News Politics

Margate’s Long-standing Legal Battle Concludes, Paving Way for City Center Development

by David Volz May 11, 2024

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Margate's Long-standing Legal Battle Concludes, Paving Way for City Center Development

A rendering of the proposed City Center project for Margate. [SeaVest Consulting Services].

The case of New Urban Communities, LLC versus the Margate Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) is officially over.

During the May 8 CRA meeting, it was announced that the case was settled, and most board members said they were happy.

According to Vice Mayor Arlene Schwartz, the issue began about three weeks before the 2016 election, when the CRA held a special meeting to quickly approve the sale of the City Center property to New Urban for $10 million.

Accumulating about 37 acres cost the CRA over $33 million. Since then, the site has increased to about 50 acres.

Under the Broward County Comprehensive Plan for Margate, there were 513 units available for development in that area.

New Urban wanted 968 units for development, and they expected the CRA and the city commission to request a comprehensive plan amendment from the Broward County Commission to allow for the additional residential units. However, Schartz and Anthony Caggiano had won seats on the commission and joined Mayor Tommy Ruzzano in opposing this amendment.

The new commission voted 3-2 to oppose the request for the amendment, according to Schwartz.

New Urban filed suit against the CRA and the City of Margate. The suit against Margate was quickly dismissed, and the suit against the CRA dragged on for about seven and a half years.

“We are celebrating the end of the suit and looking forward to fulfilling the promise made in 2002 to develop the City Center,” said Schwartz.

Ruzzano said from the dais that he was pleased the suit was over and is looking forward to developing the property. He believed New Urban’s request to buy the land for about $10 million would have been bad for Margate.

Caggiano was very excited that the case was over. “Now we can move forward with our downtown project,” he said.

According to Margate’s information, on behalf of the city, Colliers is now seeking qualified real estate developers and investors to enter into a long-term ground lease to build a mixed-use development on the 441 corridor in the heart of Margate.

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David Volz

David Volz has worked as a writer in South Florida for 35 years. He has written for the Sun-Sentinel, Hollywood Gazette, School Transportation News, South Dade News Leaders, Observer among others. He has an MA in Communications from Florida Atlantic University and a BA in Communications from Valparaiso University. Volz teaches Communications at Miami Dade College and Palm Beach State College. He lives in Coral Springs and enjoys running and participating in 5Ks and half-marathons.