sept-2017

178 179 HALLANDALE BEACH, FLORIDA Area (CRA).” The predominant reason for that was the decision to include the Gulfstream Casino and Race track, which back in the 1990s was in a poor state. Today, Gulfstream is an enormously successful complex with a casino that’s run by multinational Genting. Hallandale Beach is also one of the few jurisdictions of its size in Florida with a second casino–“Mardi Gras” – a dog track and casino venue. Both casino complexes have large areas of land in redevelopment areas. There’s already a shopping center being built, a thousand-seat movie theater about to go under construction, and more than a thousand housing units being considered for con- struction very soon. Developers and investors like consistency, predictability, and efficiency in local governments. Hallandale Beach is moving rapidly in all those directions. Enhancements in AT A GLANCE HALLANDALE BEACH, FLORIDA WHAT: A four-sq.-mile city in Broward County; population approx. 40,000 WHERE: Located between Fort Lauder- dale and Miami, next to Aventura, Florida WEBSITE: www.cohb.org building permitting have cut down the time it takes to get a plan review or building per- mit by more than half. There is still a significant amount of rea- sonably priced land available within the redevelopment area that the city has ac- cumulated sometimes through clearance, sometimes through Public Private Partner- ships (P3s). Carlton says, “We have six of those going right now, where people have come to us with proposals that are all in negotiation of redevelopment agreements. There is a critical mass building of new restaurants, and reasonably priced housing within the redevelopment area.We are in the process of completing infrastructure im- provements such as roadway enhancements and storm drainage, to ready the area for the remainder of the life of the CRA. In Florida, they only run for 30 years, so we have nine years left.” Private sector construction of everything from shopping areas to rental units to condos is extremely robust, with a billion dollars’ worth of buildings already in or in progress, and easily another billion dollars on the drawing board. Being landlocked, it’s crucial to increase taxable value by redevel- oping areas with new product. Carlton adds, “In some places, that’s vertical. A lot of folks are concerned about that, so we’ve taken a hard look at the land use control on our two main streets –Hallandale Beach Blvd., east and west, and Federal Highway/US-1,