Hallandale Beach, Florida

TurnberryAssociates, a world-class developer who has renamed the venue,The Big Easy. Hallandale Beach is also a city of parks and open green spaces, and the city administration is intent on maximizing their amenities for the benefit of its residents and guests.“We have two parks under construction, right now,” says Mayor Keith S. London. “We have Bluesten Park,which is approximately a $30 million project.The project is on time and on budget, and the walls are starting to come up on a 40,000-sqaure-foot structure that the YMCAwill be running for us. In addition to that, Ingalls Park, in the southwest, is approximately a $3.5 million project– again, on time and on budget.And in September,we are demolishing the current tennis center and build- ing a new $10 million tennis center.And adjacent to that is Golden Isles Park and that’s getting a three or four million-dollar renovation.”Two additional parks are slated for upgrades, as well–2.4-acre Sunrise Park in the northeast quadrant, and Sunset Park in the southwest. London believes that in the future, because of a change in the city’s open space calculations, park land will be at a premium in Hallandale Beach, and the private sector will need to underwrite some of the costs.“There’s a minimum standard in Bro- HALLANDALE BEACH, FLORIDA ward County: three acres of open space for every thousand residents,”he explains.“We are one of the older eastern cities that counted the waterways in our parks calculation, but we just reduced that calculation. So, instead of having a surplus of ap- proximately a hundred acres, it’s going to lower the surplus to under ten acres. So, if a large scale, new development comes into the city, it will have to help us, either by purchase, acquisition, or an in lieu fee, to provide us with more open space.We’ve identified a couple of parcels–there isn’t a lot in our urban en- vironment–but we’ve identified a couple of parcels where we’d like to have in lieu fees, if they can’t do it on their own site.” In addition to a potential open space fee, other fees for new developers, according to London, in- clude: “a stormwater fee, potable water fee, sewage fee, parking fee, traffic fee, and a public safety fee.” But, fees notwithstanding, developers continue to invest in the city.“We have the Optimum Building coming up,”he reports.“It’s a LEED Platinum office building.Another one, just north of Federal High- way, is the six-storey,Accesso office building. So, the zoning that we put in place seems to be attracting and making the development community see us as the option for the Aventura market,which is pricey.