come out in force<\/a> against the project.<\/p>\nThey don\u2019t like the height and mass of the building, saying it\u2019s way too big for the parcel it will sit on. They don\u2019t want the property rezoned, fearing it will drastically alter the character of the neighborhood.<\/p>\n
They also worry the new store will create even more of a parking crunch along Fort Lauderdale\u2019s most famous boulevard.<\/p>\n
Under city code, the store is required to have 129 parking spaces.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/rolex.jpg\")
Rendering of a five-story high-end watch and jewelry store planned for 1117 E. Las Olas Blvd., right along the Himmarshee Canal in Fort Lauderdale. (Arquitectonica\/Courtesy)<\/p>\n
Instead of building parking, the developer has secured 100 spaces off site and predicts customers will park in other lots nearby.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not a large outside corporation coming into Fort Lauderdale,\u201d Ed Dikes, the owner of Weston Jewelers, told the commission Tuesday night. \u201cWe are a local family business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dikes described the project as a meaningful investment in Fort Lauderdale\u2019s future and argued that the design and height are consistent with development already taking place.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis project would bring new visitors to east Las Olas who would also support nearby restaurants, shops and local businesses,\u201d Dikes said.<\/p>\n
Nearly 80 people signed up to speak at the meeting, including several who supported the plan to transform a low-key corner of Las Olas into a sophisticated high-end destination.<\/p>\n
One fan urged the commission to say yes to the project, saying that Fort Lauderdale and Las Olas must both continue to change and mature.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love the project,\u201d said restaurateur Marc Falsetto, who lives along Las Olas. \u201cI think it\u2019s the missing piece. The missing component.\u201d<\/p>\n
Falsetto told the commission his steak-and-caviar restaurant Caviar Club will open on Las Olas in October and a second more casual restaurant called Pizza Queen will open in December.<\/p>\n
Falsetto said he looks forward to having a high-end watch and jewelry store open nearby, saying other enterprising entrepreneurs will soon follow.<\/p>\n
Gary Wasserman, a resident of Las Olas Beach Club, also spoke in favor of saying yes to the luxury-branded store.<\/p>\n
\u201cA project of this magnitude brings much-needed development to the east side of Las Olas,\u201d he said. \u201cIt brings jobs. It brings money. It brings added value to our homes. It\u2019s fantastic and it\u2019s going to be a big asset to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city\u2019s Planning and Zoning Board narrowly approved the project 4-3 in mid-April.<\/p>\n
One of the no votes was cast by planning board member Jacquelyn \u201cJackie\u201d Scott, who also serves as president of the Colee Hammock Homeowners Association.<\/p>\n
Scott did not speak at Tuesday night\u2019s commission meeting, but plenty of her neighbors did.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not against the business,\u201d J.K. McCrea told the commission. \u201cBut the fact that it\u2019s so big changes the feeling of the community. It\u2019s a nice building, but it doesn\u2019t fit in with the community. Please don\u2019t change the feel of a nice little neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Patti Bloom lives at the nearby Villagio condo.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel a little bit like David and Goliath here tonight,\u201d she said. \u201cOne of my concerns is the actual height of the building. I have a nice enclosed patio. Morning coffee. Evening glass of wine. It\u2019s going to be overshadowed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The property is split between two zoning districts.<\/p>\n
The southern parcel facing Las Olas Boulevard is zoned business and capped at 150 feet. The northern parcel is zoned residential medium density and capped at 35 feet.<\/p>\n
The store would rise 74 feet high, more than twice the allowed height cap on the northern parcel.<\/p>\n
To make way for a higher building, the developer is seeking a zoning change from residential to community business.<\/p>\n
The height cap for the portion of the property next to Las Olas is 150 feet, noted Stephanie Toothaker, attorney for the developer.<\/p>\n
During her presentation, Toothaker displayed side-by-side renderings of the project.<\/p>\n
One showed a version of the proposed building standing 150 feet high. The other showed the current rendering of a building standing 74 feet high.<\/p>\n
Original plans called for a building standing 90 feet high, Toothaker told the commission.<\/p>\n
In a nod to neighbors, Toothaker said her client reduced the height to 74 feet and also decided against including two restaurants on site.<\/p>\n
Toothaker argued that other projects nearby are just as tall or taller.<\/p>\n
She pointed to The Whitfield, a hotel project that won commission approval five years ago. When built, the hotel will stand 150 feet high from one end to the other. The Whitfield\u2019s\u00a0 address is 1007 E. Las Olas Blvd., just 400 feet away from the high-end watch and jewelry store, Toothaker said.<\/p>\n
Minutes before the commission vote, Glassman schooled the room on the legal requirements of the city\u2019s Unified Land Development Regulations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe answers to whether this project should move forward is found in the ULDR,\u201d Glassman said before reviewing each item line by line, point by point.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just don\u2019t make these decisions based on emotion, based on one item,\u201d he said. \u201cWe make them based on our comprehensive plan. Based on our ULDR. Based on what we have in our law.\u201d<\/p>\n
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A high-end store selling Rolex and other luxury brands could be coming to Fort Lauderdale\u2019s Las Olas Boulevard…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239307,"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-278239","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\/278239","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=278239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}