When it rains at Holiday Park, there’s an unfortunate side effect for those who park in the grassy lot: Muck.
Fort Lauderdale has come up with a solution: Build a parking garage that will stand five stories high or more and hire a professional development team to do it. The city plans to make annual lease payments over a term of 30 years. One applicant has proposed a term of 35 years. At the end of the lease, the city would own the garage.
Critics have questioned why the city needs to spend $40 million or more on a garage. But it’s something that’s been talked about for years to accommodate the folks who frequent one of Fort Lauderdale’s most popular parks.
Meantime, Holiday Park has become quite the destination — and the crowds are only going to grow, city officials say.
They point to the new YMCA expected to open in 2027 on the west side of the 93-acre park. The Florida Panthers’ new Baptist Health IcePlex also has been a crowd magnet along with the newly renovated Jimmy Evert Tennis Center, War Memorial Auditorium and Parker Playhouse, now known as The Parker.
If all goes as planned, a modern new parking garage would open in early 2028.
Commissioners are expected to choose from among three unsolicited proposals at an upcoming City Hall meeting in January.
All three proposals call for a 1,000-space parking garage, a 300-space parking lot and a fire station.
The development teams — G3 Development, Holiday Park Parking Partners and Park Place Garages — presented detailed proposals along with renderings at a recent City Hall meeting.
Commissioners were expected to make a choice during their Tuesday afternoon meeting and make their pick official with a vote later that night.
That didn’t happen, partly due to the fact that numbers and cost estimates were changing on the fly during the development team’s presentations.
Mayor Dean Trantalis questioned the numbers, asking for an apples-to-apples comparison. One proposal called for a 600-space garage. Another called for a 985-space garage. Only one called for a garage with 1,000 spaces.
The commission wanted to know what it would cost to build a garage with 1,000 spaces along with a fire station and 300-space parking lot.
After some back and forth, they got their answer.
G3 Development said they could build it all for $38 million.
Holiday Park Parking Partners said they could do it for $42 million.
Park Place Garages had the highest cost, at $49 million.
G3 Development is one of three firms competing to build a new parking garage at Holiday Park in Fort Lauderdale. (G3 Development/Courtesy)
Holiday Park Parking Partners is one of three firms competing to build a new parking garage at Holiday Park in Fort Lauderdale. (Holiday Park Parking Partners/Courtesy)
Park Place Garages is one of three firms competing to build a new parking garage at Holiday Park in Fort Lauderdale. (Park Place Garages/Courtesy)
When it came time to vote, Commissioner Ben Sorensen suggested taking a pause.
“I think we need more time,” Sorensen told his colleagues. “I think (the city’s outside consultant and city auditor) should analyze the updated numbers. I suggest we vote on this in January given all the changes we’ve seen.”
Commissioner Steve Glassman argued it was time to make a decision.
“I’m ready to go tonight,” he said. “This started in March (when the city received the first unsolicited proposal). It’s now December. I’m OK with moving forward.”
Vice Mayor John Herbst and Commissioner Pamela Beasley-Pittman argued they needed more time to digest all the changes.
“I think we have too many numbers being bandied about on the fly,” Herbst said. “I would like to have one concrete set of numbers that we can look at and evaluate. I hate when we are asking folks to stand at the podium and asking them to add up numbers for us. I would rather have one set of numbers.”
Commissioners asked the city auditor to evaluate the proposals and cost estimates to help them better evaluate and understand each plan.
They are expected to make their pick during their next public meeting on Jan. 6.
An aerial view of The Parker at Holiday Park in Fort Lauderdale – and the muddy parking lot patrons park in when it rains. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
Another key question came up during the Holiday Park discussion.
Should the city charge for parking?
The park does not currently have hourly parking fees, but that could change to help pay for the garage.
One option is for the city to charge parking fees at the parking garage and the new surface lot, Assistant City Manager Ben Rogers told the commission.
The Parker currently offers special event parking and charges parking fees.
When the garage opens, the city could charge hourly parking rates with resident discounts; establish special event parking rates; and offer monthly permits for routine users, Rogers said.
Trantalis said it didn’t have to be decided that day.
“That’s a policy decision we’ll ultimately have to make,” he said.
Herbst flat-out objected to the idea.
“I just want to be on the record as saying I don’t believe we should ever be charging to park at a park,” he said. “This is one of the few things that our residents can do that’s no cost. Almost everything we do down here has a cost to it. And this is one of the few things that families can bring children to, let them get out there, let them run around in the fresh air.”
Herbst argued that charging a fee to park at Holiday Park sends the wrong message.
“I would encourage us to back away from any revenue-generating aspect that involves folks paying to come to a park for recreation,” he said. “It’s one thing when we’re talking about charging people to go to The Parker. That’s great, have at it. But if people want to go for a walk, if they want to go play pickleball, I don’t think we should be making it more costly to be able to do that.”
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan