Sun-Sentinel 04/29/2007

Changes coming to highway

Condos, villas, stores headed to part of S.R. 7

By Lisa J. Huriash
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
April 29, 2007

North Lauderdale · Changes are in store along the city's 2.1-mile stretch of State Road 7, roughly between Southgate and Commercial boulevards.

Plans include about a half-dozen new townhouse and condo communities and the tearing down of two mobile home parks to make way for some of these residential units. Also, for the first time, the city will be joining the national trend of approving projects where residential units are built on top retail stores.

"It's exciting for us in North Lauderdale because this is a major north-south corridor: more access to transit, quality housing, it's perfect for our residents," Mayor Jack Brady said. "It's going to be great for the city."

Among the changes in the works for S.R. 7:

Tuscany Village: 392 townhouses, villas and condos at 5601 N. State Road 7, just south of the Florida's Turnpike overpass. The project has site plan approval and is in the permitting and platting process. It would be a mixed-use, residential-and-retail development and top at two stories. Condos likely would sell for the mid-$100,000s, and townhouses would start in the low $200,000s. Twelve of the condos would be built above 26,000 square feet of retail space, and the remaining units behind the retail. This project would be built on the site of the Imperial Estates mobile home park, which has not been torn down yet. The homeowners -- there are 170 mobile homes -- have not been given notice yet that they have to leave, according to the developer, Cornerstone Group Development. There is no timetable yet for construction.

Granada: Between 196 and 220 condos on S.R. 7 at McNab Road abutting the Florida's Turnpike overpass. This project, in the beginning process for approvals, would be a mixed-use development of residential units with up to 10,000 square feet of retail space. The condos would be three stories high and sell in the low- to mid-$200,000s. Retail could include restaurants and shops.

Marbella: 525 townhouses on Prospect Road, a block east of S.R. 7. Some condos might also be added. This project is in the land-use amendment process. The land is occupied by Village Park Mobile Home Estates, which has about 300 mobile homes. Residents have been told they have until December to vacate.

San Remo Townhomes: 185 townhouses -- some have opened, some are under construction -- at 1945 SW 60th Ave. These are two-story buildings with two or three bedrooms. Prices start in low to high $200,000s.

Hickory Place: 46 townhomes under construction at 1301 SW 53rd Ave.

Savannah Landings: 45 townhomes soon would be built at 544 SW 14th Court. The two-story townhomes would sell for the $200,000s to $325,000. All homes would have a private yard and granite kitchen countertops. Models would be offered with two or three bedrooms.

Beth Nielsen, owner of Broward Townhouses Realty Group Inc., is building Savannah Landings. She said financial programs would be offered to teachers and county workers. Now, she said, S.R. 7 "is dead. They needed these residential homes going in. All of their shopping centers were empty. I think it will put North Lauderdale on the map."

Redevelopment efforts have resulted in other projects, such as the 35,000-square-foot Gennaro's Farmer's Market, which opened April 2006, as well as Santa Catalina, a 129-townhome community at 10 S. Catalina Circle, and Sanctuary Cove, 292 one-, two- and three-bedroom rental apartments completed more than two years ago at 5601 W. McNab Road.

Tony Mijares, chairman for United Homes International Inc., is overseeing the work at Granada and Marbella, and his company built Santa Catalina. He said part of the interest in this location is because "Broward's running out of land."

And Gerald Valent, vice president for Cornerstone Group Development -- which is building San Remo and Tuscany Village, and built Sanctuary Cove -- said it's also the trend for aging places to get a "new look ... and make it more appealing."

Now, S.R. 7 is full of "strip centers with parking lots in front. Right now as you go up and down S.R. 7, it's strip center after strip center from the '70s and '80s. The new designs are softening the landscape and making it much more appealing."

North Lauderdale is a good place for redevelopment, Valent said, partly because it has historically been "slow to develop."

"It was a retiree and blue collar community that was kind of on the outskirts but now [has] tremendous growth," he said.

City officials say it's a new day for development.

"There's a great deal of interest in State Road 7," Commissioner Gary Frankel said. "It was an old dumpy road, but it is now becoming a main road in central Broward. It's becoming an upscale main route going north-south through many municipalities.

"We were lucky we had undeveloped parcels that terrific developers chose to purchase," he said. "Not only does it make the road more appealing, but we know it also brings in businesses, residences and a bigger tax base. So we're happy."

Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sun-sentinel.com or 954-572-2008.

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