Resurgence bringing homes, restaurants and arts to Sistrunk Boulevard

Years of stagnation on Sistrunk Boulevard have given way to a flurry of investment along the black community’s Main Street in Fort Lauderdale.

The future for Sistrunk Boulevard/Northwest Sixth Street includes a microbrewery, a blues club, YMCA, a chicken wings restaurant, apartment tower, senior living complex, performing arts center, retail strip and office complex, according to city redevelopment records.

Fort Lauderdale for years sought interest from developers, hoping to return Sistrunk to its days of economic vibrancy. Millions in public and private money could revive the historic stretch.

“We welcome this new development,” said former Police Chief Frank Adderley, who grew up in northwest Fort Lauderdale and lives there now, in the Dorsey Riverbend neighborhood. “If we’re going to grow and be, say, another Las Olas or those type of areas, we need to be able to attract people to our neighborhood to invest in our neighborhood.”

Most of the investors are seeking public subsidies through the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, which aims to remove urban blight. But even with incentive programs available, the city was unable to attract much investment until now.

“There’s just a lot of interest and just a lot of energy,” Mayor Jack Seiler said.

Once a lively business district during segregated times, Sistrunk has since withered. Some businesses thrive there, but the boulevard is dotted with vacant lots and shuttered buildings.

Developer Peter Flotz said the success of downtown and Flagler Village, both booming with high-rise housing, pushed investors west across the railroad tracks, where land prices are lower.

“That’s good for everybody,” he said. “It’s spreading the wealth around.”

In the past, Sistrunk Boulevard carried a hint of negative connotation, because of crime and violence, city officials said. But Flotz said that’s not true anymore. His market research showed that the young renter he’d market to “actually treasures that edge.”

In addition, Seiler said, the city added a police substation to the boulevard, and city memos say cameras were installed along the street, including a license plate reader.

Among the projects:

— Sistrunk Market and Brewery: The City Commission is expected to vote soon on whether to give a $1.4 million forgivable loan to a developer for a project at 115 W. Sistrunk Blvd., at the northeast corner of Northwest Second Avenue, just west of the railroad tracks. The developer would renovate the 23,000-square-foot warehouse there into a food hall with vendors and kiosks, and Khoffner microbrewery, with a rooftop gathering place. “This would become a destination, and not just for locals,” project manager Steven Dapuzzo said earlier this year.

— Live-work housing: The same developer is considering buying a second warehouse behind the Sistrunk Market, tearing it down and building an eight-story live-work housing development with 60 micro-lofts, small square-footage units, above work space including a technology and office printing center, and fitness facility.

— Six13 tower: Just west of the brewery, a $41.8 million mixed-use tower, Six13, is planned. Earlier this year, the city agreed to give a $7 million forgivable loan — the largest subsidy in the district’s history — to Affiliated Development for the 11-story, 142-unit tower at 613 NW Third Ave. Rents will start at $1,100, officially affordable to middle-income households, by city standards.

— Residential complex: Entrepreneur Felipe Yalale and developer Flotz bought up nearly the entire block at the southwest corner of Sistrunk and Northwest Seventh Avenue, and are planning a five-story mixed-use complex with 400 apartments, and 30,000 square feet of restaurants and retail. Flotz said he expects to submit plans to the city in March and will seek a subsidy only for a public-private parking garage.

Rents will start below $800, he said. “Let’s face it,” he said, “all the amenities available to people living downtown are available to people at this site. It’s right there.”

— Senior living: A five-story senior living complex with medical offices, the Tri County Medical Project, is proposed at Northwest Eighth Avenue and Sistrunk.

— Shops: At the intersection of Powerline Road and Sistrunk, the city will give $350,000 to a developer to renovate storefronts into The Provident Community Shoppes, at 610-618 Northwest Ninth Ave. The name pays homage to Provident Hospital, co-founded by the boulevard’s namesake, Dr. James Sistrunk.

— Offices: In the 900 block of Sistrunk, three buildings will be renovated into a space called The Pharmacy, an homage to the pharmacy at the site in the 1960s. The city will give a $700,000 subsidy to the project, which will house the headquarters for Florida Prime Acquisitions, plus dining and retail space.

— Chicken wings: Former state Sen. Chris Smith and wife Desorae Giles-Smith, the deputy city manager of Lauderhill, bought a building at 1113 W. Sistrunk Blvd. and propose transforming it into Smitty’s Wings on Sistrunk restaurant. They’re seeking a $350,000 forgivable loan.

— YMCA: The city voted earlier this year to invest $10 million into building a new YMCA at 1409 W. Sistrunk, where the old Mizell Center is.

— Performing arts center: Just west of the YMCA, Florida Lotto winner Miguel Pilgram bought properties between Northwest 14th Terrace and 14th Way, where he intends to build a performing arts center and commercial plaza with a Jamba Juice and a bank.

— Blues club: Lottery-winner Pilgram also bought a two-story building at the southeast corner of Northwest 15th Avenue and Sistrunk — home long ago to the Night Owl lounge — and plans to revive it. Pilgram plans a New York Subs and Wings restaurant with a Memphis Blues club upstairs. He said it’s important that the boulevard retain its culture as it redevelops.

Seiler said the city’s redevelopment of the boulevard itself — a $15 million remake with new pipes, landscaping and lighting — helped create a spark. The mayor also credited Commissioner Robert McKinzie and former Commissioner Bobby DuBose for focusing on progress there.

More recently, the city extended the Sistrunk name east past the train tracks, sending a “really powerful message” that “this street can be something bigger and better,” Seiler said.

“The guy is legendary in a good way and yet his name was tarnished because Sistrunk did not get enough positive development and redevelopment as it should have,” he said. “It’s important that we bring it back.”

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