Bahia Mar developer cuts condo height by 10 floors

Bahia Mar Fort Lauderdale Beach
Bahia Mar, Fort Lauderdale Beach

The developer reduced the height of a planned condo development at the site of the Bahia Mar resort  on Fort Lauderdale Beach from 39 stories to 29 stories, still five stories taller than current zoning allows.

Rahn Bahia Mar LLC cut the height of two condo buildings after the Fort Lauderdale City Commission on March 1 delayed action for the second time on a proposed rezoning of the Bahia Mar property, the main venue of the annual Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show.

The rezoning would have allowed the developer to build two 39-story condo towers on the city-owned Bahia Mar property. They would be tallest buildings on Fort Lauderdale Beach.

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The commissioners voted March 1 to continue a public hearing on the rezoning request at their regular meeting on May 10. Current zoning for the property allows residential building heights up to 24 stories.

The project would involve a new 100-year city lease on the Bahia Mar property to Rahn Bahia Mar LLC, a group that includes Jimmy Tate and Sergio Rok, which owns the existing lease on the property.

Besides condo development, Rahn Bahia Mar LLC also plans to renovate the Bahia Mar hotel and to build a parking garage that annually would convert to exhibition space for the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show.  [Sun-Sentinel] — Mike Seemuth