fbpx

Cypress Creek area goes Uptown

Fort Lauderdale’s Cypress Creek Road area might easily be described as a river of sprawl, in a canyon of mid-rise office complexes.  Most people would probably drive right through it without having a second thought or turning a descriptive phrase.  

Despite its nondescript, eight-lane, tree-sparse urban-scape, accented by a cacophony of asphalt, the Cypress Creek Road market is actually unique: It’s home to some of Broward
County’s most venerable corporations, including Citrix, Microsoft, Zimmerman Advertising and Nipro Diagnostic.  

In fact, with an estimated 70,000 jobs based along Cypress Creek Road, it is one of the largest employment corridors in Broward. Pair that with being home to Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, among the busiest general aviation airports in the country, five university campuses and a Tri-Rail station – and Cypress Creek has all the elements of a thriving urban core. 

It’s for that reason that developer Cary Goldberg decided to speak up one day at a meeting of the Economic Development Advisory Board of Fort Lauderdale. He had grown tired of so much of the public focus always centered on Las Olas Boulevard and the central business district as the heart of the city and core of the city’s economy. Goldberg, whose Diversified Cos. is based in Cypress Creek, wanted to make a point on that fateful day in 2012: Maybe it was time that the city spend some time focusing on maintaining and enhancing its large corporate base about a dozen miles north of downtown. 

Fast-forward two years and the Uptown Fort Lauderdale initiative is speeding ahead, with the newly designated Uptown Fort Lauderdale district running along Cypress Creek Road from I-95 west to Northwest 31st Avenue. The Uptown Fort Lauderdale initiative seeks to transform Cypress Creek Road and its web of highway-sized arteries, including Andrews Avenue, into a more pedestrian friendly main street with cafes, shops and green spaces, reflective of a distinctive character and defined sense of place. 

“I think it is going to look dramatically different than it does today,” Goldberg says. “You are going to get off I-95 and feel like you are in a unique place. You are going to feel like you are in Uptown.”

The route to get from major suburban highway to picturesque main street will be through the creation of a new form-based code that focuses on the optics of what the area will look like, rather than traditional zoning codes that regulate development through density and use restrictions.  

“This approach is different,” says Sam Poole, a land use lawyer and partner with Berger Singerman in Fort Lauderdale, which is drafting the new code and shepherding it through the governmental approval and adoption process pro bono. 

“In this approach you actually figure out what the land owners and people with interest in that area want and what is the physical vision for this area. What is it going to look like in 15 to 20 years?” 

Uptown Fort Lauderdale’s approach will be similar to what downtown Miami did with the creation of the Miami 21 code. But getting it drafted, approved and implemented may be a little less cumbersome because there are virtually no residents in the Uptown Fort Lauderdale district – at least not yet. A main component of Uptown Fort Lauderdale will be to attract residential development – mostly likely multifamily – to help populate a true live-work-play environment.

“There are high-tech companies that rely on millennials to work in the area and millennials don’t like to commute,” Poole says. 

The planning phase begins this summer with the hiring of a consultant that will take the stakeholders down the path of painting the vision for Uptown. Up to $200,000 in funding has been allocated for the initiative from the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority.  

“We are creating a 30 to 50 year plan for this area,” Poole says. ?

Freelance writer Darcie Lunsford is a former real estate editor of the South Florida Business Journal. She is the Senior VP for leasing at Butters Group and is avoiding a conflict of interest in her column by not covering her own deals. 

You May Also Like
Reaching Out

I know that Stephen Garber knows people. The president of Third Level is a seasoned expert on change management, relationship building and quality-of-life issues. He is an international executive coach,

Read More
Stephen Garber
SOUTH FLORIDA BUSINESS & WEALTH GOES 2.0

This is the time and this is the page when the new editor-in-chief typically would tell you to get ready for a new SFBW experience—but since you’ve seen the cover,

Read More
Are Your Salespeople Taking Shortcuts?

Connor, a software sales rep, had been having a rough day. He’d been bombarded with questions from several customers and gotten behind on work he needed to finish before the

Read More
COVID and the Commercial Sector

[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text] For South Florida’s vigorous commercial real estate sector, there is a Grand Canyon-size fissure between market conditions on March 1 and

Read More
Other Posts
Construction Begins on Luxury Condo at Fisher Island’s Final Development Site

The building is over 50% sold, recording over $500 million in sales.

Read More
Luxury Condo
New Record Set for Luxury Real Estate Prices in Fort Lauderdale

The Elmes Group has brokered the sale of this property six times since 1990.

Read More
luxury real estate
Florida East Coast Realty Leases Over 13,000 Square Feet at Brickell Office Property

Ana Paula, Kevin Gonzalez and Jake Freeman of Colliers manage the commercial/office leasing in the building.

Read More
Brickell office property
Forman Capital Extends Loan to Well-Known Miami Developer for Downtown Project

Royal Palm Companies plans to build a condominium-hotel project.

Read More
Forman Capital

Drew Limsky

Drew Limsky

Editor-in-Chief

BIOGRAPHY

Drew Limsky joined Lifestyle Media Group in August 2020 as Editor-in-Chief of South Florida Business & Wealth. His first issue of SFBW, October 2020, heralded a reimagined structure, with new content categories and a slew of fresh visual themes. “As sort of a cross between Forbes and Robb Report, with a dash of GQ and Vogue,” Limsky says, “SFBW reflects South Florida’s increasingly sophisticated and dynamic business and cultural landscape.”

Limsky, an avid traveler, swimmer and film buff who holds a law degree and Ph.D. from New York University, likes to say, “I’m a doctor, but I can’t operate—except on your brand.” He wrote his dissertation on the nonfiction work of Joan Didion. Prior to that, Limsky received his B.A. in English, summa cum laude, from Emory University and earned his M.A. in literature at American University in connection with a Masters Scholar Award fellowship.

Limsky came to SFBW at the apex of a storied career in journalism and publishing that includes six previous lead editorial roles, including for some of the world’s best-known brands. He served as global editor-in-chief of Lexus magazine, founding editor-in-chief of custom lifestyle magazines for Cadillac and Holland America Line, and was the founding editor-in-chief of Modern Luxury Interiors South Florida. He also was the executive editor for B2B magazines for Acura and Honda Financial Services, and he served as travel editor for Conde Nast. Magazines under Limsky’s editorship have garnered more than 75 industry awards.

He has also written for many of the country’s top newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, Boston Globe, USA Today, Worth, Robb Report, Afar, Time Out New York, National Geographic Traveler, Men’s Journal, Ritz-Carlton, Elite Traveler, Florida Design, Metropolis and Architectural Digest Mexico. His other clients have included Four Seasons, Acqualina Resort & Residences, Yahoo!, American Airlines, Wynn, Douglas Elliman and Corcoran. As an adjunct assistant professor, Limsky has taught journalism, film and creative writing at the City University of New York, Pace University, American University and other colleges.