Former Fort Lauderdale church site to be reborn with offices, retail

Several other South Florida church sites are being redeveloped with a mix of uses

Rendering of the project and the location for the development (Google Maps, Native Realty)
Rendering of the project and the location for the development (Google Maps, Native Realty)

A boarded up, gable-roofed former church site in Fort Lauderdale will be resurrected with bars, restaurants, retail and offices.

Miami-based developer Wellmeaning Properties plans to reinvent the closed Fourth Avenue Church of God property at 1237 Northeast Fourth Avenue into the Canopî project, according to a news release.

Jaime Sturgis and Kaley Tuning of Native Realty are marketing the project for Wellmeaning.

The two existing buildings will be turned into a 17,775-square-foot mixed-use center, with individual tenant spaces of up to 5,000 square feet.

Wellmeaning bought the 1.21-acre site for $2.4 million in 2020, property records show. One of the church buildings was constructed in the 1950s and the other in the 1960s.

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The property is in for a facelift, as Wellmeaning will add new impact windows and doors, polished concrete floors, new HVAC, roofing and ADA-compliant restrooms, according to the release. It will also have new landscaping and dining space, including outdoors.

The project is in permitting with the city and is expected to be finished within nine months or a year.

Wellmeaning Properties, led by Eduardo Pelaez, previously focused on Miami’s Wynwood, where it has assembled four blocks since 2009 and introduced food halls and theaters.

This won’t be the first South Florida church to be reborn through an adaptive reuse project. Farther south, Elm Springs will redevelop the long-closed former Rader Memorial United Methodist church and school in El Portal into offices, retail and restaurants.

Canopî will be built along Fort Lauderdale’s emerging 13th Street corridor, although most development so far has focused on downtown. In one of the bigger projects on tap, developers Steven Hudson and Charles Ladd plan a 138-room luxury hotel on East Las Olas Boulevard.