show proof<\/a> he had the financing in place, the commission declared him in default on the contract.<\/p>\nJohn told the Sun Sentinel he not only has the financing, but has met every financial request from the city and remains in compliance with the comprehensive agreement.<\/p>\n
During the May meeting, the commission agreed to give him time to \u201ccure\u201d the default by proving he has the money in place and providing the city with a $250,000 \u201cgood-faith\u201d payment.<\/p>\n
The project, however, suffered another blow on Sept. 4\u00a0when City Auditor Pat Reilly sent a memo to the commission warning of \u201cseveral red flags\u201d with the project\u2019s financing.<\/p>\n
Reilly\u2019s memo, dated Sept. 4, complained of inconsistent information provided by John and his team; unverifiable references and\/or funds; and a lack of transparency as to the bank(s) involved with the lending of funds, payment terms, collateral required by the lender.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs of the date of this memo there is no proof of funds,\u201d Reilly wrote. \u201cThis further reinforces the concerns regarding the financing arrangement. Considering these points, I recommend that a thorough background check be conducted on entities and individuals involved with the Arts Park Project.\u201d<\/p>\n
Concerned about the status of the project, Commissioner Ben Sorensen brought it up at the end of a recent City Hall meeting. Because there was nothing on the agenda related to the Arts Park project, John and his team were not at the meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cMayor, I have major concerns with this,\u201d Sorensen said. \u201cI have talked to staff about this. They have significant concerns with this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vice Mayor John Herbst agreed, saying he wanted to know whether city staff had gotten independent confirmation that the money was in place for the project by contacting the lender directly.<\/p>\n
That had not been done yet, Assistant City Manager Susan Grant told him.<\/p>\n
The mayor made much of the fact that John hadn\u2019t yet made the promised $250,000 \u201cgood-faith\u201d payment or submitted a site plan to the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been in favor of this project from day one,\u201d Trantalis said. \u201cBut it\u2019s not happening. It\u2019s a flim-flam. Come on, either do it or get off the pot. Again, red flags keep flying in our face. That $250,000 was something I requested just as a show of good faith. If they can\u2019t come up with $250,000, how are they going to come up with $140 million?\u201d<\/p>\n
Toward the end of the 30-minute discussion, Commissioner Pamela Beasley-Pittman spoke up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t understand this,\u201d she said. \u201cWho does business like this? If someone came to my house and we went into a conversation about a contract and all these things (came up), I\u2019d say, \u2018Wait a minute.\u2019 I would have a situation with this. And as a responsible commission to say, \u2018Let\u2019s keep it going, let\u2019s roll?\u2019 When it comes through (at a future meeting), I\u2019m voting no.\u201d<\/p>\n
John told the Sun Sentinel he found out about the impromptu discussion after it ended.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t get a call till it was over,\u201d John said. \u201cMy team wasn\u2019t there. We had nothing on the agenda that day. We had no one there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Glassman says he has good reason to fight for the project.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis project gives us a 3-acre green space with a park,\u201d he told the Sun Sentinel. \u201cIf this project does not happen we\u2019re going to have two more high-rises with no park space. If we do go forward and this project collapses, what is the risk to the city? None. If they don\u2019t meet the timeline (to submit the site plan) and we don\u2019t get a $250,000 check, deal over. If they don\u2019t meet those two things, deal over.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commissioners plan to take up the topic again at their next City Hall meeting on Tuesday. John says he and his team will be there.<\/p>\n
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan <\/p>\n
Originally Published: September 12, 2025 at 7:00 AM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nightlife guru Jeff John bewitched commissioners five years ago with his pitch for a pricey Arts Park on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1769,"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-5504","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\/5504","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=5504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Shown](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/TFL-L-one-stop-shop-project-03.jpg\")
An aerial view shows city-owned land in the 300 block of North Andrews Avenue in downtown Fort Lauderdale. (Joe Cavaretta\/South Florida Sun Sentinel<\/p>\n