Ground floor of parking garage in downtown Fort Lauderdale may be converted to commercial and retail space

The city government of Fort Lauderdale is soliciting bids to convert the ground floor of its downtown parking garage to commercial and retail space.

The city will accept bids until Oct. 15, according to Bradley Arendt of Colliers International, a brokerage firm that has a contract to manage the city’s real estate holdings.

“There is certainly interest” among developers, Arendt told the Sun-Sentinel.

He also told the newspaper that the ground-floor project, called Riverwalk Center, would have plenty of patrons because more than 3,000 residential units are under construction within blocks of the parking garage.

Colliers International estimates that the population of downtown Fort Lauderdale will increase by more than 2.2 percent to 44,279 residents over the next five years.

The multi-level municipal parking garage, built in 1982, already has retail space spanning 8,290 square feet, according to the brokerage firm. [Sun-Sentinel] – Mike Seemuth