An investor group paid $4.65 million for a 2.3-acre site Fort Lauderdale and plans to build a mixed-use development there with a residential component.
Steven Dapuzzo, who is managing the project on behalf of the unidentified investor group, told the Sun-Sentinel the planned development, called West Side Market, would have a food hall, a brewery, a rooftop garden and 100 apartments.
The site is a fenced-in lot with an aging warehouse, located near Flagler Village at the corner of Sistrunk Boulevard and Northwest 2 Avenue. It is just west of FAT Village and two blocks north of the train station that All Aboard Florida is building for its Brightline passenger rail service.
Dapuzzo, founder of Fort Lauderdale-based Society 8 Hospitality, said the first phase of the development would include construction of the food hall and the brewery, and 100 loft-style apartments would be built in the second phase.
He also told the Sun-Sentinel the apartments would open in 2019 as”micro lofts” suitable for tenants who want to live and work in the same space.
George Coloney of Related ISG International Realty told the newspaper that West Side Market would be the first major commercial real estate development west of the railroad along Sistrunk Boulevard.
A potential buyer had the 2.3-acre site under contract more than a year ago but didn’t close the purchase because the site and its surroundings were considered too risky for development, Coloney told the Sun-Sentinel.
Jonathan Brown, manager of Fort Lauderdale’s Community Redevelopment Agency, told the newspaper that West Side Market could advance efforts to take its surroundings “back to a time years ago when it was safe to walk around at night.” [Sun Sentinel] –Mike Seemuth