High-rise redevelopment of Hallandale golf property still pending as potential buyers emerge

The owners of the Diplomat Golf & Tennis Club in Hallandale Beach are still determining how to redevelop the 127-acre property as they turn away potential buyers.

“We have been approached by people that have expressed interest in it. The property is really not for sale,” Louis Birdman, one of the owners, told The Real Deal.

“We’re still working on some planning and design-related things. We’re just not ready to announce anything,” Birdman said.

He declined to identify the project’s architect and interior designer because he said the owners have been working with a few different groups, he said.

In early 2016, the city of Hallandale Beach approved a proposal by the owners to construct four high-rise buildings on the property with maximum heights ranging from 20 stories to 30 stories.

The city also approved a maximum of 1,188 units on the property. “The units can be a hotel. They can be a condo-hotel. They can be condo. They could be rental,” Birdman said.

“Since we bought this property two and a half years ago, things have changed in the marketplace,” he said. “We’re looking at all different options based on the approvals we have.”

The Diplomat Golf & Tennis Club is located on the east side of the Intracoastal Waterway at 501 Diplomat Parkway in Hallandale Beach, a short drive from The Diplomat Beach Resort hotel at 3555 South Ocean Drive in Hollywood, formerly known as the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa.

Birdman and two partners, Michael Meyers and Nate Sirang of California-based Concord Wilshire Companies, purchased the Diplomat golf course for $20 million in 2014.

Bill Julian

South Florida television station WPLG-Channel 10 reported last year that former Hallandale Beach vice mayor Bill Julian accepted favors from Meyers in exchange for voting in favor of the planned redevelopment of the Diplomat Golf & Tennis Club. 

WPLG also reported a statement by Birdman, Meyers and Sirang that their interactions with the city were “100 percent above the board and by the book.”

The state attorney’s office in Fort Lauderdale subsequently began an investigation of Julian, who failed to win re-election as a Hallandale Beach city commissioner in November.

Ron Ishoy, a spokesman for the state attorney’s office in Fort Lauderdale, told TRD that the investigation of Julian is ongoing.