The Galleria mall property is ready for a major upgrade, but the proposed plans may be too intense for a city already feeling the stress of a building boom.
The city’s planning board has recommended commissioners reject the project, which would surround the mall with 1,250 residential units in seven buildings up to 27 stories tall. It would also add a park on the mall’s roof, weave a 1.25-mile fitness track through the property and create a walkable Sunrise Boulevard corridor with shops, shade and seating.
But the estimated $1 billion plan could also overwhelm adjacent neighborhoods and worsen traffic congestion while offering little of extra value to the community, planning board members.
“Conceptually, what they wanted to do there could be pretty exciting. It would help the mall refresh itself,” said board member James McCulla, who voted against the project. “I didn’t think the public realm improvements were enough.”
The developer, FLL Development Enterprise, did not respond to requests about whether the plans would be reconsidered in the wake of the planning board’s 6-2 decision on Oct. 19. And no date has been announced for when the commission would consider the Galleria proposal.
Commissioner Dean Trantalis said the Galleria is midway between downtown, where he would encourage intense development, and the beach, where he would not. He said he might be able to consider a large project around the Galleria, but he’d first want more assurance the mall will be able to attract top-level tenants with those changes.
“We all agree that we would like to see the quality of the retail enhanced at Galleria,” Trantalis said. “Until we can bring some heavy hitting retail components to this site, I cannot justify building more condos in an area that’s going to be stressed out with the additional residential units.”
Critics of the project weren’t impressed with the amenities it was offering, which also included improvements to the mall’s facade, new stores and fresh paint.
“To us, they look like typical mall amenities,” resident Ken Nolan said.
The developer also promised to replace utility pipes, add a lift station, raise some roads to make them more resilient to sea level rise, offer trolley service to the beach and provide changes that would reduce the negative traffic impact.
And it eliminated a proposed 15-story office building and plans for a 165-room hotel, while lowering the project’s tallest tower from 45 stories to 27.
But in order to get the special zoning the project needed, planning board chairman Leo Hansen said the developer needed to come up with better ideas to make its outdoor public spaces something special that would truly attract people to use them.
“There was still no compelling reason to go around the perimeter of Galleria,” Hansen said. “I didn’t see that as being beneficial to the community.”
The planning board’s negative recommendation comes just months after the developers of a second massive project — the proposed $400 million overhaul of the city-owned Bahia Mar resort and marina — withdrew their plans in the face of traffic and compatibility complaints.
The board had recommended approval of the Bahia Mar changes in December on a 6-2 vote, but the project ran into immediate problems with commissioners, whose concerns included the original 39-story height of its two proposed condo towers. Bahia Mar’s developers made a series of changes before dropping their proposal in June.
The Bahia Mar and Galleria proposals, along with another since-dropped plan to expand the Bahia Cabana resort, became the impetus for a citizen petition drive seeking to address growth concerns. That petition is requesting commissioners impose a year-long moratorium on the construction of large developments between Federal Highway and the ocean so the city can figure out what needs to be done to address traffic congestion and other infrastructure needs.
Commissioners are are unlikely to go along because of the potential negative economic impact.
“I think we’ve got to continue to be smart, where we encourage development and where we try to slow it down,” Commissioner Romney Rogers said.
lbarszewski@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4556
