News

03 Oct

It's hard to see past Sistrunk Boulevard's vacant lots and empty storefronts, but a pair of businessmen are betting a renaissance is near – with a vision of restaurants, stores and apartments geared toward millennials. Entrepreneur Felipe Yalale has paid $3.8 million over the past year to amass 25 properties covering 4.3 acres near Sistrunk Boulevard and Northwest Seventh Avenue. He and developer Peter Flotz are finishing up some additional land negotiations and say they expect to have project plans to the city for review by the end of the year. They say they want to create a place for younger people wanting to be close to the downtown bustle without paying the extravagant rents. They're talking about small-sized apartments – maybe 400 to 600 square feet – over street-level stores, restaurants and entertainment. Millennials "want simpler, smaller, affordable, but they still want...

14:33 / Historic Sistrunk
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27 Sep

Our trendy, modern hotels won't be limited to Fort Lauderdale Beach anymore. A new dual-branded Starwood Hotel coming to downtown Fort Lauderdale celebrated its groundbreaking on Wednesday, Sept. 21. The 24-story, 323-room hotel will be a design-driven property inspired by the surrounding Flagler Village neighborhood. It will offer an independent coffee shop, restaurant and retail, plus the city's first high-rise rooftop bar. The property, which is being developed by Wurzak Hotel Group, is divided into two hotels: The Dalmar, a four-star independent boutique hotel in Starwood's Tribute Portfolio, and The Element by Westin, geared toward extended-stay travelers. With an 18-month construction timeline, the hotel—located at the corner of NE Third Street and U.S. 1—should be open by spring 2018. At the groundbreaking ceremony, Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler noted The Dalmar Hotel represents the city's opportunity to change the image of its downtown....

15:08 / Flagler Village
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27 Sep

If you’re looking to explore new neighborhoods, check out some of these popular art walks in Broward County. The walks are free, parking is often at no cost and you can enjoy a fun-filled evening viewing art, exploring new places and often, listen to music as you stroll. Sailboat Bend Harvest ArtFest Celebrate both the harvest season and local artists with this quaint neighborhood’s fall art festival. The festival will feature more than 20 artists, open studio spaces, a farmers market, live music, pop-up merchants, a pumpkin patch, a costume contest and food trucks. The festival will be from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 16 at 1310 SW Second Ct. www.sailboatbendartfestival.com. FATVillage ARTWALK Held the last Saturday of every month, FATVillage Arts District hosts an ARTWALK featuring art exhibits and live performances. A cross between visual and performing arts, the monthly event features...

15:06 / News
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27 Sep

Construction dust is everywhere in Flagler Village, a rapidly growing neighborhood and future downtown transportation hub that is attracting millennials, developers and avante-garde entrepreneurs. The village north of Broward Boulevard wants to be more than a bedroom community for the expanding downtown workforce next door. It's striving to include an eclectic mix of artist work spaces, shops, restaurants, bars and entertainment venues. "Flagler Village should be that fun, hip, energized, live-work-play area in Fort Lauderdale," said David Cardaci, who owns a Mexican restaurant in a converted auto-body shop, and a funky bar that serves drinks from an airstream RV. The 250-acre village, which extends from the Florida East Coast Rail Road tracks to Federal Highway south of Sunrise Boulevard, is already home to a pair of art districts that have taken root in decades-old warehouses that are newly emblazoned with vibrant graffiti...

14:54 / Flagler Village / News
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04 Aug

Brewer Corey Artanis laughed when customers told him the shiny brewing tanks above the dining room at the Brass Tap Fort Lauderdale look fake. They're decorative, right? "I was like, 'Uh, no. The brewing tanks are here because we make craft beer onsite,' " says Artanis, who quickly realized his nearly year-old Flagler Village Brewery had a branding problem. The problem, Artanis says, was visibility. Not enough diners expected an in-house brewery hiding on the second floor of the Brass Tap, a brewpub franchise with 30 locations. So Artanis and Brass Tap owner Mathiew Baum hatched a summer face-lift for the brewery, adding to the 50-seat taproom black lounge chairs, flat-screen TVs and a beer mural, a whimsical Fort Lauderdale vision filled with hop plants, water towers and foamy brewing tanks as tall as skyscrapers. Nine months after Artanis tapped the brewery's first...

18:26 / Flagler Village
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