Resort Hotel Proposed for Expanded Las Olas Marina

A private developer wants to turn the city-owned Las Olas Marina and adjacent public parking lot into a $200 million premier hotel and marina resort.

A conceptual view of making the Las Olas Marina into a resort hotel and expanded marina. The rendering show the hotel next to the marina on the north side of Las Olas Boulevard, with a restaurant, office and parking complex on the south side of Las Olas, to the right.

Redeveloping the marina to provide more space for mega yachts has been viewed as critical to attracting boaters and maintaining the city’s prominence in the marine world, but city officials have rejected earlier proposals because costs were too high.

The city would have to kick in $20 million under the plan unveiled Tuesday, but the development team is promising the city guaranteed returns of at least $5.3 million annually after three years.

The property covers 9.75 acres on the east side of the Intracoastal Waterway on both sides of the Las Olas Boulevard bridge.

A 110-foot-high, 220-room hotel on the north side of Las Olas would be flanked by parking garages with public green space on top. There would also be street-level shops. On the south side of the bridge, there would be a four-story parking garage along with restaurant and office space.

An expanded marina would provide 106 mooring slip, including for super and mega yachts — about 50 percent more.

Tony Abbate, chairman of the Beach Redevelopment Board that was presented the plan, said the project hit two areas critical to the beach redevelopment: the marine industry and tourism. But it wasn’t clear where the city would find its share of the money.

Some board members were concerned that the project took away design plans that would turn the large surface parking lot there into public open space.

“This thing was supposed to be open space — green, green space,” board member Judy Scher said. “I’m looking at concrete here.”

There were also concerns it could take needed staging area away from the annual boat show, and might cause traffic problems for condominium dwellers along the Intracoastal.

The developers are seeking a special public-private partnership allowed under state law that was used in the past to build Marlins Park in Miami. Under this plan, the city would not request proposals. It would announce the partnership it is considering and other groups would have between 21 to 120 days to submit their own offers if they wanted.

Commissioners on Tuesday will discuss how they want to consider the marina’s future and if they would prefer to put out a more traditional request for proposals.

The proposal comes as the city is trying to put the final details together for its beach redevelopment plans, using $78.9 million in tax-generated redevelopment dollars. Officials estimate they have $160.7 million worth of proposed projects and still fall about $53 million short when other revenue sources are considered.

This view of a proposed development of the Las Olas Marina with a 220-room hotel to the left, on the north side of Las Olas Boulevard, and a restaurant, office and parking complex to the right, on the south side of Las Olas.

The Las Olas Marina Project Development Team is led by Larry Woods, founder of Midwest Financial Services Co. and a 25-year city resident, and Jim Wade, formerly chairman and CEO of RW Armstrong.

The property had previously been considered for Palazzo Las Olas, a proposed mixture of condos, offices, stores and parking, that was approved and then denied by the city. The project ended up tying the city in court for almost a decade before the city settled the suit in 2011.

Source: SunSentinel