirky. I like quirky.”

















Downtown: Extreme Makeover, City Edition



After years of planning for an ArtsPark, luxury condos and revitalized retail, the shovels hit the dirt for downtown Hollywood’s redevelopment.

Sushi Blues Café has become a little less funky. And that is a good thing, say its owners. The landmark restaurant has been serving food and music in downtown Hollywood for 17 years. In 2003, it moved from Young Circle to a larger space and underwent a makeover to attract a broader clientele.
Sushi Blues’ old space had “a bohemian kind of atmosphere, which not everyone can appreciate,” says Junko Maslak, who owns the restaurant with her husband. The new space on Harrison Street “attracted a different type of customer who would never come to the small, cramped bohemian-style place,” she says.
Downtown Hollywood is seeking just such a makeover for itself. By adding a 12-acre ArtsPark and luxury condominiums, among other things, the city hopes to attract more up-scale visitors and residents to downtown, while retaining some of its village-like atmosphere. The historical integrity of Hollywood Boulevard, a section of which is on the National Register of Historic Places, is a key concern of the revitalization effort.
The planned ArtsPark is the centerpiece of downtown redevelopment and it anchors the east side of downtown at the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and US-1. A theater and arts education complex that spills out to an outdoor art-themed green space is planed there. Broward County, the City of Hollywood and the Downtown Community Redevelopment Agency have pledged approximately $11 million for the green areas and walkways of the park, and $3 million to re-vamp the road around the park, says CRA director Jim Edwards. But the budget for the projects is between $5 million to $6 million short. Edwards says the city is asking for more money from the county and is considering some design changes to reduce costs. “And I believe there will be some private fundraising involved as well,” he says.
Work on the green areas and walkways is set to begin in June. Shortly after that, the road around the circle will be revamped. Parking will be moved from inside the circle to the outer edge of the street around the circle, close to current and projected retail and restaurant space. A wide new median will buffer the parking lot and sidewalks from the street.
“Right now, you’re walking on the sidewalk next to all these lanes of traffic,” says Bernard Zyscovich, president of Miami-based architecture and urban planning firm Zyscovich Inc., who consults for the city. With the new design, “The park is really more of a destination, and the perimeter of the circle is more for strolling,” he says.
While the parking, road and green space plans are on track, there is no schedule yet for building the under-funded ArtsPark structures. That does not matter, says CRA director Edwards: “To the casual viewer, everything will be completed, even though the buildings are not.”
Finishing the entire ArtsPark, though, may not be merely optional. “The ArtsPark is really the catalyst for [our] whole project,” says Patricia Peretz, co-developer of the Hart Project, a mixed-use complex on Young Circle. Peretz says she is not the only developer attracted to downtown because of the park. “I think we are all, at this point, stakeholders in the ArtsPark,” she says.
Hart, an abbreviation for Hollywood Art District, will be comprised of a theater and a charter arts school with a 17-story condo tower and retail. The school, the Hollywood Academy of Arts and Science, is already open; the theater, the Hollywood Playhouse (which Peretz’s partner Gary Posner owns), currently has a performance troupe leasing space in it. Peretz and Posner will raze the Hollywood Bread Building to build the condo and retail tower.
Peretz calls the project a “public-private partnership with the city CRA,” although she was vague about the tax incentives the city has promised. She says Hart is at least a year away from starting pre-sales, and two years away from knocking down the bread building.
Before the bread building even gets knocked down, Young Circle’s first new condo project, Radius, should be complete (in summer 2006). The curvilinear-shaped building, which is currently under construction, took all of six hours to sell out (with signed contracts) its original 285 units last year, says Marc Pollack, president of Lane Investment and Development Corp., who is working with Steve Berman, president of Hollywood-based FIRM Realty, on the project. Radius has since added a floor, upping its total unit count to 311, and the partners say all of those are sold out, with prices averaging $285 per square foot. The buyers range in age from their 20s to 60s, says Pollack, and many are already Broward residents, including a number of government officials.
The attraction? “It’s that ability to walk out your front door and go eat. It’s awfully accessible to both the beach and I-95,” Pollack says. “And, obviously it wasn’t overpriced.”
Chip Abele expects the convenient location and amenities of downtown will attract buyers to two residential/commercial projects around Young Circle.
“All these buyers are going to be … urban professionals,” he says. Abele says his company, Miami-based Southern Facilities Development, will be investing about $350 million in the two projects: Young Circle Commons, which will incorporate the historic façade of the Great Southern Hotel, is set to begin selling this spring; Block 55 will replace a Greyhound bus station and apartment building, and Abele is still piecing together the land for that project.
In spite of the developers’ professed excitement about downtown Hollywood’s location and walkability, they still say they needed help from the city to build in an unproven area. Like the Hart, Radius, Young Circle Commons and Block 55 will all receive incentive money from the city once the projects go on the tax rolls. Radius’ package will be worth $11 million to $14 million, according to published reports. Abele says his package will be worth around $25 million for the two projects.

Critical Mass?
The ArtsPark, incentives, downtown’s shops and restaurants — whatever the reason, developers are starting to mass in downtown. Attorney Alan Koslow of Becker & Poliakoff, who represented Berman, Pollack and Abele, says he has at least two other clients working on downtown projects. Miami-based United Trust Fund is buying several parcels on the north side of Young Circle, to build up to 300 condos, a re-vamped post office and office space. Koslow also represents the owners of a retail site, anchored by a Publix, on the east side of the circle. The city and the owners are hoping to redevelop that site with a condo tower and retail as well.
While Young Circle has received most of the attention, the city and private sector have not forgotten the rest of downtown. “We also want the places that aren’t around the circle, that maybe aren’t quite as prime but give people a wonderful downtown lifestyle, so that people who work in the area can afford to live there,” says Mayor Mara Giulianti.
Indeed, areas just off the circle have gotten developers’ attention. Chicago-based partnership MCZ/Centrum recently paid $42.5 million to purchase Jefferson at Young Circle, the 250-unit apartment complex that was downtown’s first large-scale residential development when it opened in 2002. MCZ/Centrum will do a condo conversion and change the name to Regent Park. “I guess our target market is kind of a youthful, reserve your seat at the pool kind of young and urban market,” says Jennifer Arons, MCZ/Centrum’s vice president of sales and marketing. “All the young people [in my office] were saying ‘I could live here.’”
At the western end of downtown, where Hollywood Boulevard and Harrison Street hit Dixie Highway, Coral Gables-based Cornerstone Premier Communities is building Hollywood Station. The project, on four city blocks, will ultimately have 500 condo, townhouse and loft units (including several live-work spaces) as well as 15,000 square feet of retail. Total sell-out is predicted at around $170 million, and the project will take five years to complete, says Cornerstone president Richard Lamondin.
From a sales center ensconced in a former funeral home, Lamondin and his team have sold 70 percent of the 214 units in Phase I with binding contracts, he says. Buyers have been young professionals, including many first-time homebuyers. “I thought that we would appeal to some young buyers, but the number of them caught me off guard,” he says.
Lamondin says incentives from the city, including a reported $5.3 million in cash and tax credits when the buildings come on the tax rolls, and an under-used parking lot that the city contributed to Cornerstone, have allowed prices for Phase I to average $280 per square foot.
The city expects a lot out of its investment. Former Hollywood economic development director Jacqueline Gonzalez, who helped craft the deal with Cornerstone, says, “It will be a catalyst for redevelopment between downtown and I-95.” Commercial corridor development director Neil Fritz says it will provide a counter-balance to the ArtsPark on the east side of downtown. “Hollywood Station will anchor the other end of downtown,” he says.
In fact, the location near a pedestrian-navigable clump of shops and restaurants is one of Hollywood Station’s big selling points. “The word that comes up over and over again … is convenience,” Lamondin says. “The biggest amenity we have is downtown Hollywood.”

The Downtown Amenity
On any weekend after 10:00 p.m., downtown Hollywood is jumping. People line up to get into Ginger Bay Café, with its Jamaican food and music. They grab slices of pizza well past 2 a.m. at Mauro’s, eat pasta at one of several Italian restaurants and cut into steaks at one of two Argentine steakhouses. Subway, Quiznos and Oxxo Care Cleaners are just about the only national tenants in downtown, but plenty of local retailers and restaurateurs are enjoying a traffic boom.
“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to really see that this is going to be a hot area probably in two or three years. But if you can get in now, from a CEO point of view, this is really an amazing opportunity,” says chef Michael Blum, who this year moved Michael’s Kitchen, the restaurant he owns with his wife, from Dania Beach to downtown Hollywood.
Opportunity may be the key word. Blum still needed some big incentives: $150,000 from the city and $200,000 from his landlord, Jerry Mintz of the Mint Cos. Blum says their investments are already paying dividends: Just seven weeks after its January re-opening, the restaurant had a two-and-a-half- to three-week wait for Saturday night reservations, and an average check of $45.
The rents throughout downtown, which Mintz says are “the lowest rents of any downtown in South Florida,” were a factor in Blum’s relocation well. As Blum says, “I can spend $20 per square foot instead of $40 or $50 in Aventura.”
Downtown retail thrives on such stories as Blum’s, says Mintz, whose company owns some 15 retail and showroom buildings in the area. “We look for people who are really doing well somewhere else, and we try to convince them this is the place for them to be,” he says.
Mintz also works to keep successful local buzz-generators, like Junko Maslak’s Sushi Blues Café, whose new space is in one of his buildings. Overall, says Mintz, his retail space is at 95 percent occupancy. “We’ve been getting a better quality tenant, more upscale places,” in the last year, he says.
Bringing in and keeping retailers or restaurants that already have a following is key, says Jim Edwards, director of the downtown Community Redevelopment Area (CRA). “There’s not enough local demand to support the amount of retail space that we have,” he says. “In order for us to be unique and attract people from outside the Hollywood area, we need to continue to get the one-of-a-kind or two-of-a-kind mom and pop shops that we have.”
That is not to say chains will not be welcome in downtown Hollywood. The new condominiums being built around Young Circle will have retail on their bottom floors, and national tenants are showing interest in the high-traffic, US-1 frontage they will offer. “At this point, there’s a few select national tenants that I’ve been targeting,” says Radius developer Berman. (Radius will have 50,000 square feet of retail on its ground floor.)
Berman’s previous downtown project, the apartment-retail complex La Piazza, is now 100 percent leased, with a couple of national tenants in it. But most national companies were not interested when he was leasing it out. “The reality is retail follows residential, and for downtown to really flourish, you need to create a synergy between the residential units, the retail space, the restaurants and cafes and the office space,” he says.
But retail broker Lyle Stern of Miami Beach-based FKS Realty Group says downtown Hollywood needs more than just a critical mass of people to attract national tenants. Stern says his clients, which include such names as Starbucks and Whole Foods Market, do not see the kind of space they want in downtown. He thinks the city needs to widen the sidewalks on downtown’s two main streets, Hollywood Boulevard and Harrison Street, and change the on-street angled parking to parallel parking. “For Hollywood Boulevard to max on its potential, they have to get the physical plant right,” he says. “[National retailers] are not going to come to the current physical plant.”
While city planners disagree with many of Stern’s assessments, the CRA has set aside $200,000 to $250,000 each to widen sidewalks and plant trees on the two north-south roads that connect Hollywood Boulevard and Harrison Street. With the new streetscapes, says the CRA’s Edwards, “the pedestrian on Hollywood will be drawn down to Harrison and the pedestrian on Harrison will be drawn down to Hollywood.”

The Office Component
Edwards says the final part of downtown’s development will be office space. The area got its first new Class-A building in decades when Berman’s FIRM Realty and Mintz’s Minto Companies built the Harrison Executive Center, which opened in 2004.
The center, which has 50,000 square feet of office space, was built entirely on spec. Berman says the building is now 75 percent leased, with tenants including lawyers, accountants, Internet-related firms and other high-tech companies. “Most of my tenants have come from outside Hollywood, many from the Aventura area,” Berman says. “They see Hollywood as an alternative, a quality product in a hip location.”
Like Blum of Michael’s Kitchen, other companies want to be the first ones into downtown. “People have said to me that there’s a buzz about Hollywood,” Berman says. “It’s no longer a question of if Hollywood is going to become the next hot spot. It’s a question of when. People see it’s happening and say, ‘I want to get in early before there’s no room for me to get in.’” — RB




441 Corridor: One Last Transformation

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Can US-441 change from a gritty commercial corridor to a mixed-use boulevard?

Driving down Hollywood’s four-and-a-half miles of US-441 (also known as State Road 7), you will see mostly pawnshops, used car dealerships, auto body repair shops and psychics, stretching almost to the city’s northern border. There, the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino suddenly looms over you from the west side of the road. The sprawling resort, casino, retail and entertainment complex, sparklingly new, is in sharp contrast to the street around it.
Hollywood city planners hope to change that disparity. Their vision is to turn US-441 into a boulevard with trees and wide sidewalks, where parking lots are behind buildings, outdoor dining faces the boulevard and mixed-use projects combine residential, retail and office space. “What we envision is like you would find in good American cities or European cities,” says Bernard Zyscovich, whose Zyscovich Inc. is working with the city on a plan for the corridor. “It’s a huge leap … we’re looking 20 years [ahead],” he says.
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) had already allocated money to buy land along the sides of US-441 to widen and reconfigure the road throughout Broward County. The city of Hollywood, says Mayor Mara Giulianti, decided to take the opportunity presented by the upcoming work. After a moratorium on building along the corridor, the city developed a zoning overlay plan that it hopes will mean fewer industrial properties lining the road, and more shops, restaurants and residential towers. Higher building heights are also expected when the plans are finalized. The city asked FDOT to put bus-only lanes on US-441, which could in the future be converted for another form of mass transit.
Once the new zoning is finalized, Zyscovich thinks developers will begin investing. “Waterfront land and the best properties have all been taken,” he says. “Many developers say, ‘I don’t have a problem getting money — I have a problem doing deals.’”
Still, Zyscovich acknowledges that redevelopment will not be so simple. “The challenges are enormous, because there’s different sizes and shapes of the properties along the corridor,” he says. “There’s a lot of very small buildings that no one wants to invest in.”
The uncertainty of plans in progress has deterred current property owners from making major changes. “We’ve always invested with maintaining the properties, but we haven’t done significant improvements because we’ve been waiting to find out … what the county’s and city’s ideas are,” says Mason Sharpe, vice president of Hialeah-based Sharpe Properties, which owns four strip centers with 44,500 square feet of retail along the corridor. His family has owned the properties for 15 years, and wants to hold onto them and eventually redevelop them, possibly with a partner, Sharpe says.
He is intrigued by proposals for outdoor seating and sidewalks, but points out that, like many properties on US-441, at least two of his are not deep enough to accommodate such a concept. “You’re not dealing with an empty landscape or empty lands,” he says. “The only direction you can go is up.”
Sharpe’s properties are located just to the north and to the south of Hard Rock. He says that while there are certainly more cars driving by since the complex opened, it is hard to tell whether there are more people stopping to shop.
Others are more confident that the 500-room hotel, casino and entertainment complex helps the city, although it is situated on Seminole reservation land outside of city limits. “I believe the economic impact has been great, even without paying taxes,” says Jacqueline Gonzalez, the city’s former economic development director. She points to “the jobs generated and the commerce generated” by Hard Rock. According to the Seminole Tribe, the complex cost more than $200 million to build and employs some 3,000 full-time workers.
Hard Rock is definitely bringing more groups to visit Hollywood, says Rozeta Rad, director of tourism at the Hollywood Office of Tourism. She also says it has attracted the attention of travel media and tour operators. “The tourists that stay at the hotel … they’re definitely going to visit the beach at some point, or they’re going to come to downtown Hollywood,” Rad says.
Next door to the hotel and casino, Seminole Paradise, a 350,000-square-foot complex of 11 nightclubs, 24 stores and 12 restaurants developed by The Cordish Co. of Baltimore, is attracting more locals than tourists, at least according to the owner of two of the complex’s restaurants.
Arturo Gomez, chief operating officer of Chicago-based Rockit Ranch Productions Inc., says that although most of the customers at his restaurants, Tequila Ranch and The Park Sports Club, live in western Broward, he expects more tourists in the future. “Over time, I see this being a destination point for travelers who come to South Florida for whom South Beach might not be their thing,” he says.
If the Hard Rock anchors the northern end of Hollywood’s stretch of US-441, the decidedly less glitzy Millennium Super Mall anchors its southern end at Hollywood Boulevard. In 2003, Weston-based Millennium Development Enterprises signed a 30-year lease — with an option to buy after 10 years — with the owners of what was then the vacant Hollywood Fashion Mall. Millennium turned it into a flea market-like bazaar. Eventually, the company plans to turn the 46-acre site into a mixed-use residential, retail and commercial hub for southwestern Broward County, says attorney Alan Koslow of Fort Lauderdale-based Becker & Poliakoff PA, which represents Millennium. While that project is in its first, baby-step phase — rezoning — Koslow thinks Millennium’s long-term investment will pay off. “I think they’ll be rewarded,” he says. “Because I get phone calls every week from people who want to invest in that project.”
Redeveloping the US-441 corridor is undeniably a multi-decade project. The FDOT work is not even scheduled to begin until 2008. But Mayor Giulianti says it will ultimately be as important as Hollywood’s beach. “The health of the community is often judged by those corridors,” she says. “They’re highly visible, and they set the tone of a community.” — RB







Mayor Q&A:

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Mara Giulianti is serving her eighth term as mayor of Hollywood. Today, the city is radically different than when she was first elected in 1986. SouthFloridaCEO sat down with the mayor to discuss her priorities for city redevelopment.

SFCEO: What is your top priority for Hollywood?
Giulianti: Right now, the redevelopment of the beach is the most critical. We’ve got the plans for everything from infrastructure improvement to beautification to business and hospitality recruitment … to bringing new residential opportunities.

SFCEO: Are you concerned about the balance between hotel development and residential development on the beach?
Giulianti: The small motels are important to us, [as well as] the large hotels. … We need to make sure that we maintain those places that have been a part of our success. And yet there is a lot to be said for having people of means live on the beach, because they help in the lean times. Those people that live on the beach will hopefully be more likely to eat out on the beach, and as we improve things, they help to keep the economy humming in the off-season.
SFCEO: Will we see more high-rises going up on the beach?
Giulianti: We have no desire to be Sunny Isles. I know that they are raking in a fortune, but that is what they want to do.

SFCEO: Hollywood has no pari-mutuel facilities, so why are you taking a strong position opposing slot machines at those facilities? (The referendum passed after our interview)
Giulianti: We have gambling north, south, east and west. … We are going to have both the burden of the traffic and of our mutual aid agreements [for police and fire services] … and nobody’s offered anything. … We’d be better off, frankly, if there were no other slots other than the Hard Rock.

SFCEO: How has Hollywood changed in the past two years?
Giulianti: We have more personality. … Most people like that. They like fact that you can find restaurants of all different types and different ethnicities. That there’s things if you like to stay out until 2 in the morning, there’s things if you want to stay out until the crack of dawn.

SFCEO: To many people, Hollywood’s redevelopment is taking an inordinately long time. Do you think that perception has hurt the city?
Giulianti: We know where we’re going, and it takes longer to get there when you do that. When you look at everything piecemeal, you can be very successful at first, but down the line, does that have the quality of life that you want?

A photo article I wrote about Hollywood ...

http://miamitom.com/cms/index.php?module=article&view=10&MMN_position=21:21

Hollywood Marriott

http://miamitom.com/gallery/Hollywood

http://miamitom.com/albums/FL-Miami-Hollywood-02-25-05/hollywood_marriott_02_25_2005_miamitom_com_002.sized.jpg

http://miamitom.com/albums/FL_Hollywood_03-12-2005/hollywood_beach_03_12_2005_miamitom_com_090.sized.jpg

Young Circle With a “Diamond Dome?”
Edwin O’Toole Dreams Big!

BY CARON CONWAY de SALAZAR

When Edwin “Digger” O’Toole dreams, he dreams big.
The Hollywood inventor, who specializes in geodesics – the application of geometric technology to structural engineering – has envisioned giant rings around the earth and a domed canopy covering Young Circle Park in Downtown Hollywood.

The “Earth Ring,” as O’Toole calls it, would circle the earth, collecting the electromagnetic fields to provide fossil-free energy for the entire planet. He has since given up on that idea, calling it “too outrageous, too far-thinking” and too expensive, costing trillions of dollars to implement.

Far more doable, O’Toole believes, would be a tremendous geodesic dome over the Artspark planned for Young Circle Park, a $21 million project scheduled to being in June.

O’Toole, 72, was prompted to pitch the dome structure to the city about three years ago after reading a newspaper article in which Mayor Mara Giulianti expressed her hopes for an arts park that would be “world-class.”

“The mayor had creative thinking,” said O’Toole who responded to the challenge by proposing the aluminum-coated steel structure comprised of open triangles, spanning 744 feet in diameter and rising 186 feet at its highest point in the center.

By way of comparison, the huge, closed geodesic sphere that is the focal point of Walt Disney World’s EPCOT Center is a mere 250 feet or so in diameter, O’Toole said.
He called it “Hollywood’s Diamond Dome” and a printed flyer trumpeted “Hollywood’s World Class Young Circle” with computerized views of how it would appear along downtown’s palm-lined streets.

“It would draw so many people from all around, just to see it,” O’Toole said of his idea, which the city turned down. He figured the project would take about a year to construct, at a cost of $10 million.

In addition to the appeal of such a unique structure as a tourist attraction, O’Toole said an open dome would let in sunshine and rain without disturbing any landscaping inside the park, and would be “resilient to any hurricane, no matter how big.”
According to the leading geodesics manufacturer, Temcor, erector of more than 6,000 structures worldwide, domes are designed to withstand the test of time and the harshest environments.

O’Toole said he’s not giving up on his idea because the dome could easily be added later.

“I’m going to keep trying,” he vowed. “I want to be able to give youngsters a vision.”
He also plans to keep inventing geodesic domes and spheres, for which he already holds patents, and working on his latest idea, stints for medical procedures utilizing nanotechnology.

O’Toole, born and raised in a Pennsylvania orphanage, said he learned the importance of helping others from the Amish. A former underwater demolition team Frogman (now known as Navy SEALS) during the Korean Conflict and a brain cancer survivor, he’s also learned about resilience.

The 45-year Hollywood resident said he owned 13 different companies in the years following the war, and now still toils away in the laboratory at the back of his house. He reads 30 technical publications a week.

O’Toole said that through his inventions, including a revolutionary design for a ring sphere polyhedron, he hopes to “improve people’s lives and help humanity.”

For information on geodesics, visit O’Toole’s website: www.synergyrings.com.