Developers reveal a striking new plan for Pier 66

By David Lyons

Sun Sentinel

Imagine stepping onto the balcony of your high-rise condo, coffee in hand, and dipping both feet into your own private pool. From a few hundred feet up, the views could include the Atlantic Ocean, cruise ships at Port Everglades, the Intracoastal Waterway and Fort Lauderdale Beach.

That’s one attraction of the latest concept being floated by the developer-owners of Pier Sixty Six. The Tavistock Group, which recently revealed splashy renderings and a video of the design concept, is sampling the public’s appetites for three sleek 480-foot glass towers that would serve as “an iconic gateway” to the southern end of the city’s beach district.

Motorists traveling east from the mainland over the 17th Street Causeway drawbridge would see two towers on the south side and a third on the north side, all serving as sentinels to the barrier island.

A view looking east, toward the beaches, along the 17th Street Causeway bridge in Fort Lauderdale. (Tavistock Group / Pier 66/Courtesy)

Re-energizing an entry point

Jessi Blakley, a Tavistock Group vice president and Fort Lauderdale native, asserted the new concept, if approved, will help invigorate the property.

“This location is incredibly significant for the City of Fort Lauderdale,” she said. “It is the entry to the beach. It is along our port. It is across the canal from our convention center. This is something that has to be celebrated and invigorated. The Pier in its heyday was that gateway to the beach. Height brings that prominence and that is what people remember Pier 66 for. This new concept only brings that back to life.”

Bernardo Fort-Brescia, the Miami architect whose firm, Arquitectonica, designed the concept, said in a telephone interview that the idea is to reflect the city’s relationship with the water and nautical life.

“It’s not exactly what we normally do here,” he said. “We are trying to relate to the nautical history of Fort Lauderdale and be very specific about where the project is.”

To that end, every apartment would have a pool as part of its balcony. “So you see the water from the outside, which we thought would give it a unique feel,” said Fort-Brescia. Once the pools are lit up then you don’t have to do lighting on the building. I think it is very sensuous. The water has a certain glitter which is attractive.”

Each unit in the tall tower condos would have its own pool, a feature meant to highlight Fort Lauderdale's long-standing status as a center for marine and recreational waterborne activities, said architect Bernardo Fort-Brescia. (Tavistock Group / Pier 66/Courtesy)

Last week, Tavistock conducted a pair of Zoom meetings to learn what people think about a potentially dramatic new addendum to a long-standing neighborhood that contains some of the most expensive waterfront homes in the city. It would replace a prior owner’s proposal that was approved by the city, but received poor reviews from the public for its bulky looks.

Each tower would contain 130 condo units — four to each floor. Buyers could buy two at once — or even an entire floor if they wish. It’s a nod to an ultra-luxury market that has seen potential buyers seeking more options, including the ability to combine units.

Tavistock has yet to submit a formal proposal for the towers to the city; it says it can’t do so until the city revises an ordinance limiting building height to 120 feet.

But the company has a way to go before the city contemplates a change.

An eye opener

“This is an eye opener and certainly took my breath away,” Mayor Dean Trantalis told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “It’s going to have ramifications across the entire city. We have to see what’s in the best interest of the community before we replace the project that is approved.”

The approved Sails plan by former ownership is a very dense, very traffic heavy site - which can be built today if a new concept is not developed. The plan includes a 350-key hotel, dry stack marina, and more than 40,000 SF of retail and office.

“There are other considerations we need to reflect upon and it has to do with density, it has to with traffic, and it has to do with underground infrastructure,” Trantalis added.

Commissioner Ben Sorensen, whose district includes the site withheld comment, saying he “is still learning about the project.’

The towers are part of a broader redevelopment plan for the Pier 66 complex, which has been mostly demolished except for the 17-story tower from the 1960s, which remains standing. The complex’s marina business remains operational.

Though Tavistock suspended construction after the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, construction has resumed on the original approved portion of the north side redevelopment with the hotel’s reopening projected for early 2024.

Besides fixing up the old Pier 66 tower, which would retain its famous rotating Pier Top lounge at its top level, the company is adding a 10-story hotel behind the tower, lush, heavily landscaped pool areas for families and adults, low-level residential condos, and retail and office space.

A taller, sleeker option

About a year ago, Tavistock hired Architectonica, which is known worldwide for its modern design to produce a concept for Pier South. Among its celebrated projects: the landmark luxury Atlantis Condominium in Miami, which boasts a five-story hole in middle of the building that serves as courtyard. For years, the building was prominently featured in the opening credits of the 1980s TV series Miami Vice.

Three proposed towers in the concept stage would stand 480 feet adjacent to the 17th Street Causeway bridge in Fort Lauderdale. As of December 2021, the Tavistock Group, which is redeveloping the Pier 66 resort, had yet to make a formal proposal to the city for approval as the company continued to solicit comments from the public. (Tavistock Group / Pier 66/Courtesy)

“Buildings set the tone of the moment — never copying the past, but always trying to define the place in a new way,” Fort-Brescia said.

Stacy Ritter, president and CEO of Visit Lauderdale, Broward County’s tourism promotion agency, tuned into the Thursday presentation and said she liked what she heard and saw about the plans for both sides of the causeway.

She recalled the Atlantis condo as the type of signature building a city needs to keep a destination fresh in the minds of visitors.

“That’s what we need — buildings where people say, ‘look how cool that is.’ It provides that edgy, sexy feel that I think you want in a destination.” Ritter said of the proposed towers. “It certainly looks exceptional and it would be a serious attraction to a visitor coming from someplace else.”

Ritter also was impressed by Tavistock’s effort to retain the mid-20th Century architectural feel and look of the revitalized Pier 66 tower building, while simultaneously updating the theme for modern times.

“The beauty of the pool areas with the shading and landscaping and keeping the iconic Pier 66 look while elevating it for the 21st Century — it’s spectacular,” she said. “I think that was smart. You tip your hat to the past while still providing a modern look and feel to the property.”

Unhappy neighbors

Joanne Robinson, president of the Harbour Inlet Association, which is comprised of 246 single-family homes and low-rise condos, said after the Zoom meetings that she doesn’t view her toney neighborhood as a major gateway, and dislikes the prospect of new high rises looming over the area.

“We are a low-rise traditional neighborhood,” she said. “So we’re going to drop these 480-foot towers at the front of one and two-story buildings?”

She said a change in the current height restrictions would encourage other developers do seek similar concessions elsewhere in the city.

Traffic is another major concern, Robinson said. It’s already backed up without an additional activity.

“Many people are considering moving out to go north because of the traffic,” said Howard Rogers, another area resident.

“Why can’t Tavistock modernize Pier 66, which is what they should do and everybody expected?” he said. “Invest in the marina on the north side and open the south side as an open park.”

But leaving the south side open for park space is a non-starter for a company that’s invested millions and more than five years scoping out the developmental possibilities.

The firm bought 22 acres on the north side in 2016, and the 10 acres on the south side — formerly known as the Sails Marina — in 2017. Combined, the acreage is the biggest block of waterfront property under the same ownership in the city, company officials say.

Tavistock representatives have taken care to characterize the towers idea as a concept for which they are seeking community feedback.

“For us to move forward with an application to the city, the city would have to amend how they govern height,” said Blakley.

“We did 480 as an early concept,” she said.

The idea, she said, is largely driven by broad neighborhood dissatisfaction with the earlier proposal which called for a lower-rise structure that would have covered most all of the south side property and contain a wall along the bridge.

Among other things, Pier South is now being used as a temporary exhibition center for superyachts that visit the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. Tavistock has already replaced older docks with modern ones on the Intracoastal to make way for yachts up to 300 feet in length.

The company says it is also working with the Florida Department of Transportation to work out a meaningful “public connection” beneath the 17th Street bridge between Pier North and Pier South.

Despite the homeowners’ concern about traffic, Tavistock asserts the taller, thinner towers would generate 50% less traffic than the plan envisioned by the land’s previous owner.

“What we’re asking the residents is, ‘are you willing to consider height in order to achieve less density and less traffic?” Blakley said. “That’s what we’re asking.”

To the north, in the city’s central beach district, a twin tower project called the Selene Oceanfront Residences obtained city approval to rise to 300 feet from a cap of 200 feet. The developer, Kolter Urban of Delray Beach, made the request after neighbors complained the buildings in the original proposal were too wide and would block ocean views.

“That’s exactly the argument made there with the residents,” Blakley said. “We’re okay with your going taller if you don’t block our view.”

The company, meanwhile, has no immediate timetable for moving the towers concept forward.

“For us the dialogue is going to continue for a long time,” Blakley said. “We need to follow along and see if the city is going to amend the ordinance to allow for this.”

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