By Noreen Marcus, FloridaBulldog.org
Caught between a contract and fierce opposition to erecting a luxury condo tower on a public beach, Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy tried to score a decisive victory for the name-brand developer, Jorge Perez’s Related Group.
But all the mayor seemed to accomplish was prompting Broward County Commissioner Beam Furr to reveal he opposes building the 27-story Portofino Residences at 1301 S. Ocean Dr. in Hollywood. Levy and Furr spoke at a Feb. 26 hearing of the Broward County Planning Council that ended in defeat for Levy, one of its members, and a setback for Related.
Furr didn’t say how he’ll vote with the rest of the nine-member county commission on the land-use change Related still needs before breaking ground for Portofino, better known as “the 1301 project.” No date for the commission to vote has been set.
Tellingly, though, he sided with planning council staffers who took a deep dive into researching the relevant city and county land-use maps. They decided the most recent county map preserves the property for public-access facilities like the popular community center that has occupied the oceanfront 1301 site for decades.
Furr, a former planning council member, said he supported planning council staffers because they’re neutral and they’ve “earned our respect” through diligence. If council members were to reject their interpretation of the land-use maps, he said, they’d be “risking the respect of this body.”
Levy, a lawyer and council member, argued the county map was changed illegally in 2023 because staffers were mistaken about the property’s status. Before that change, he said, maps of the 1301 site showed medium-high density – they allowed for projects like Portofino.
He said the dozen “diehard” opponents who spoke at the hearing do not represent the city’s 150,000 residents; they can’t veto the city commission’s 5-2 “supermajority” that approved the Related deal four years ago.
Levy urged the council to consider only “what the controlling law is, not emotion,” and change the staff’s land-use designation. That would have helped clear the way for Related to build Portofino.
In the end, however, the planning council voted 13-2 to support the staff’s finding: The updated 2023 county map properly classifies the 1301 site as “community facility.” Only Tamarac Mayor Michelle Gomez joined Levy and voted to go with “medium-high residential.”
The planning council, an arm of the Broward County Commission, serves as keeper of the county’s master land-use plan. County commissioners appoint nearly all of the 20 members (five didn’t attend the Feb. 26 hearing), most of whom are Broward mayors.
Lamar Fisher, the only current county commissioner on the council, voted with the majority to support the planning council staff. Fisher is a former mayor of Pompano Beach.
A 99-YEAR LEASE OR A DISGUISED SALE?
From a purely financial standpoint, both Hollywood and Related have a lot to gain from the pact they made in March 2022. The contract is for a 99-year lease — a disguised sale, critics of the deal claim. The distinction is important because a sale requires residents’ approval in a referendum but a lease doesn’t.
To be built at a cost of more than $138 million, Portofino would have an estimated 111 units priced at $750,000 to $2 million. The numbers are based on construction and other costs reported years ago that undoubtedly are much higher today.
The city was supposed to get $400,000 in annual rent, a slice of condo sales, and 30 percent of rental payments from a restaurant Related wants to build inside the new two-story community center.
But just as the city has a lot to gain if the project is greenlit, it has a lot to lose if the project fizzles and the city is found liable, Hollywood real estate lawyer Dale Bruschi told Florida Bulldog.
“In some ways, they’re stuck now. You can’t just arbitrarily back out of a contract,” said Bruschi, who’s on an ad hoc legal team working to defeat the project. If a court found the city prevented Related from building Portofino, the city might have to pay “astronomical” breach-of-contract damages, he said.
Still, the county could let the city off the hook by making the contract unenforceable, Bruschi said. “If the county turns down the project, the contract terms kick in and then the city can walk away; the contract is at an end.”
At that point Related “might try again. If I was in their shoes I’d keep trying,” he said. “They play hardball, but a lot of developers do. They’ve got a lot of money on the line.”
WILL COUNTY BAR BARRIER ISLE TOWER?
Hollywood residents who spoke for two minutes apiece at the Feb. 26 hearing were warned to stick to the hyper-technical land-use debate, but didn’t strictly follow that rule. They seemed to restrain themselves yet managed to express passionate opposition to Related’s 1301 proposal.
“I implore you to go with the staff,” said Ann Ralston, a 40-year Hollywood resident and retired government employee.
“We have a deed that gave it to the city of Hollywood,” Steve Welsch, president of the Hollywood Civic Association, said about the 1301 project site.
Bruschi, who lives in Hollywood, said that while Related has “a pretty good reputation for getting things done” the right way, he also opposes the 1301 project. “The people don’t really want this, and it’s problematic from a legal standpoint.”
All things considered, a barrier island “is probably not the right place for this project,” Bruschi said.
He echoed Jennifer Jurado, Broward’s chief resilience officer. She has said the 1301 project’s high-density footprint makes it too vulnerable to flooding to meet resilience standards.
Her views on whether development is compatible with environmental reality have influenced key votes on the 1301 project. Jurado is expected to play a crucial role in the county commission’s determination of whether to grant Related a land-use amendment for Portofino.
She has reportedly been working with Related’s architectural engineering firm, Skidmore Owings & Merrill, to address her concerns about managing sea level rise, groundwater levels and rainfall to avoid flooding.
A focus on those potential hazards “needs to be front and center when it comes to projects on barrier islands,” the Miami Herald quoted Jurado as saying.
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