By
Elizabeth Baier South Florida
Sun-Sentinel Posted
April 30 2006
Wilton Manors · The list of places hyping this
two-square-mile city as a trendy place to live, work, shop and
play soon will be a little longer.
City commissioners
unanimously approved rezoning the 3.27-acre property at the
SunTrust building, 1501 NE 26th St., to allow a mixed-use
project to replace the bank and parking lot.
The
new structure will include 58 townhouse units and 10,000
square feet of commercial space, where the bank and other
businesses will be located.
"It's kind of an
underutilized site," Community Services Director Wayne Thies
said. "It's kind of a fairly trashy area and there's no
landscaping there now. We feel this mixed-use redevelopment
... will spark continuing improvement to that area."
Townhouse prices will range from $250,000 to $500,000,
and the project will include a pool and courtyard area,
landscaping and street parking, according to Jeff Costello,
New Urban Communities director of planning.
The
four-story commercial building will face 26th Street and is
expected to continue the massive development of townhouses,
shops and restaurants that are almost complete only a couple
of blocks west at Five Points.
Wilton Station, a
10-acre development at the former site of William Thies &
Sons beer distributors, will overlook the intersection of
Dixie Highway, Northeast 26th Street and Wilton Drive. The
huge project will include lofts, boutiques, art galleries and
a spa and is largely considered to be the catalyst of the
city's downtown transformation.
"I sort of envision
Wilton Drive redevelopment extending on that curve to possibly
[Northeast] 16th Avenue," Thies said. "There's a lot of
potential to redevelop that area and make it look really
nice."
The transformation is already visible along
Wilton Drive, the city's main artery, where Delray Beach-based
New Urban Communities has already worked on a project.
Belle Isle, a 60-unit development at 2360 Wilton
Drive, replaced a trailer park that was sold to New Urban
Communities for just over $3 million in 2003. The townhouses
ranged in price from the mid-$300,000s to the high-$500,000s
and included two landscaped courtyards, one with a fountain,
the other with a pool.
Elizabeth Baier can be
reached at ebaier@sun-sentinel.com or
954-356-4637.
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