City Commission Signs Off On $150M Development

FT. LAUDERDALE-The $150 million LightSpeed Broward Center takes another step through the red tape process of County approval with the Ft. Lauderdale City Commission’s recent vote to endorse the project. The 1 million-sf multi-structure, mixed-use complex is a project of developer Cypress Creek Park and Ride Associates, a division of the Swerdlow Group’s LightSpeed Infrastructure.

LightSpeed Broward will offer 730,000 sf of office space, 40,000 sf of retail space, a 250,000-sf Internet server structure, a 400-room hotel, parking spaces to accommodate more than 3,000 vehicles, and over 500 spaces reserved for park-and-ride users. The project will occupy an 11.5-acre plot that sits astride Fort Lauderdale and the city of Oakland Park. “We’re creating one of the most technologically advanced office addresses in South Florida,” LightSpeed Infrastructure chairman and CEO Michael J. Swerdlow has long said of the project. “LightSpeed Broward Center will also be one of the most accessible addresses in the region.”

Developers still have a long way to go before reaching the groundbreaking stage, as the project involves a multitude of stipulations, including the $6.3 million construction of a pedestrian bridge connecting to the Tri-Rail, and additional relevant transit upgrades. The development must also gain approval from a long list of local government organizations. The Broward County Planning Council and the Broward County Commission are next up to sign off on the project–or not. And because the parcel is in two different cities, Oakland Park will have a say in the matter as well.

LightSpeed Broward will be the fourth such complex, joining LightSpeed Miami Center, LightSpeed Ft. Lauderdale Center and LightSpeed Miracle Center. LightSpeed Infrastructure sold the Miami property last year for about $252 million. The Broward project is scheduled for completion in 2008.