South Florida CEO: "Venice of America": Fort Lauderdale; No longer the Spring Break capita

Fort Lauderdale has always seen itself as a boating town. But, like the small boats, corporate charters and multimillion dollar yachts that share the waters on the Intracoastal Waterway each year. Fort Lauderdale is also a balance of interests: long-time residents, tourists, some of South Florida's largest corporations and new high-end condo and mini-mansion dwellers.

Take the city's annual Seminole Hard Rock Winterfest Boat Parade, which is one of the biggest tourist attractions the city hosts. Lisa Scott-Founds, Winterfest's executive director, says this year 850,000 viewers are expected to line the 10 mile parade route along the water, and already an uncommonly high 20 boats have registered to participate. The parade is now sponsored by the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, which signed a five-year agreement and replaces former sponsor Cingular Wireless.

Of course, the water offers more than amusement--It is also a transportation artery. In 2001, the privately owned Water Taxi made its fleet part of Broward County Transit and now offers scheduled rides on large, bio-diesel fueled "Water Buses."

The effort is meant to help alleviate the city's chronic downtown traffic problems. The company reduced fares from $16 to $5 for a one-day pass and coordinated its schedule with the county's bus system.

"The first year our ridership jumped 325 percent and it's remained in double-digit annual growth since," says Water Taxi president Bob Bekoff. "We also went from 20 percent locals to 40 percent locals."

Still, even the amenity of taking a boat to work has not worked to fill downtown office space vacancy, which reached a peak rate of 23.3 percent in the first quarter of 2003, according to a mid-year Broward County report from commercial realtor and consultancy CB Richard Ellis. The outlook is positive, with the rate dropping to 19.6 percent by the second quarter of this year and rents remaining strong, rising from $26.41 to $27.02 for Class A space, the report concluded.

J.T. Tarlton, CEO of the economic development agency The Broward Alliance, says the city is "seeing incremental occupancy rate growth as the area continues to recover from the economic downturn of 9/11."

Overall demand is strong because the economy is on the mend and because of the scarcity of land left to develop.

"Downtown will be able to attract more major law firms, banks, etc. as it becomes more of a center of activity," predicts Edgar Jones, senior director of Florida operations for real estate brokerage the Rockefeller Group.

North of downtown, the Cypress Creek area, west of I-95, is expected to do well during the next three to five years as businesses fill the gap left by the technology companies that once proliferated in that area. Jones adds.

For example, Fort Lauderdale-based BankAtlantic is already on its way in with a $30 million, 180,000-square-foot headquarters under construction at Cypress Creek. Its current headquarters on Sunrise Boulevard will be replaced with a bank branch and townhouses, says BankAtlantic CEO Alan B. Levan. "We're very bullish on Fort Lauderdale," Levan says.

Health care, too, is one of the city's largest employers, and is expected to get a boost from demographic shifts: baby boomers are growing older and the area is seeing a large influx of younger people.

Broward General Hospital, for instance, hopes to reap rewards from the change. It is spending $153 million for a 480,000-square-foot expansion, which is set for completion in mid-2004, says hospital CEO Joseph F. Scott. "We're seeing a lot more young people via the Chris Evert Children's Hospital, and finishing up development of an ortho and sports medicine facility," he says. Kindred Hospital, an acute long-term care facility whose patients are mainly elderly, is also seeing more patient volume, CEO Cliff Bauer says.

[GRAPHIC OMITTED]

Economic expansion in the area is being driven by the transportation sector too. The city-run Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport is home to an industrial park with 1.5 million square feet of office and service space, which acting airport manager Clara Bennett calls a "major employment center." The airport is in the midst of a $7.3 million security and runway enhancement project. "The work is to bring the airport up to the expectations of the business jet crowd," Bennet says.

The changing face of Fort Lauderdale has also changed the airport's profile, as business jets have replaced sport and recreational planes.

Executive Airport is also at the hub of a foreign trade zone, which Bennet says the city is seeking grants from the US Department of Commerce to develop further.

Just a bit south, the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, which is on county land that juts into city limits, is working to keep up with increased passenger loads. A new concourse opened last year and a new parking garage, consolidated rental car facility and elevated pedestrian crosswalks are under construction. More customs and immigration facilities are planned.

The Broward County Board of Commissioners has been debating a runway expansion for several years. It is a move that most Fort Lauderdale businesses and residents support. "Residents of Fort Lauderdale currently bear the burden of the air traffic noise," says Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle. "The second south runway will give Dania and Hollywood an equal burden of noise and give some relief to the Fort Lauderdale side. There are economic benefits as well. It's detrimental not to expand the airport, as that would limit both city and regional growth. Cities are judged by their mobility."

While Fort Lauderdale is undergoing rapid change, business and city leaders say they are working hard to find a balance between expansion and maintaining the city's charm and character.

"The climate in Fort Lauderdale has never been better for recruiting key people," says Jim O'Connor, chairman and CEO of Republic Services. "There's culture here for those coming from a large city and it's quaint for those coming from a small town."