By Kevin Deutsch
A bitter four-year legal battle ended Monday when Margate won a lawsuit filed by a New Urban Communities, whose plan to build a sprawling downtown was thwarted by city officials.
According to court records, Broward Circuit Court Judge Michael Robinson ruled in favor of Margate’s Community Redevelopment Agency following a two-day bench trial in June.
Having prevailed in the lawsuit, the city can now legally move forward with its plan to develop its sprawling downtown project, City Center, using a different builder.
“The narrow issue before the court is whether New Urban is entitled to specifically enforce the development agreement and obtain a judgement requiring the CRA to sign off on the site plan and submit it to the city for further review,” Robinson wrote in his final judgement. “The court finds that New Urban is not entitled to such relief.”
In 2016, the city hired New Urban to execute the company’s vision for City Center. But as the plan changed and the number of proposed apartments for the property fluctuated, city officials began to backtrack.
After several new city commissioners took office, the Community Redevelopment Agency reneged on the deal over a dispute involving the number of residential units. New Urban Communities filed suit in response in 2018, asking the court to enforce its development agreement with the city.
But Robinson ruled New Urban had not made the proper legal requests of Margate when the developer submitted its site plan containing hundreds of additional apartment units.
The Community Redevelopment Agency could have used government mechanisms to free up the extra units, but New Urban never submitted the proper applications that would have made such a decision possible, Robinson ruled.
“Margate Residents, we did it!” Margate Commissioner Tommy Ruzzano wrote in a Facebook post announcing the court victory. “We won the disastrous lawsuit and will get our downtown property back on 441 and Margate Blvd. To all the commissioners that voted for this project, you lost. Thank you to the new commissioners who saved the city.”
Earlier this week, Margate officials were scheduled to hear a new pitch for developing the City Center project, which would create a bustling downtown off State Road 7.
SeaVest Consulting Services, a Kentucky firm, envisions a 1.5 million square foot, mixed-use property on the site.
The new proposal includes commercial retail space, a luxury hotel, 500 residential units, indoor pools with a retractable roof system, green spaces with food trucks, a rooftop restaurant, cigar bar, and solar-powered covered parking areas, according to the proposal documents.
Records show that the original city Center project proposed by New Urban included apartments, condos, commercial space, civic and community areas, parking, and a hotel project. Margate Wins Lawsuit Against Thwarted 'City Center' Developer
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