25-04-2025
Developer promised to build food hall on city land. Fort Lauderdale still waiting 3 years later.
Critics called it a bad deal on steroids.
Fort Lauderdale turned pricey public land worth $35 million over to a private developer for 50 years on the promise he would build a towering food hall along with a park and concert venue.
The deal, slammed by some residents as a land giveaway, gave developer Jeff John rights to the property for 50 years, with an option for two 25-year extensions.
That was three years ago, after the controversial plan got a thumbs up from City Hall.
Now some are wondering whether the $100 million project is ever going to break ground — including Mayor Dean Trantalis.
'I think the (developer has) still been working to secure financing,' Trantalis said. 'We've never gotten a site plan or any kind of development proposal. This is disappointing that I even have to bring this up. I was hoping it would be completed by now.'
John, CEO of Damn Good Hospitality Group, and his attorney, Stephanie Toothaker, could not be reached for comment.
Known as the One Stop Shop site, the 3.3-acre site was once home to the city's One Stop Shop permitting office. The building was torn down six years ago after sitting empty for more than a decade.
Today, the parcel at 301 N. Andrews Ave. remains fenced off, waiting for the project to break ground.
If the project were in limbo with no hope of breaking ground, Trantalis said the city would likely look into terminating the agreement.
'I asked the city manager and city attorney to look at the agreement to see if it has been violated in any way,' Trantalis said. 'If certain milestones have not been achieved, we need to terminate the agreement.'
Commissioner Ben Sorensen agreed.
'If this is not moving forward quickly, we need to go in a different direction,' Sorensen said. 'We need to look at all options. But I want to see where we stand contractually and what progress the (developer) is making in moving things forward.'
Commissioner Steve Glassman, whose district includes Flagler Village, said he'd like to give the developer more time before calling it a day.
'I recently met with the development team and have been assured that all systems are go,' he said. 'I am not in favor of terminating the agreement.'
When he voted in favor of the comprehensive agreement in March 2022, Glassman said he had high hopes the project would open by the end of 2024.
John, whose restaurant and club ventures include Revolution Live in downtown Fort Lauderdale, pitched the idea to the city in June 2020 through an unsolicited proposal.
John told commissioners he planned to build a tree-lined park bigger than a football field; a soundproofed concert hall large enough for 1,800 people, but with only 180 seats; and a high-end European style food market with specialty restaurants.
'We need more nightlife,' John said at the time. 'We need more music events. This city is so bright, it's so vibrant. And I want to give the people of South Florida a unique, iconic experience.'
The concert hall would rise 60 feet — equal to six stories — and offer at least 250 shows a year.
The eight-story marketplace would rise 160 feet, the equivalent of 16 stories. The food hall would stretch across three floors that open onto an atrium. A fourth floor would be an open-air space used for atrium dining. The top four floors would be reserved for private events.
Neighbors in Flagler Village worried the concert venue and marketplace would disrupt their sleep with late-night noise.
Others said the city would come to regret turning over the land to a developer whose project might never take off.
Under the comprehensive agreement, Fort Lauderdale would collect no money in the first year after the cultural center is built. The city would collect $250,000 in the second year, $500,000 in the third year, $750,000 in the fourth year, $1 million in the fifth year, $1.25 million in the sixth year and $1.5 million by year seven. After that, the payments would increase annually based on the Consumer Price Index, but with a 3% cap.
If the developer made no money, neither would the city.
After commissioners approved the deal in March 2022, Toothaker told them her client's next order of business would be to seek financing. Once that was in place, John and his team would be back with a site plan, Toothaker said. Commissioners asked when that might be, but Toothaker couldn't say.
One person who says she is not at all surprised by the lack of progress is LeAnn Barber, a leading critic of the project and former president of the Flagler Village Civic Association.
'I still have the T-shirt that says, 'It's a Damn Bad Deal,'' Barber said. 'It doesn't surprise me that they haven't broken ground, especially now with (President) Trump's tariffs. I think everything is going to be thrown into a tizzy. I think development is going to stop and for the next couple years it's going to be a rollercoaster, with a lot of resettling and hunkering down.'
Entrepreneurs and developers nowadays are finding it harder to get financing nationwide, even in high-growth states like Florida, said Siri Terjesen, a business professor at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.
'Commercial real estate in most places in this country is utterly devastated,' Terjesen said. 'You've had a lot of banks fail in the last couple years.'
As for whether the city would be able to extricate itself from a land deal, Terjesen had this response: 'Any time local or state resources are underutilized in Florida, there is now a DOGE Florida task force that can address lost revenues and opportunities thanks to Gov. DeSantis. That's how I would answer that. This is one of many examples across the state where government resources are underutilized.'
In 2022, Glassman defended the project in the days before it won commission approval.
'They have to show us proof of financing within 90 days of the signoff of the comprehensive agreement,' he told the Sun Sentinel at the time. 'In this market, we're not going to have a white elephant. We put in the agreement that this has to be completed in three years. If it's not done, we take it over. We own it.'
Trantalis told the Sun Sentinel this week that none of those milestones have been reached.
'It calls into question the viability of the project, at least at that site,' the mayor said. 'There might be another site that works for them. We need to find out if they still feel the vision they had for creating a new entertainment venue and food hall is a project they can achieve.'
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@ Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan
