{"id":15613,"date":"2025-10-22T13:02:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T13:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/15613\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T13:02:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T13:02:07","slug":"new-fort-lauderdale-city-hall-to-open-by-2028-mayor-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/15613\/","title":{"rendered":"New Fort Lauderdale City Hall to open by 2028, mayor says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three years from now, Fort Lauderdale should have a new City Hall to replace the one it lost when floodwaters destroyed the building in April 2023.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s too early to say what the building will look like, how tall it will be or how much it will cost. But this much is sure: The new building will be nothing like the old building.<\/p>\n

\u201cFort Lauderdale has grown in the last 60 years and so have the needs,\u201d Mayor Dean Trantalis said. \u201cThe old City Hall reflected a bygone era. Today we are looking for a more forward-looking iconic design that is more reflective of the future<\/a> rather than holding us back to the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

The old City Hall was an eight-story concrete building with a fortress-like appearance.<\/p>\n

Built in the 1960s, it stood its ground for decades at 100 N. Andrews Ave.<\/a> until floodwaters breached its basement more than two years ago, sealing its fate<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The building was demolished last year. Fort Lauderdale plans to build a new City Hall in its place.<\/p>\n

The city still has much work to do<\/a> before the building breaks ground next year, Trantalis says.<\/p>\n

Right now, the commission is in the process of selecting a new developer to design and build a modern City Hall, with a decision expected in early December.<\/p>\n

Commissioners recently winnowed the field of competitors from six firms to four.<\/p>\n

Two of the developers \u2014 Cypress West and Industry 1 Developments \u2014 were knocked out of the running because they did not meet the minimum criteria, according to an outside consultant, Jacobs Project Management Co.<\/p>\n

The firm helped city staff shortlist the contenders from six to the following four: FTL Beacon Collaborative, FTL City Hall Partners, Balfour Beatty and Fort Lauderdale Civic Partners.<\/p>\n

All four teams are expected to make their presentations during a commission meeting on Dec. 2.<\/p>\n

The city is requesting that all four contenders also provide an initial cost estimate of the new City Hall.<\/p>\n

\"Fort<\/p>\n

Joe Cavaretta\/South Florida Sun Sentinel<\/p>\n

Fort Lauderdale City Hall on April 19, 2023, a week after a record-breaking rainstorm flooded the building. The building was torn down last year. (Joe Cavaretta\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n

Fort Lauderdale awarded a $3.5 million contract in June to Jacobs to help provide technical oversight and project management support to city staff throughout the planning, design and construction of the new City Hall.<\/p>\n

Jacobs officials shared the following details with commissioners about the four firms in the running.<\/p>\n

Balfour Beatty:\u00a0Balfour Beatty Construction is currently completing the $1.3 billion Broward County Convention Center<\/a> and Hotel expansion in Fort Lauderdale. Recently completed the Veneto Las Olas project in Fort Lauderdale. Participated in delivering the Kissimmee City Hall expansion project. Balfour Beatty Investments operates a portfolio of P3 concessions, mainly in health care facilities, highways, energy and transmission, student housing, residential regeneration and private housing.<\/p>\n

FTL Beacon Collaborative: Gilbane Development provides project management and develops projects, mostly in the real estate sector (office, commercial). Completed projects in residential communities, mixed-use developments, parking and corporate headquarters. Founded in 1870 and has operated in Florida for 53 years. Partnering with Fengate Asset Management, a major equity investor on this project.<\/p>\n

FTL City Hall Partners:\u00a0Plenary Americas US Holdings developed the Miami-Dade County Courthouse, which is near completion. Developed the Long Beach Civic Center in California. Stiles, one of its team members, has developed numerous Class A high-rise office buildings in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Plenary Americas is a leading long-term investor, developer and operator of public and private infrastructure, specializing in public-private partnerships, local development and asset management.<\/p>\n

Fort Lauderdale Civic Partners:\u00a0Meridiam developed the $1 billion Port Miami tunnel. A developer and long-term investor in public-private partnership (P3) infrastructure projects including courthouses, tunnels, airports and research centers. Team member Zyscovich developed the 2020 Design Criteria Package for the Joint Government Center. Developed the $3.9 billion full replacement of La Guardia Airport Terminal B and the Long Beach Courthouse. Meridiam\u2019s projects range in capital cost from $250 million to $3.2 billion.<\/p>\n

During a recent commission conference meeting, Vice Mayor John Herbst argued the city should give all six developers the courtesy of allowing them to present.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of these folks have spent a significant of time, effort and money putting this together,\u201d Herbst said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to be living with this for the next 50 to 75 years. I really would like to hear from all the presenters.\u201d<\/p>\n

His colleagues disagreed.<\/p>\n

In previous discussions, the mayor and Commissioners Steve Glassman and Ben Sorensen have made it clear they prefer to keep City Hall downtown.<\/p>\n

But during the recent meeting, Herbst made a case for considering the proposal by Sheldon Gross, the managing partner of Cypress West and leaseholder of a building at 1515 W. Cypress Creek Road in northern Fort Lauderdale.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Kaplan building in northern Fort Lauderdale has been the temporary headquarters of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department since September 2023. (Joe Cavaretta\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n

The Fort Lauderdale Police Department moved operations to the Kaplan building two years ago after construction began on the city\u2019s new police headquarters.<\/p>\n

The commission approved the $1.5 million-a-year lease in September 2023.<\/p>\n

Herbst championed the move<\/a> to the Kaplan building at the time, saying he was trying to help a business owner in his district fill vacant space.<\/p>\n

Now he says Gross and his plan deserve to be considered as an option for City Hall space.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a mistake to exclude Cypress West,\u201d Herbst said. \u201cI believe this is the most cost-effective and speed-to-delivery option we have. Don\u2019t get me wrong. I like the four other proposals we have. But the only one that we can move into immediately is Cypress West.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gross submitted a proposal suggesting a \u201cdual-campus\u201d approach.<\/p>\n

An existing North Operations Campus at 1515 West Cypress would house the city\u2019s back office operations in a Class A office building, under the proposal by Gross. In addition, a new Downtown City Hall at 100 N. Andrews Ave. would be home to all public-facing team members and public-facing meeting venues, including commission chambers.<\/p>\n

Gross suggested the city continue leasing the space or do a lease-purchase or outright purchase of the existing office building at 1515 West Cypress Creek.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we are doing the city taxpayers a disservice by not taking the least expensive and fastest option,\u201d Herbst told the commission.<\/p>\n

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three years from now, Fort Lauderdale should have a new City Hall to replace the one it lost…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[506,28,249,251,250,114,266,109],"class_list":["post-15613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-broward-county","tag-florida","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}