West Broward: creating a new sense of place

South Florida CEO, May, 2005 by Richard Westlund

George Rahael is helping to shape the future of western Broward. In Coral Springs, his development company is moving ahead to create a pedestrian-friendly "downtown" environment. A few miles to the east in Lauderhill, the founder and CEO of Coral Springs-based Amera Cos. plans to turn a vacant retail center into a one-of-a-kind mixed-use center with a Caribbean theme.

"While west Broward has great homes, schools and playgrounds, people are yearning for a stronger sense of place," Rahael says. "Today, suburban residents are seeking out places where they can walk, dine, shop and enjoy with their friends and neighbors. There's a new generation of mixed-used centers that fulfill a basic human need."

For the past 15 years, Broward County's population growth, as well as its commercial development, has followed a western migration path. The opening of Interstate 595, Interstate 75 and the Sawgrass Expressway accelerated that flow, making it easy to commute south, east or north.

That new development in the western communities between US441/State Road 7 and the Everglades conservation area has been primarily horizontal: large scale office and industrial parks, garden apartments and single-family homes. As a result, a motorist can drive from one city to another without seeing much difference in architecture or land uses.

But that traditional pattern will be changing in the next few years, due to two key factors. First, the supply of raw, undeveloped land in western Broward is almost gone. That land shortage is already pushing up prices and making higher-density commercial and residential development an economic necessity for the private sector.

At the same time, Broward residents are looking for ways to spend more time on their feet and less time in their cars. If they commute to jobs in Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton or Miami, they don't want to have to drive 30 miles on a Friday night to enjoy a night on the town.

As a result, cities like Coral Springs, Plantation, Miramar, Sunrise, Davie, Pembroke Pines and Coconut Creek are looking to create new high-density town centers that combine retail, entertainment, office, cultural and residential uses. Generally following the principles of "new urbanism"--including wider sidewalks, pedestrian-oriented streetscapes, hidden parking, and outdoor cafes--these new mixed-use centers are designed to recreate a traditional downtown setting in the suburbs.

"This is a natural progression for western Broward," says land use attorney Paul D'Arelli, a shareholder with Greenberg Traurig's Fort Lauderdale office. "Fort Lauderdale was always the downtown, and as everyone moved out west to reside, then those communities started to become office and employment centers themselves. Now people are saying, 'I don't need to be in downtown Fort Lauderdale to work and I don't want to drive there for dining or entertainment either. So, these new centers are an attempt to create a sense of place in built-out communities."

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CORAL SPRINGS DOWNTOWN

Back in the 1960s, Coral Springs was carefully designed as a classic automobile-oriented bedroom community. "Like most suburbs, Coral Springs' development has focused on cars rather than pedestrians," says Rahael. Now, the intersection of University Drive and Sample Road is the focus of a four-year planning effort to create a new "Coral Springs Downtown."

Amera Corp. was selected by the city as master developer to create a pedestrian-friendly center on approximately 50 acres at the crossroads of this suburban community. This spring the city was preparing a development of regional impact (DRI) study for the public-private mixed-use project--the next step in the process.

Coral Springs Downtown will be a mix of redeveloped properties and new construction offering office, retail, more than 1,000 residential units, a 150-room limited service hotel, and institutional facilities and a new government center. The project will total approximately three million square feet of redevelopment.

"We will see the creation of a distinctive 'main street,' a day-to-night destination that responds to market needs with a dynamic tenant roster," Rahael says.

Pending government approval, Amera plans to break ground this summer on the first phase of the project, One Charter Place, a four-story 100,000-square-foot building with ground-floor retail set "hard on the street" right up to the sidewalk, Rahael says. "This will be the first of many buildings," he says.

Amera is also working out an agreement with Bonita Springs-based WCI Communities, one of the state's leading builders of luxury residential communities, to develop the residential component of Coral Springs Downtown as a vertical condominium project.

Amera has already achieved one successful Coral Springs redevelopment with The Walk, an open-air lifestyle center on University Drive.

"We have all the elements conducive to a pedestrian environment there, and the center has been warmly received," Rahael says.

This spring, The Walk hosted the city's annual Festival of the Arts, and every fourth Wednesday there is live music as well.