Bahia Mar project raises questions

Developer LXR Luxury Resorts wants to build a $500 million hotel and condo project on the Bahia Mar peninsula in Fort Lauderdale, but politics and finances make that easier proposed than done. The publicly owned tract off Seabreeze Boulevard draws an annual boat show and is the site of the Bahia Mar Resort and Yachting Center. Bahia Mar Park, the proposed development, is fighting an uphill battle to get approvals for a 22-story, 300-room Waldorf-Astoria hotel, as well as a pair of 21-story condo towers. LXR, which leases the land, claims the city would get an extra $391 million during the term of the existing lease, which runs until 2062. The city would get about $2 billion in revenues from 2062 until the lease runs out in 2106, the developer said.