development

The building boom in full swing in Fort Lauderdale might just hit a wall as city leaders struggle to contain a never-ending series of sewer pipe breaks.

Critics of the city’s ongoing development spurt have been calling for a moratorium for years. Developers have been just as outspoken in opposing what they call a drastic measure that would have dire effects on the city’s tax base.

The Miami-Dade County School Board wants to downsize from its 10 acres of prime, development-ready land in downtown Miami.

District officials are turning to a private developer and a community redevelopment agency to leverage its downtown headquarters for office space next door. It’s a move they say will finance the rebuild of two nearby schools, include affordable housing for teachers and the elderly, and eventually direct more dollars that could be used for teacher salaries and educational programs.

In a city driven by real estate development, it’s uncommon for government to take bold action against developers’ interests. Wednesday night, Miami’s planning and zoning board made a strong statement about the future of redevelopments on large swaths of the city’s neighborhoods: Stop doing them — or at least stop doing them the way they’ve been done for a decade.

A controversial mega-development planned for 18 acres in Little Haiti has led to a lawsuit from a neighbor.

Warren Perry, who lives in an apartment on Northeast 62nd Street across the street from the “special area plan” zone known as the Magic City Innovation District, is suing City Hall over commissioners’ denial of his request to intervene in the June 27 debate over final approval of the development plan. The Real Deal first reported on the suit.

After over a year of vocal protests and intense debates, the commercial and residential development known as the Magic City Innovation District received final approval to be built in Little Haiti. 

The Miami city commission voted 3-0 after 1 a.m. Friday to approve it after hours of heated discussion and public testimony from both sides of the matter. Two commissioners, Ken Russell and Joe Carollo, were not present for the vote.

Activists fighting to preserve a slice of one of the world’s rarest forests lost what was likely the last legal battle to stop the imperiled ecosystem from turning into a Walmart-anchored development.

A controversial apartment tower proposed in downtown Fort Lauderdale has been revised in response to opposition, but still offers hundreds of small studios for people with low incomes.

Though downtown Fort Lauderdale has been growing in recent years with a high-rise building boom, the proposal submitted last year for a tower at 700 SE Fourth Ave. hit strong resistance. A majority on the City Commission said they didn’t support the project, mainly because it was too dense. The project also had opponents in the community, including across U.S. 1 in Rio Vista.