Business View Magazine September 2018

312 313 ing lot. It has: n Hired a Real Estate Development Director and support staff. n Issued a request for proposals from architectur- al/master planning firms to prepare a master plan for development of a live,work, and play community on the site. n Is working with Sunrise on the land use plan and entitlements for the site. n Is preparing to enter into an agreement with a private developer to build the improvements. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Economic development efforts continue to pro- duce results,with several companies either moving operations to Sunrise or expanding their current operations: n Ford Motor Company’s software division took over 60,000 square feet of office, creating 300 new jobs. n Hamilton Funding (25k sf). n Cable &Wireless Communications (24k sf). n Crown Castle USA (15k sf). n US Navy (12k sf). n Allergen (10k sf). n Berkshire Hathaway (7k sf). Our office vacancy rate sits at below 8%, the low- est in decades, and our commercial industrial space is even tighter, at under 5% vacancy. To give you an idea of the intensity of develop- ment in Sunrise, in 2017our Community Devel- opment Department processed more than 8,000 building permits with a construction value of ap- proximately $200 million. THE CITY’S REINVESTMENT & FISCAL MAN- AGEMENT The City is investing heavily in its parks and recreational facilities,with a dozen projects either completed or under construction, and another half dozen in planning/design. By the time we are done SUNRISE, FLORIDA Thinking of water in newways We are engineers, scientists, consultants and constructors working to safeguardwater, maintain vital infrastructure and restore habitats to keep our communities thriving. BrownandCaldwell.com Thinking of water in newways We are engineers, scientists, consultants and constructors working to safeguardwater, maintai vital infrastructure and restore habitats to keep our communities thriving. BrownandCaldwell.com with these projects,we will have spent more than $80 million and transformed our recreational offer- ings across the entire City. Over the past 8 years, the City has invested more than $200 million improving its water,wastewater, natural gas, and stormwater utility infrastructure, and we are looked to throughout the region for our expertise and best practices in utility systemman- agement.The investment continues,with another $175+ million of investment programmed in our five-year Capital Improvement Plan. Working with our partners at the State and Coun- ty, Sunrise is aggressively looking for opportunities to improve our transportation network through Complete Streets initiatives, the addition of bike lanes, construction of traffic calming measures, and improved access to highways. In just the past year,we have completed one Com- plete Street project and one bike lane project. We have a 2nd Complete Street project under construction and are working on the plan for a grant-funded joint bike lane project with our neigh- boring community of Weston. We are also working with the Broward Metropol- itan Planning Organization on an additional ten Complete Streets projects, including joint projects with four neighboring municipalities. We are working with the Florida Department of Transportation for improved interchanges at six State expressway locations in Sunrise. In 2017, Sunrise kicked off its “Celebrate Sun- rise” initiative to revitalize and energize its original neighborhoods. Our consultant is nearing comple- tion of our master plan for this area, and although