Lehman Brothers Holdings has filed two more foreclosure lawsuits against Miami Beach-based WSG Development, focusing on two unfinished projects, ArtsPark Village in Hollywood, and a commercial property in West Palm Beach. The suits follow two prior actions, one for the Prism condo in West Palm Beach, and for the Canyon Ranch condo hotel on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach. The ArtsPark mortgage was valued at $20 million three years ago, while the commercial property’s loan is $3.4 million. [SFBJ]

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Business has dropped by at least 30 percent over the past two years for Mari Crabtree, manager of Sushi Blues on downtown Hollywood’s Harrison Street. Downtown Hollywood has seen its fair share of boom and bust recently, a cycle that can only be partially attributed to the larger economic environment. Despite the city’s efforts to lure shoppers with revamped landscaping, a new ArtsPark and green-lit high-rise condos, many residents still do their shopping at malls and head to the beach or to more established nightlife spots when they are looking for entertainment. As a result, Hollywood businesses continue to come and go with haste: 20 new businesses have opened there during the past year, whereas stretches of the Harrison Street area are now filled only with vacant storefronts. Though the downtown Community Redevelopment Agency no longer tracks the vacancy rate, last year it was 22 percent, and shop owners attest to its worrisome climb. “It’s hard to do business when there are not a lot of other businesses on the street,” Crabtree said. [Miami Herald]

The Hollywood City Commissioners voted yesterday to complete the final
major piece of the city’s ArtsPark project, an amphitheater that will
drive the entire development’s price tag up to $23 million, more than
twice an original $11 million estimate. City officials said the
amphitheater project could go out for bid next month and be complete by
December 2010. [more]

The amphitheater planned as part of Hollywood’s ArtsPark public
development could push the project’s costs to $23 million, nearly
twice the original price tag set seven years ago. Broward County gave
the city a $5 million grant in 2002, and the park opened in 2007, but
the amphitheater still requires city commission approval. The 10-acre
park has a visual arts building and holds concerts, but hasn’t yet
replaced the amphitheater it demolished in 2004.