Owner of Weidling House site has plans for home

Sailboat Bend (Source: Sailboat Bend Civic Association)
Sailboat Bend (Source: Sailboat Bend Civic Association)

The new owner of the dilapidated but historic Weidling House in Fort Lauderdale plans to build a home on the site, after commissioners approved the demolition last week, the Sun-Sentinel reported.

A failed restoration project for the Sailboat Bend home at 716 Southwest 4th Place in 2005 rendered it in poor shape. Three years later, the Unsafe Structures Board issued a demolition order for the building. But the Historic Preservation Board would not give the green light.

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Edward Strobel, the owner, told the commissioners it would be cost-prohibitive to tear it down. Commissioners agreed and overturned the board’s ruling. The building was owned by C.P. Weidling, co-founder of the city’s first law firm and publisher of the Fort Lauderdale Herald.

Strobel told the newspaper the new structure would be built to withstand 200 mph winds, be almost completely solar-powered and include a cistern system handling its outdoor watering needs. [Sun-Sentinel]Mark Maurer