The new owners of Fort Lauderdale\u2019s Galleria Mall are considering a redevelopment plan that envisions nine 30-story towers, a 170-room hotel and hundreds of affordable-housing units under state\u2019s Live Local Act, the project\u2019s joint venture leader confirmed Monday.<\/p>\n
The 1980s-era mall was sold last month<\/a> to a consortium of real estate and development interests led by Russell Galbut, who is based in Miami Beach and is a founder of investment and development firms with a history of creating mixed-use communities in Florida and elsewhere in the U.S.<\/p>\n The dramatic makeover plans for the Galleria were submitted to the city of Fort Lauderdale in August by the mall\u2019s seller, Keystone-Florida Property Holding Group, which owned the property since 1993. The city deemed certain elements of the application \u201cinsufficient,\u201d but Galbut said it is being resubmitted.<\/p>\n Water Street brought urban luxury to Tampa. Will the rest of the city follow?<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not sure it\u2019s going to be exactly that, but we want to move on improving this mall immediately and giving it life,\u201d Galbut told the South Florida Sun Sentinel about the original plan. \u201cWe need to breathe life into this community.\u201d<\/p>\n The proposal appears to be the most ambitious redevelopment plan yet to emerge for the 31.5-acre property at 2414 E. Sunrise Blvd., a stretch located west of the Intracoastal Waterway and east of the Middle River.<\/p>\n Copies of the proposal obtained from the city clerk\u2019s office through a public records request show the property divided into two: A \u201cGalleria East\u201d segment containing most of the proposed residential portion, and a \u201cGalleria West\u201d that would contain both residential units and a hotel. The two segments are divided by Bayview Drive, which runs beneath a connecting bridge at the mall.<\/p>\n A synopsis of the plans includes the following:<\/p>\n Galleria East:<\/p>\n Towers: Five each, 30 stories high.<\/p>\n Multifamily units: 1,981 (1,181 market-rate, 800 workforce).<\/p>\n Commercial space: 675,968 square feet of mall space retained.<\/p>\n New uses covering an additional 127,966 square feet would include health and fitness, retail and restaurants. There would be an additional 856 square feet of outdoor dining.<\/p>\n Galleria West:<\/p>\n Towers: Four each, 30 stories high.<\/p>\n Multifamily units: 1,161 (690 market-rate; 473 workforce).<\/p>\n Commercial space: 251,765 square feet of existing commercial space within the Galleria mall building.<\/p>\n Office: 9,140 square feet.<\/p>\n Restaurant: More than 5,000 square feet.<\/p>\n The proposal has jarred elected city officials and homeowner association leaders.<\/p>\n Mayor Dean Trantalis expressed astonishment at its scope.<\/p>\n \u201cIt looks like a mini-city,\u201d Trantalis told the Sun Sentinel on Monday. \u201cIt makes the Searstown project look like child\u2019s play. It dwarfs Fat Village.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s going to diminish property values because it\u2019s going to have a significant impact on traffic,\u201d he added. \u201cWe don\u2019t want it to become another Aventura where there\u2019s so much traffic that the retail experience becomes a nightmare because they\u2019re maneuvering through all the gridlock. I think in the end, it may kill the Galleria. Sunrise Boulevard has already reached the peak of traffic.\u201d<\/p>\n Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner John Herbst, whose District 1 is home to the mall, said he was surprised the project is being run through the Live Local Act process, citing rising rents in the neighborhood. Moreover, he felt that East Sunrise Boulevard\u2019s status as a storm evacuation route could become problematic with the addition of more residential traffic.<\/p>\n \u201cSunrise is always crowded,\u201d he said, \u201cespecially when you are talking about an evacuation route from the beach. It\u2019s going to be challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n Galbut on Monday asserted traffic would not be an issue as the project will be filled by people who are unlikely to use their cars.<\/p>\n \u201cFor people who live and work and play in the same place \u2014 you don\u2019t need a car,\u201d Galbut said. He also cited the presence of the Broward Transit Authority, whose buses frequent the area.<\/p>\n \u201cI actually believe you will have less traffic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Chris Williams, president of the Coral Ridge Homeowners Association, a real estate agent and lifelong resident, learned of the nine-building plan from a South Florida Sun Sentinel reporter on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cThe last two times they came to us with a proposal, I told everyone, \u2018If we don\u2019t work with these people now, they are going to triple the units,\u2019\u201d Williams said. \u201cWhat a disaster. I knew this was going to happen. I knew it.\u201d<\/p>\n Tim Hernandez, president of the Coral Ridge Country Club Estates Community Association, said he saw no need for towers.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have a dying mall,\u201d he said. \u201cThe thing is on life support. We all know the mall is like a ghost town. How do you make it better? A certain amount of residential will make it a lot better. But I see no need to put nine 30-story buildings on that site.\u201d<\/p>\n Hernandez said he\u2019s worried the area will experience gridlock unlike any seen before.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no thought of how people are going to get around,\u201d he said. \u201cI can understand wanting to urbanize in certain areas. But what\u2019s wrong with being like Delray? They have four-story buildings. Look how beautiful and charming their downtown is.\u201d<\/p>\n Last Tuesday, at an Urban Land Institute conference at Fort Lauderdale\u2019s Pier Sixty-Six Resort, Galbut said his joint venture group intends to proceed through the Live Local Act process, which is designed to expedite the building of affordable housing and speed up project approvals.<\/p>\n The act, according to the group\u2019s public filing, \u201cprovides the framework and opportunity to reimagine the Galleria as a dynamic mixed-use residential district with a significant workforce housing component.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAffordability is something that is escaping South Florida,\u201d Galbut told a gathering of executives, lawyers and other professionals who serve the urban development and real estate industries.<\/p>\n \u201cMost of you know the Galleria was truly a magical place in the 1980s and 1990s,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a place that everybody went to as well. Unfortunately it didn\u2019t do well in the last 30 years,\u201d he said. \u201cWe really have incredible plans to bring it back to make it a 24-hour community with residences, with people \u2014 the mall itself will be re-tenanted and brought back together. It\u2019s really one of the more exciting projects in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n But Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner Steven Glassman, who represents the nearby District 2, said Monday he expects the surrounding neighborhoods will not be happy about the new proposal.<\/p>\n \u201cI do remember the surrounding areas had issues with the last iteration,\u201d he said. \u201cI can only imagine they will have issues with this iteration. This is much more development than the last one.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2015, the owners proposed a 45-story condo tower that drew widespread neighborhood opposition that killed the project. And in 2023<\/a>, neighbors turned thumbs down on a mixed-use proposal that envisioned the demolition of most of the mall to make way for housing, restaurants, new shops, offices, biking and walking paths, a boutique hotel, better lighting and landscaping, and a village green.<\/p>\n But under the Live Local Act, developers won\u2019t need to get public input, Glassman said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a whole different ballgame,\u201d he said. \u201cThe entire development process is turned on its head when it comes to Live Local.\u201d<\/p>\n There will be no public participation and no commission vote. \u201cThat\u2019s all out the window,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n