From David Volz
The Fort Lauderdale commission is moving ahead with its first plan to build a new City Hall. It decided against spending millions of dollars to renovate a downtown office building.
The new city will be expensive, but the mayor and two commissioners said it will it cost less than buying an older building.
Mayor Dean Trantalis and Commissioners Steve Glassman and Pamela Beasley-Pittman voted in favor of the plan during a recent meeting.
Vice Mayor Ben Sorensen and Commissioner John Herbst voted no and said the new city hall would end up costing more than buying a used building.
The interim agreement approved between the city and FTL City Hall Partners cut the cost of the new government building from $267.7 million to $217 million.
Glassman said the city will be able to handle the cost of a new city hall and it will be something residents will be able to take pride it.
Fort Lauderdale officials were forced to develop a plan for a new city hall after a flood hit in April 2023. The former city hall building, damaged beyond repair, was declared a total loss and has since been demolished.
The new City Hall tower will be built at the same location at 100 North Andrews Avenue and is expected to open by 2030.
To reduce costs, the developer has come up with two more designs to choose from.
Herbst and Sorensen both argued that buying an existing office tower would save money.
The owners of two downtown towers have offered to sell their buildings to the city.
The Tower 101 building at 101 NE Third Avenue has a sales price of $86 million. The owner of the 1 East Broward building has set the sale price at $122.5 million.
A consultant hired by the city came up with estimated renovation costs for each tower.
Renovating Tower 101 would cost $157.9 million, according to the consultant, Jacobs Project Management. Renovating the tower at 1 East Broward would cost $208.5 million.
