A message from our Mayor

New amenities come to city’s downtown

Downtown Fort Lauderdale has been transforming itself for years now. The skyline tells the story. So do all of the people choosing to make it their home.

Now, we are seeing the next stage of its reimagining as a cosmopolitan center — burgeoning commercial enterprises that make it truly a neighborhood. In recent weeks, the first grocery has opened in Flagler Village and a popular weekly open-air market has relocated to the area.

These sorts of businesses will cement downtown and particularly the greater Flagler Village area as a walkable, livable community that is very attractive to everyone from young entrepreneurs, people beginning families, and even some empty-nesters. More is to come. For instance, when the Ombelle opens, it will have a high-end Equinox gym.

For years, I have said that a successful downtown must offer more than housing, office space, bars and restaurants. It needs the practical things that anchor daily life: grocery stores, neighborhood services, inviting parks and gathering places that create a sense of community.

We are now seeing that vision take shape block by block. What once might have seemed like a small retail opening is, in fact, part of a larger civic transformation. Downtown is becoming more complete, more convenient and more welcoming to the people who now call it home.

The numbers help explain why this matters so much.

More than $10 billion in investment has reshaped the city’s core. Since 2018, downtown has seen an 83 percent growth in families with children, and children under 14 are now the fastest-growing age group downtown.

That is a striking fact. It tells us that people are not just choosing downtown for nightlife or novelty. They are choosing it as a neighborhood. They want parks, schools, walkability, culture, safety and convenience. They want a place that feels alive in the morning, at lunch, after work and on weekends. That is the kind of downtown we are building.

Go Grocer chose Fort Lauderdale for its first Florida location, opening at Motif in Flagler Village as a convenience-driven grocery designed for such high-density neighborhoods. As the Sun Sentinel said, it’s kind of a cross between a 7-Eleven and a Whole Foods. Residents can grab fresh foods, staples and prepared meals close to home.

Then, there is Smorgasburg South Florida. It’s the other major addition that will help animate the downtown vision.

After years as a weekend institution in Wynwood, the open-air market has a new weekly home in Flagler Village. Read Entire Article Here.

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