Developer Joseph Kavana secured initial approval from Sunrise commissioners this week to increase the density of his long-planned, phased, mixed-use development called Metropica.
The 65-acre master-planned project in western Broward County has been in the works for at least a decade. The site at 1800 Northwest 136th Street is sandwiched between the Florida Everglades and Sawgrass Mills mall.
On Tuesday evening, the Sunrise City Commission granted first reading approval to amend the land use plan amendment for Metropica’s Transit Oriented Development district, a 92-acre area.
Metropica Lands LLC is seeking the green light for up to 3,300 residential high-rise units, an increase of 500 units. The developer is also seeking a bump in office space, to 925,000 square feet from 785,000 square feet, though that only affects a site owned by the city.
The residential units include the previously approved 300 townhouses and 3,000 multifamily units, up from 2,500 previously approved, a combination of condos and rentals. The project also calls for 485,000 square feet of commercial space, a hotel and park space.
Nearly a third of the office space, or 275,000 square feet, would be allocated to land owned by the city that’s within the district.
City commissioners unanimously approved the change at Tuesday’s meeting. No public comment or discussion occurred. The commission will vote on second reading at an unspecified later date.
The additional density “will spread the cost into more units,” Kavana told The Real Deal.
The density increase will be applied vertically, so the footprint of the buildings would remain the same. Kavana said one or two towers would be up to 30 stories tall, and the rest of the buildings would be between eight and 12 stories.
He expects infrastructure work to begin in October and be completed in about eight months. Then, construction on a 370-unit rental building would begin, Kavana said.
Within Metropica’s Transit Oriented Development district, 679 residential units and 5,000 square feet of commercial space has been built, but that also includes an apartment complex not owned by Metropica.
Kavana has completed one tower: the 263-unit Metropica One condo building, which was built in 2020.
His company secured approvals in 2014, but he began acquiring land for the assemblage in the early 1990s.
Last year, Kavana’s firm tapped Avison Young and Karson & Co. to find and structure a joint venture partnership for 48 acres of the property. Kavana said at the time that the project would require more than $250 million in equity to “speed it up.”
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Kavana said on Wednesday that they halted that effort last year because of high interest rates. “With rates hopefully coming down, we will restart that” soon, he said.
Also last year, the city of Sunrise approved the Metropica Community Development District, allowing it to secure up to $65 million in bonds to fund infrastructure improvements and services for a 50-acre portion of the site, according to the developer.