The Pompano Beach, Florida City Commission recently gave first approval to a land-use amendment allowing Eldorado Resorts and the Cordish Companies to develop Isle Casino Racing Pompano into an urban village called Live! Resorts Pompano.
The proposal would allow the partnership to more than triple the maximum number of residential units from 1,300 to 4,100 and double the allowable office space on the property from less than 1 million square feet to 2 million.
If both Broward County and the state Department of Economic Opportunity approve the amendment, city commissioners would have a final vote on the amendment early next year.
Pompano Beach Director of Development Services David Recor said, “This is probably the largest and most significant redevelopment project the city has seen in the last 10 years.”
Cordish Senior Development Director Abraham Rosenthal added, “This is a five-, seven- or 10-year undertaking. We don’t have a definitive site plan. The master plan will follow once we have planning and zoning in place.”
Pompano Beach Mayor Barry Moss, who supports the project, said he was “absolutely flabbergasted by the lack of controversy” over the land-use amendment.
Reno-based Eldorado Resorts purchased the Isle of Capri Casinos’ 13 resorts in 2016. Baltimore-based Cordish develops, owns and operates Live! entertainment facilities nationwide. The 232-acre Pompano Beach site currently contains a harness racing track and grandstand which would be razed, a 45,000-square-foot casino and 112,000 square feet of commercial space.
Rosenthal said plans for the redevelopment project could include “a fairly substantial ice hockey training facility,” local retailers, two office buildings and four residential buildings of up to 35 stories; other buildings could be up to 300 feet tall. Another possibility is a headquarters of a major corporation such as Google or Amazon, requiring 1 million square feet, he said. Mixed-use residential areas would include swimming pools, fitness centers, meeting rooms and passive outdoor areas.
In addition, a 12-acre to 15-acre lagoon would be centrally located, used for swimming, kayaking and paddle boating, Rosenthal said, and walking and biking trails also would be included. A Tri-Rail station along the CSX Railroad could be located just east of the development site. Also an internal shuttle service using autonomous vehicles is under consideration.
Officials said the project would create 23,000 construction jobs and 16,000 permanent jobs, not including the casino or jai alai fronton. When completed, it could generate more than $12 million in ad valorem revenue for the city of Pompano Beach, plus similar amounts for Broward County and the Broward County School Board.
“This is a very, very big, complex project. The development team has taken very seriously the privilege and the responsibility to create a community within this community that will be almost an ‘extra downtown,’” said Cordish attorney Debbie Orshefsky.
