Related Group, Dezer win approval for 10-story oceanfront condo project in Hillsboro Beach

Related Group and Dezer Development won a zoning variance for a downsized oceanfront condo development in Hillsboro Beach after reducing its height from 15 stories to 10.

The variance allows Related and Dezer to develop a 10-story building that is 130 feet tall, on a site where zoning limits building height to three stories and 35 feet.

Miami-based Related, led by CEO Jorge Pérez, paid $30 million in December 2020 to acquire the 11.8-acre development site at 1174-1185 Hillsboro Mile in Hillsboro Beach. The two vacant parcels are across from each other on a stretch of State Road A1A, which is also known as Hillsboro Mile, according to property records.

Related acquired the Intracoastal-to-ocean site from Sunny Isles Beach-based Dezer Development, led by President Gil Dezer, and is developing the property in partnership with Dezer, which acquired the site out of bankruptcy for $28.5 million in 2016.

The 5.4-acre west parcel of the development site touches the Intracoastal Waterway. The 6.4-acre east parcel is along the ocean and includes a bushy 2.8-acre dune, which has been designated by Broward County as a conservation area since 1992.

Attorneys for Related successfully argued that the conservation area within the east parcel is a “hardship” that qualifies the developers for a zoning variance under the local land development code.

The variance applies only to the east parcel, where Related and Dezer plan to develop 72 condos in a 10-story building. Across the street on the west parcel, the developers plan 28 condos in a three-story building on the Intracoastal, which current zoning allows.

The Hillsboro Town Council unanimously voted on Tuesday to approve one variance allowing a 130-foot building on the east parcel and another that allows an extra 15 feet of decorative rooftop screening, for a total height of 145 feet.

Related and Dezer downsized their Hillsboro Beach development, originally designed as a 15-story condo with 121 units, after town council members voted at their Dec. 7 meeting to table a decision on the proposed variances until this month.

After Related submits a site plan for the downsized condo project, the developers expect to complete the construction phase of the project in 18 to 30 months, said Debbie Orshefsky of Holland & Knight, an attorney for Related.
Among other reasons for approving the 10-story version of the condo project, Orshefsky said Hillsboro Beach already has seven condominiums that are 9 stories or taller, including the 15-story Landmark Condominium, the tallest building in town.

“A 10-story building is not out of character for our town,” Hillsboro Beach Mayor Deb Tarrant said at Tuesday’s town council meeting before voting for the variances.

The mayor said the development site on Hillsboro Mile has been vacant for decades and that the planned condo development will generate more than $1 million of annual tax revenue for the town. “It’s an opportunity to take something that has dragged the town down for years and turn it into a positive,” she said.