Downtown areas in
suburban South Florida cities have been popped up in recent years as developers
try to accommodate people who want to live, work and play in one place.
For example, a
130-acre mixed-use development now under construction will serve as the
downtown of Pembroke Pines, complete with 1,900 residential units, hotel rooms,
offices, restaurants, shops and a new city hall.
Among other examples,
both Boca Raton and Coral Springs are encouraging dense
development of downtown areas. A new hotel and several high-rise
residential buildings are under construction in the center of Boca.
Erick Valle, a town
planner and architect in Coral Gables, told the Sun-Sentinel that high land
prices are encouraging denser, vertical development in suburban cities: “We ran
out of land. Once you run out of land, the land becomes very expensive.”
Developers designed
bedroom communities in western South Florida without a center, Diane Colonna,
executive director of the Margate Community Redevelopment Agency, told the
Sun-Sentinel.
“They were not taking
into consideration that at some point people would want to walk places,” she
told the newspaper. “There’s a real desire … for cities to have a sense
of place, something that’s unique to your city, and a gathering place, a place
to run into friends.”
The city of Margate has purchased 36 acres at the intersection of State Road 7
and Margate Boulevard for development of a downtown area with homes, retail
stores and entertainment venues.
Other suburban cities
encouraging development of downtown areas include Boynton Beach, Coconut Creek,
Dania Beach, Delray
Beach, Oakland Park, Pompano Beach and Tamarac.
Original Content The Real Deal
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