Fort Lauderdale & North/Central Broward

[finehoe]

the character of the beach? :S before it was a bunch of 1.00 t shirt and swim trunk shops and bar dives.

[tombarnes]

The architectural character of places like the Hotel Marlin was fairly well nonexistant. The Poinciana, the Gulf Wind and the few other Art-Deco buildings in Fort Lauderdale were erased twenty or thirty years ago. The few bits of MiMo which remain are in grave danger of disappearing entirely. I do not doubt that much of what characterized the Fort Lauderdale of the 1970's and 80's was tawdry, cheap and pretty much disposable. The greater question of what has replaced it now remains to be answered. I cannot say that the combined architectural expression of the St. Regis, the W, the Trump palace et al will produce much that is memorable beyond its mere bulk. It's still probably better than a string of T shirt shops.

[Wild Style]

I was referring to the architectural character. Besides, now you don't even have the t-shirt shops and dives, just a bunch of empty, faceless blue-glass medocrities.

[tombarnes]

Sawgrass Mills is worth mentioning? I hadn't thought so. My point here is not to simply criticize the area. I will agree that there are certain factors which have hampered the development of the area into what it could be. Fort Lauderdale has hitched its wagon to luxury tourism and I'm not entirely sure it's going to work out the way they had hoped. It's possible, but up-market mass-market is more like what will probably happen.

[Wild Style]

Sawgrass Mills is worth mentioning? I hadn't thought so. My point here is not to simply criticize the area. I will agree that there are certain factors which have hampered the development of the area into what it could be. Fort Lauderdale has hitched its wagon to luxury tourism and I'm not entirely sure it's going to work out the way they had hoped. It's possible, but up-market mass-market is more like what will probably happen.

[tombarnes]

Sawgrass Mills is undoubtedly an important shopping destination for many visitors to Broward County. I'm not dismissing its economic importance to the county. I wouldn't, however, call it great urbanism. You have a valid point about Fort Lauderdale's economic base being perhaps too heavily skewed in the direction of tourism. This may lead to instability. Fort Lauderdale and Broward County need to expand their horizons in order to attract more business to the area. This need not be heavy industry. What are your thoughts about the direction their efforts should take?

[Wild Style]

tombarnes

hmmm

For starters any and every company that does the bulk of its business in latin america and carribean should be based in fort lauderdale/miami (The city needs to give them tons of tax breaks). You know, I read somewhere that Atlanta was going to host the latin american trade organization meeting this year or was it last year? How stupid is that? Why the hell isn't that in Fort Lauderdale or Miami? This place has made itself a huge tourism trap and for what? I remember after 9/11 when the economy tanked the unemployment rate here was almost twice the national average because people were not longer traveling.

It is frustrating, i mean although I dislike south florida and have no intention of staying here longer than I have to, it sucks to see friends not able to make bills and probably wont be able to for the foreseeable future because of few good opportunities here.

I remember back in 2000 or 1999 I forget which but there were two people running for mayor of F. Lauderdale. One of them ran on the platform that he wanted to make Fort Lauderdale into a southern New York City i.e. jobs, public transportation, huge multi national corps. The other one was running on the platform of making Fort Lauderdale into a "tropical paradise". Problem with that is fort lauderdale can not compare to Bahamas, virgin island or jamaica which are all just a boat ride away. Anyway, needless to say the people voted for the tropical paradise idea. So I think the first thing Fort lauderdale would need to do in order to change direction is one either kick out all the natives and get more progressive people or some how find away to totally chang the mindset of this place. :S

[tombarnes]

Naugle's "tropical paradise" is indeed not without its pitfalls. I do agree that Fort Lauderdale and Miami have not capitalized on the Latin American market in the way they could have done. Good transportation is essential to the proper growth of the area. I have not seen much of an effort to get the proposed system going. No campaigning, no advertising....mostly nothing. Parts of Fort Lauderdale are quite pleasant, but I'd also agree that there is not enough there to compare with the Caribbean. Plunking all of their eggs into the luxury tourism basket may have been a grave mistake for Fort Lauderdale. I'll be interested to see how all of these sparkling new palaces on A1A do for business. I haven't noticed many lights on in the new St. Regis.

[Wild Style]

Naugle's "tropical paradise" is indeed not without its pitfalls. I do agree that Fort Lauderdale and Miami have not capitalized on the Latin American market in the way they could have done. Good transportation is essential to the proper growth of the area. I have not seen much of an effort to get the proposed system going. No campaigning, no advertising....mostly nothing. Parts of Fort Lauderdale are quite pleasant, but I'd also agree that there is not enough there to compare with the Caribbean. Plunking all of their eggs into the luxury tourism basket may have been a grave mistake for Fort Lauderdale. I'll be interested to see how all of these sparkling new palaces on A1A do for business. I haven't noticed many lights on in the new St. Regis.

[finehoe]

Plunking all of their eggs into the luxury tourism basket may have been a grave mistake for Fort Lauderdale.

[tombarnes]

As far as glamour goes, there is plenty of that to go around in terms of money alone. When thinking in terms of architecture, if I see another faux-Mediterranean palazzo I think I may be sick. Money in terms of houses is one thing, but money in terms of banking etc. is quite another. This may or may not be eluding Broward County. Thoughts?

[Wild Style]

tombarnes,

I honestly believe Fort Lauderdale's problem lies in the fact it really has a small town mentality. We would need a business man to come from a large city and govern us for this place to take off. As far as the look of the buildings here, the problem is fort lauderdale really doesn't have much in the way of character.

Give you a example, you look at a movie filmed in Chicago, New York City, Atlanta, Nashville etc. You will automatically know where the place was it was filmed. However you look at something done in fort lauderdale and you will be guessing as to exactly where it is unless they film some well known venue.

I honestly think South Florida has really made it the goal to look like some other place. Example when they built city place in Boca they modeled it after some Italian village or Fort Lauderdale and its faux Mediterranean architecture. I think the only thing that comes close to being unique is Miami with some of its Cuban Style homes (l love those things) or the art deco style of some of the spots on south beach.

Another case in point, I think Miami was talking a few years back about opening a theme park to rival Orlando's parks :S, again they can not compete on that level but there goes another South Florida city falling victim to the me-too mentality.

Another problem South Florida is facing is the brain drain. This is where educated people leave south florida for cheaper cities. On NPR they said far more people are leaving south florida than coming. At least that is what some local officials were saying. As a result they are thinking of doing things like loan forgiveness (school loans) to keep people here longer. But they need to also focus on drawing big business here, also they need to some how get housing down to affordable levels. Houses will fall sure enough but the rents are ignorantly high. The problems here are GREAT but I don't see anyone coming up with viable/sensible solution to combat any of this. I should also mention the need for a good, viable mass transit system. The plans I have heard so far are so half done its not even funny. They are talking about covering main arteries (411 was the main one mentioned) instead of coming up with a train system that would eventually cover the entire metro area of fort lauderdale with buses picking up where the train leaves off.

Maybe I am a pessimist but I don't see Fort Lauderdale ever being a major contender for city with the most opportunities or best living, but I could be wrong (shrugs)

[finehoe]

Give you a example, you look at a movie filmed in Chicago, New York City, Atlanta, Nashville etc. You will automatically know where the place was it was filmed. However you look at something done in fort lauderdale and you will be guessing as to exactly where it is unless they film some well known venue.

[tombarnes]

"Maybe I am a pessimist but I don't see Fort Lauderdale ever being a major contender for city with the most opportunities or best living, but I could be wrong (shrugs)"

Fort Lauderdale's problems are partly bred by an ingrained complacency. This has likely prevented it from reaching further into its possibilities. When the fruit is on the ground, so to speak, why bother trying to grow a tree? As you say, however, the time has come for much of South Florida to look beyond Beach Blanket Bingo and Real Estate Roulette for its future. Theme parks would be a horrible idea for the region. I'm not sure what avenue the area should take, but it's fairly clear that the current one ends somewhere in the swamp (which many would dearly love to fill with tract houses if they could). Transportation planning has been largely absent from the thoughts of planners in Broward County. Perhaps they really think the existing trains of TriRail are enough. Ha!

[Wild Style]

Which goes back to my original post. If Fort Lauderdale had kept it's wonderful mid-century modern buildings at the beach (and everywhere else for that matter) and capitalized on that, it would have an identifiable "look". Unfortunately, it's too late for that now.

[finehoe]

can you think of the name of any of these buildings? I can't picture/imagine this look your speaking about. Maybe these buildings were torn down before I moved down here *shrugs*

[tombarnes]

Ireland's Inn- Reprieve?

I haven't got a newspaper article to offer confirmation, but the word on the street is that the Ireland family have decided to renovate Ireland's Inn rather than demolish the property. I expect that the neighboring buildings will be demolished, but those are no great loss. Stay tuned for more developments.

[tombarnes]

Courtyard Marriott- Rooms for $300+?

The former DoubleTree Hotel on Fort Lauderdale Beach reopened its doors as a Marriott Courtyard property. What is interesting is that the hotel intends to charge over $300.00 per night in season. The building, built as a Stouffer's property in the 1970's, won't win any architectural awards. If anything, its new color scheme is even more hideous than the last. I wonder how the market can support these new hotels.... If this is a middle ground, the top must surely be doing better than I had expected it to do. Then again, they may soon be dumping their unsold rooms on Priceline.

The Sun Sentinel

[tombarnes]

Apartments/Motel Flattened- More Luxury on the Way?

The St. Tropez motel and the Natchez Apartments were flattened earlier this week. I assume that a new tower of some kind will be built on the site. Has anyone heard what this might be? The site is adjacent to the Trump and the Atlantic. How many luxury condos can Fort Lauderdale absorb? I am not surprised to see these buildings go, but I wonder what will take their place.

[mediaspree]

Courtyard Marriott- Rooms for $300+?

The former DoubleTree Hotel on Fort Lauderdale Beach reopened its doors as a Marriott Courtyard property. What is interesting is that the hotel intends to charge over $300.00 per night in season. The building, built as a Stouffer's property in the 1970's, won't win any architectural awards. If anything, its new color scheme is even more hideous than the last. I wonder how the market can support these new hotels.... If this is a middle ground, the top must surely be doing better than I had expected it to do. Then again, they may soon be dumping their unsold rooms on Priceline.

The Sun Sentinel

[tombarnes]

I'll try to take a look at the place the next time I'm in town. It is certainly in a central location. As long as they don't get too crazy with rates, I'm sure they will do well. There is a strong need for mid-market properties in Fort Lauderdale which has been somewhat overlooked in the rush for plush.

[tombarnes]

Sapphire Condominium

The Sapphire Condominium is rising quickly on A1A across from the Sea Tower where I live when I'm in Fort Lauderdale. This is a picture taken in December from the pool area at Sea Tower. I have no information about how they have been doing on sales. If anyone knows anything, it would be interesting to know how they are doing.

[tombarnes]

Mandarin Oriental Rumor Won't Go Away

The rumors of a Mandarin Oriental resort hotel and condominium tower replacing Ireland's Inn just won't die. I'll believe nothing at this point until I see the bulldozers arrive. Given the current condo market, I would be surprised to see this move forward, but as I've said before, the Ireland family has enough money to build just about anything on the site. Other rumors about the retention of the buildings on the site appear to be unfounded. I will post more when I have actual news to report.

[finehoe]

Mandarin Oriental Rumor Won't Go Away

The rumors of a Mandarin Oriental resort hotel and condominium tower replacing Ireland's Inn just won't die. I'll believe nothing at this point until I see the bulldozers arrive. Given the current condo market, I would be surprised to see this move forward, but as I've said before, the Ireland family has enough money to build just about anything on the site. Other rumors about the retention of the buildings on the site appear to be unfounded. I will post more when I have actual news to report.

[tombarnes]

Sheraton Yankee Trader

The dowdy Sheraton Yankee Trader hotel on Fort Lauderdale Beach is scheduled to close in June for a major re-do. It is supposed to emerge as a Westin early next year. I can't imagine this property as a Westin without total demolition within the shells of the two towers. The property is totally devoid of distinction- inside and out. It's greatest asset is its location, something I'm sure Starwood is banking on.

Hotels Magazine-- Sun Sentinel

Photo- Sheraton website