Fort Lauderdale’s Beachfront Could See Another Large Development
One of the most prime corners in Fort Lauderdale has just hit the market – the block at Las Olas Boulevard and A1A along Fort Lauderdale Beach – yielding the potential for a large high rise development.
The landowners, Lior Avidor and Aiton Yaari have spent the last 30 years buying up properties, one by one, along Fort Lauderdale beach. They have combined 4.46 acres with 500 feet of beach frontage and are now selling it all for redevelopment which is now possible where it is all under one ownership.
“It’s a life achievement,” Avidor said.
“This is the showcase block of Broward County, and probably one of the most beautiful and valuable blocks in the tri-county area,” Yaari said, declining to put a potential price on it.
The acreage is complete with bars, shops and restaurants. The offer to potential buyers has included a rendering of what can be possible for the property. This would be a 2 tower complex with hotel rooms, residential units and commercial space.
The project has yet to be submitted to the city for approvals, but regardless it would be impossible to predict whether or not the buyer would even carry the project forward or leave things as they are.
News of the potential sale raised concerns for the fate of the well known and popular bar “The Elbo Room.” Yaari stated that his property did not include this establishments location.
“Elbo Room will remain open and a treasured landmark on Fort Lauderdale beach,” Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler assured people in a tweet Friday, after someone tweeted, “Please don’t let this happen.”
The parcel stretches from just north of the Elbo Room to Poinsettia Street, and from State Road A1A all the way back to Seabreeze Boulevard. It does not include the northeast corner of Las Olas Boulevard and Seabreeze, or the properties fronting Las Olas Boulevard leading up to the Elbo Room.
Since the news broke many have expressed concerns about the future of the area and said he wanted to assure residents that a developer would be hand picked as he shares the best interests. Yaari responded “We have to sit down as a community, as a city, as a private landowner, and look at each other in the eye and say, ‘Do we love it the way it is, or do we want to take it to the next level for the future?’ ”
In the end these proposed plans are in fact, just schematics. Any buyer will have to go through the process of approvals and have the blessing of the commission should they seek a development of such scope.