TampaMike
December 8th, 2005, 11:20 PM
FORT LAUDERDALE
42-story condo gets city's go-ahead
A 42-story condominium tower proposed for a site near Fort Lauderdale's historic Stranahan House won final approval Tuesday.
BY SAMUEL P. NITZE
snitze@herald.com
Fort Lauderdale commissioners on Tuesday approved a hotly contested condominium tower proposed for land next to a century-old pioneer home, though legal challenges filed by the project's opponents could delay construction for a year or more.
The commission's 3-2 vote, with Mayor Jim Naugle and Commissioner Christine Teel dissenting, marked a key step in a seven-year saga that pitted the value of protecting history against the rights of property owners to make use of their land. The project now has the city's formal blessing.
The vote followed a lengthy hearing during which residents spoke for and against the development. Supporters of Stranahan House blasted the city's review process, urged commissioners to require negotiations toward a new design, and lamented the prospect of a 454-foot tower soaring next to a key bit of the city's past.
''They can make alterations to kingdom come, but they are still going to have a catastrophic, obnoxious impact on the most historic area we have in the city,'' said resident George Counts. ``It's another concrete jungle at the expense of our historic centerpiece.''
Commissioner Cindi Hutchinson said she wasn't thrilled to vote for the project but felt she must, noting that a move to take the property in 2000 for use as a park was rejected by the courts, leaving the city vulnerable to the developer's suit seeking delay damages.
''I don't like the position I'm in,'' she said. ``But we have to get out of this. We lost.''
When the developer first filed plans for the site in 1999, critics argued that a condominium tower would overwhelm Stranahan House, a 1901 wood-frame structure that served as an early trading post and home to pioneers Frank and Ivy Stranahan.
The city's subsequent move to take the property for use as a park was blocked by a Broward circuit judge, spawning a mess of appeals and counterclaims.
Commissioner Dean Trantalis said he would love to see a park on the site instead of a condo tower, but argued that even if the city had successfully appealed its eminent-domain loss, the cost of the land would have been astronomical.
''It would have been a Pyrrhic victory at best,'' he said. ``I don't think it would have been a burden this city could sustain.''
The current plans were outlined in a settlement reached last year by the city and the property owner,
Coolidge-South Markets Equities. They call for a taller, 42-story tower, but with a public plaza connecting the old house to Las Olas Boulevard. The plans also show ground-level retail, a restaurant with outdoor seating, and improvements to the city's Riverwalk park.
Stranahan House and a second, related nonprofit have filed appeals seeking to overturn the settlement and require additional review. Had the commission voted down the plans, the developer would have had the right under the settlement to build the original 1999 tower, a 38-story building designed to wrap around Stranahan House on the north and west sides.
Don Hall, lawyer for the developer, the Related Group, rejected the notion that the new tower, repositioned farther from the house to make way for the public plaza, would somehow damage its historic neighbor, physically or otherwise.
''It honors and highlights Stranahan House,'' he said. ``For the first time in years, people will be able to see the house and be invited into it.''
The developer agreed Tuesday to demolish the decrepit, defunct Hyde Park Market building that presently occupies the site as soon as possible
42-story condo gets city's go-ahead
A 42-story condominium tower proposed for a site near Fort Lauderdale's historic Stranahan House won final approval Tuesday.
BY SAMUEL P. NITZE
snitze@herald.com
Fort Lauderdale commissioners on Tuesday approved a hotly contested condominium tower proposed for land next to a century-old pioneer home, though legal challenges filed by the project's opponents could delay construction for a year or more.
The commission's 3-2 vote, with Mayor Jim Naugle and Commissioner Christine Teel dissenting, marked a key step in a seven-year saga that pitted the value of protecting history against the rights of property owners to make use of their land. The project now has the city's formal blessing.
The vote followed a lengthy hearing during which residents spoke for and against the development. Supporters of Stranahan House blasted the city's review process, urged commissioners to require negotiations toward a new design, and lamented the prospect of a 454-foot tower soaring next to a key bit of the city's past.
''They can make alterations to kingdom come, but they are still going to have a catastrophic, obnoxious impact on the most historic area we have in the city,'' said resident George Counts. ``It's another concrete jungle at the expense of our historic centerpiece.''
Commissioner Cindi Hutchinson said she wasn't thrilled to vote for the project but felt she must, noting that a move to take the property in 2000 for use as a park was rejected by the courts, leaving the city vulnerable to the developer's suit seeking delay damages.
''I don't like the position I'm in,'' she said. ``But we have to get out of this. We lost.''
When the developer first filed plans for the site in 1999, critics argued that a condominium tower would overwhelm Stranahan House, a 1901 wood-frame structure that served as an early trading post and home to pioneers Frank and Ivy Stranahan.
The city's subsequent move to take the property for use as a park was blocked by a Broward circuit judge, spawning a mess of appeals and counterclaims.
Commissioner Dean Trantalis said he would love to see a park on the site instead of a condo tower, but argued that even if the city had successfully appealed its eminent-domain loss, the cost of the land would have been astronomical.
''It would have been a Pyrrhic victory at best,'' he said. ``I don't think it would have been a burden this city could sustain.''
The current plans were outlined in a settlement reached last year by the city and the property owner,
Coolidge-South Markets Equities. They call for a taller, 42-story tower, but with a public plaza connecting the old house to Las Olas Boulevard. The plans also show ground-level retail, a restaurant with outdoor seating, and improvements to the city's Riverwalk park.
Stranahan House and a second, related nonprofit have filed appeals seeking to overturn the settlement and require additional review. Had the commission voted down the plans, the developer would have had the right under the settlement to build the original 1999 tower, a 38-story building designed to wrap around Stranahan House on the north and west sides.
Don Hall, lawyer for the developer, the Related Group, rejected the notion that the new tower, repositioned farther from the house to make way for the public plaza, would somehow damage its historic neighbor, physically or otherwise.
''It honors and highlights Stranahan House,'' he said. ``For the first time in years, people will be able to see the house and be invited into it.''
The developer agreed Tuesday to demolish the decrepit, defunct Hyde Park Market building that presently occupies the site as soon as possible