New Fort Lauderdale Condo

Fort Lauderdale Condo approved near Stranahan House
By Susannah Bryan Posted December 7 2005

Fort Lauderdale · After a bitter six-year fight, city commissioners gave a final nod Tuesday to a controversial 42-story residential tower next to the historic Stranahan House on the Hyde Park Market site.Scores of Stranahan House sympathizers made last-ditch appeals to stop the soaring tower, reminding commissioners of a five-year-old voter mandate to preserve the site as a park.

"It's another concrete jungle at the expense of our historic center," Fort Lauderdale resident George Coonts told commissioners. "All we need is another monstrosity like this downtown."But in a 3-2 decision, commissioners approved the huge building on the riverfront. Commissioners Cindi Hutchinson, Dean Trantalis and Carlton Moore backed the development. Mayor Jim Naugle and Commissioner Christine Teel opposed it.At 455 feet, the structure will be the tallest in the city. River House condo a few blocks to the west is shorter by 3 feet. The county's tallest tower, at 505 feet and 52 stories, is the still-unfinished Beach Club Tower 2 in Hallandale Beach.Tuesday night's approval paves the way for the downtown Fort Lauderdale building, which will include 272 condo apartments atop a six-story garage with 388 parking spaces. The ground floor will be reserved for retail and lobby space.The proposed tower has been a nightmare for proponents of the neighboring Stranahan House, a 104-year-old former trading post and home of Fort Lauderdale pioneers Frank and Ivy Stranahan. Stranahan House supporters have waged a long campaign warning that the modern tower doesn't belong next to the historic home.In the past week, Stranahan House supporters have taken out newspaper ads, mailed slick fliers and sent e-mails to commissioners pleading for yet another delay.Fort Lauderdale resident Jon Schwenzer sent the following e-mail to the commission on the eve of the vote:"The final plan for this city's only truly historic site will be your legacy forever. If you feel powerless to oppose a greedy billionaire with no sense of civic responsibility, just delay the process. Perhaps leadership will emerge after the next election [in March] that will uphold the will our citizens as expressed in the referendum on this matter."Property owner Mickey Rabina of New York-based Coolidge-South Markets Equities is working with developer Jorge Perez of The Related Group to build the project on the site of the former supermarket. Developers have been forced to fight in court while other downtown towers have risen with much less scrutiny.Not every resident opposed the project. Resident Jacqueline Ackerina called it "amazing" and said it was needed to improve a corner that she described as "old and dying."As planned, the project includes a public plaza on Las Olas Boulevard in front of the Stranahan House as well as a continuation of Riverwalk, the brick-paved path along the New River. The developer agreed to contribute up to $2 million toward the plaza, which will be designed and maintained by the city.

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Florida's job market

The building frenzy in South Florida is feeding a huge demand for workers in the construction industry
BY NIALA BOODHOO
James B. Pirtle Construction Co. has hired 50 new employees this year, beefing up its workforce by about 30 percent.
But that's still not enough to staff the growing number of projects the Fort Lauderdale company has taken on. It's hard to dig deep and build fast enough to keep up with the region's construction boom.
''We probably have at least half a dozen management-level positions that we're looking to fill with qualified individuals,'' said Executive Vice President Mike Geary. The work is out there for every reputable construction firm, he said.
Florida's job market is still going gangbusters, growing at a rate of 3.4 percent in November, according to state figures released Friday. But the construction industry is doing even better: In November, the state added 33,300 construction jobs compared to last year, an increase of 6.6 percent.
Florida is churning out the jobs so fast that its unemployment rate ranks the lowest among the 10 most populous states in the nation, according to the state Agency for Workforce Innovation. The state added 255,100 jobs in November.
And those numbers may be revised upward to be even stronger, said economist Mark Vitner. If that's the case, 2005 will be ''the best year Florida has seen,'' he said. He sees no end in sight.
''2006 will be another very good year for Florida,'' he added.
In Miami-Dade County, the November jobless rate was still at a historic low of 4.2 percent, the same as the month before. In Broward County, the unemployment rate was 3.6 percent, slightly higher than October. The South Florida region grew 2.5 percent, or by 59,300 jobs.

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Miami and Fort Lauderdale Condo Conversions

Condo conversions putting renters in a bind
Some tenants priced out as profitable trend for owners creates apartment shortage
By John Pain,Associated Press
December 17, 2005
MIAMI -- Diana Perez got the letter a few months ago: The apartment complex where she and her family live was converting into condominiums. They had to leave if they couldn't make a 20 percent down payment on their two-bedroom apartment, now selling for $185,000.
That's $37,000 up front on the apartment they now rent for $900 a month -- too much for the 36-year-old, who works in a nail salon, and her car salesman husband, so they're looking for someplace else. But in the red-hot Florida real estate market, they're having trouble finding anything comparable nearby.
"What I want to find is a place where I can stay and they're not going to kick me out" if the owners decide to convert into condos, she said.
As apartment building owners face rising property taxes and rents lower than home prices in certain areas, many are deciding to convert them into condos. That can generate large profits for owners, but the dwindling supply of apartments makes it harder for renters like Perez to find a place to live.
But developers say they help people who can't buy single-family homes by providing more affordable condos.
Problems finding apartments are more due to population growth and the difficulty for building owners to stay afloat with lower rents, said William Friedman, chief executive of Tarragon Corp., a New York-based urban homebuilder and condo converter.
Converted condos offer first-time buyers an affordable option to build up equity and live in more desirable locations with fewer responsibilities than if they owned a home, he said.
So far this year, the value of apartments sold to become condos is $22.6 billion, or about 152,655 units, according to Real Capital Analytics.
And the benefit for developers to convert is clear. So far in 2005, apartments converted into condos sold for an average of $154,000, compared with an average of $88,000 for units in buildings that were sold as rentals, according to the research firm.
Rents have been creeping back up as the market gets tighter after falling from 2001 to 2003, when more people were buying homes and avoiding renting. In the third quarter of this year, the national average rent for a 1,000-square-foot apartment was $1,258 a month, up from $1,195 in the fourth quarter of 2003, according to Global Real Analytics, another research firm.
And rents have increased faster than wages, making it increasingly difficult for poorer families to afford even modest apartments, according to a report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
South Florida has been a pioneer in the condo conversion craze. Last year, 17,000 units were converted into condos, and that could surpass 30,000 this year, said Jack McCabe, chief executive of McCabe Research in Deerfield Beach.
There were 176,000 apartment units in large complexes with unrestricted rental rates in South Florida at the start of 2004, but that is down to about 128,000 now, he said. Wait lists for affordable apartments in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas stretch for up to two years in places.
"We have a lot of renters who whether by choice or necessity can't find another rental that's comparable in price. We're seeing a lot of displaced people in Florida," he said. "We're not getting companies relocating because their work force is not willing to lower their standard of living to move to southeast Florida and other expensive areas."

For details Miami and Fort Lauderdale Condo Conversions

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