Cancellation of a streetcar system in Fort Lauderdale disappointed developers but hasn’t derailed real estate developments along the route of the discarded system.
The Sun-Sentinel reported that more than a third of 65 high-rise developments launched in downtown Fort Lauderdale since 2012 are located within two blocks of a canceled streetcar system, called The Wave.
In marketing condos in downtown Fort Lauderdale, The Wave “was always part of our pitch,” Peggy Fucci, chief executive officer of OneWorld Properties, told the Sun-Sentinel.
Broward County killed The Wave after contractors bid more than the project’s $195.3 million budget to build the streetcar system.
Developer Neil Brown, chief executive officer of Archco Residential, told the newspaper that he is disappointed that The Wave was canceled because “it was right by our project.”
ArchCo Residential paid approximately $23 million to assemble land to develop an apartment complex at 500 North Andrews Avenue.
But Brown and other developers doubt that cancellation of The Wave project will terminate any real estate deals or lead to a lull in real estate development in downtown Fort Lauderdale.
Ryan Shear, a principal of Property Markets Group, told the Sun-Sentinel that The Wave would have been a “perk” for residents of X Las Olas, a high-rise apartment complex under construction on the former site of the Las Olas Riverfront at Andrews Avenue and Las Olas Boulevard.
But Shear was a supporter of canceling The Wave because of its high cost. [Sun-Sentinel] – Mike Seemuth