Showing posts with label @HollywoodFLCRA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label @HollywoodFLCRA. Show all posts

Saturday, December 1, 2018

Recent Development & Real Estate issues in Downtown Hollywood and in Hallandale Beach, per Whiskey Tango closing, the same empty storefronts year-after-year, and the proposed SLS resort at the Diplomat Golf Course

Recent Development/Real Estate and business issues in Downtown Hollywood and in Hallandale Beach... per Whiskey Tango closing, the same empty storefronts year-after-year, and the proposed SLS resort at the Diplomat Golf Course. What are the city's respective CRAs really doing? 



Updated Monday December 3rd, 2018 2:00 pm
My plan over the Thanksgiving Weekend, besides eating lots of turkey and fixings and catching up on a lot of films and TV shows on DVD while I'm out-of-town in Central Florida visiting my Mom, was to post some cogent and overdue thoughts to my blog about the increasing level of frustration and anxiety -and desperation.

I've been hearing since last year from many Downtown Hollywood Business owners and store managers I know and have gained the confidence of thru my various activities in the area, including writing this fact-filled blog.
Concerned people who have sought me out to listen to them in-person or over the phone or via emails so that they can vent about what they see -and aren't seeing but have been expecting: tangible positive results.
Or to be factual, MORE tangible positive results, and not so much back-sliding and one-step forward and two-steps backwards.

They talk to me in part because they think that the titular heads of various interest groups in the city are not listening to them or seeing things their way, even though the issues are self-evident.
That direct communication is one of the advantages that I've gained over the years of writing my blog and being so deeply involved in so many things going on locally and in the region... For having developed a solid reputation around here for being honest, well-informed, and not being one who'd settle for either mediocrity or top-down leadership "wisdom."

But then I heard this week about Brian Bandell's article in the South Florida Business Journal about the Whiskey Tango on Hollywood Blvd. and 19th Avenue and why it'll be closing, and I'm now sensing that something MUCH more substantial is going to be required than what I planned.
See the back-and-forth between Brian and myself on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/status/1067513381110931456





Many people I speak with are very disappointed and frustrated with what they see and the general unwillingness of the people in charge to confront problems head-on.
The people I speak with think that some major changes may be needed in some places if the Downtown Hollywood area is ever going to get out of its current holding pattern.

 Specifically, this concerns the direction and effectiveness of the Downtown Hollywood CRA under Jorge Camejo and the various "business" groups in the Hollywood area who sometimes seem to lack a certain amount of hubris or dynamism, and who, to both me and many of the business owners I'm talking about, appear unnecessarily condescending or patronizing to the public and their own members when asked to honestly explain what's going on -or isn't. 

 And speaking of holding patterns, it's just as bad if not worse in Hallandale Beach, where so many residents and Small Business owners have bemoaned to me all the empty business parcels on US-1/Federal Highway and Hallandale Beach Blvd. that were once going concerns, if not exactly thriving businesses. 

 The best example of several? The site of the former Kelly Chevrolet dealership, on the west side of the street between N.E. 6th & 7th Streets, which is now south and across the street from the new Atlantic Village retail area that at least offers a hope that things there may turn around if people give the new retailers an opportunity. 
Above via Google Maps, looking south from US-1/Federal Highway and N.E. 7th Street. I've been taking photos of this large empty lot for the past 15 years... and thinking about all the missed opportunities that have come and gone while the City of Hallandale Beach and its CRA have watched from the sidelines.
Above via Google Maps, looking south from US-1/Federal Highway and N.E. 7th Street.   

This property, which is located within the Hallandale Beach CRA, has been empty for at least 15 years, despite its location just a few blocks south of what was the Hollywood Dog Track/the Mardi Gras Casino/The Big Easy Casino. Why? 
Why is this large property that could be re-imagined in any number of interesting ways that could be good for the city and its residents was never brought up at any of the hundreds of HB CRA meetings I've attended the past 15 years?
It's one of the largest elephants in the room that is HB, and yet nothing but silence from anyone at HB City Hall.It's grating!  

 For those Hollywood Small Business owners and managers I've been speaking with, especially the ones who listen to a lot of NPR in South Florida via WLRN-FM, there's a certain amount of frustration and more than a little incredulous irony when they continually hear the paid promos for the Hollywood CRA on that station airs during their newscasts, talking about the wonders of locating a business to Downtown Hollywood. 
They wonder to themselves, "But where are the tangible results for me? Why, years later, do I STILL have so many empty storefronts near me? What's going on?" 

The SW corner of the intersection of Hollywood Blvd. and 19th Avenue with the re-imagined Mona Lisa mural has been vacant for over... ten years!

Real question: How can the Hollywood CRA keep promoting this iconic mural above which has not had a paying tenant below it longer than many people I know have lived in Hollywood? Do they not appreciate the irony of what they're saying?

And across the street from the mural on the NW corner, above, Via Google Maps, the front of Whiskey Tango, probably taken in the morning before they opened, since the east side bar area was always half-full anytime I walked by or walked in.
And now that it will be closing, what will be there and when will THAT open? And will it be even one-third as successful? 
Draw even one-third the number of people to Downtown Hollywood that it consistently did?

Instead of posting those thoughts of mine today, I'm going to delay those for a few days to add some more useful context, since if there's anything that seems to be lacking in the larger public discussion about what is going on in Downtown Hollywood and the Young Circle area, now and in the immediate future, it's informed context based on facts.
People who DO know things who are either afraid to speak publicly now about what they know or fear for various reasons -including the collective pressure that exits right now for Small Business owners in the Downtown Hollywood area to stay on the same page and sing from the same hymnal.
That includes, of course, NOT wanting to break away from the herd and make themselves future targets of retribution.
But in this as in so many issues in Broward County, especially in Hollywood and Hallandale Beach, we've seen that this adherence to conventional wisdom that is clearly NOT working most of the time, is actually chafing lots of people, most notably, the actual stakeholders actually employing people and paying taxes to the city who thought and think that they ought to have a little more say-so about what's going on -or isn't.

I will have a more complete post on development issues in Hollywood and Hallandale Beach the coming week.

Looking east towards Young Circle from Hollywood Blvd., July 2018.

As an aside, some of you who have not heard from me in a bit should expect to be hearing from me over the next few days about another matter that I've spoken to many of you about already over the past few weeks, namely, following-up with various businesses, companies, medical groups, legal practices, restaurants and hotels' interest in advertising on my blog for a very reasonable price, starting at just $90 a month.
That's a clear bargain relative to what the market is currently charging hereabouts, especially those platforms that charge a lot more and do not have audited numbers, no less.

For the record, for 2018, I'm averaging between 25,000 and 30,000 page views a month. :-)

Obviously, I'm always interested in talking to anyone in the area who'd be interested in advertising on my popular blog to reach the army of well-informed consumers, civic activists and Small Business owners who read it, like so many you, to say nothing of those of you who are actually #influencers, and can't go an hour without posting 
something original and compelling to Social Media that gets people talking.

IF you or someone you know might be interested in exploring this opportunity to differentiate your business from your competition, check out this link and drop me a line and I'll be happy to follow-up with you or them right away so that ad can be up ASAP.

Let's do some business this week and get your product or service in front of the tens of thousands of eyeballs that come to my blog every month!






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Per the article below, in case you can't get your bearings, the aerial POV of the rendering below is of what was the Diplomat Golf Course is looking southwest from roughly Atlantic Shores Blvd.

Naturally, me being me, influencer extraordinaire, :-)  I got tagged in Brian Bandell's tweet, since he usually tags me in most Hollywood and Hallandale Beach development and real estate stories he writes for the South Florida Business Journal. Brian knows from experience that I know what's what fact-wise, know where the bodies are buried, and what other facts and context can and should be added to the public conversation before everything is done.

In general I feel that if something is going to be there with that large a footprint, esp. cars on already#FDOT F-rated #HallandaleBeach Blvd., part of why the Broward County Commission nixed an even larger un-related plan there 9 years ago -the Diplomat LAC plan- that was rushed to approval by the HB City Commission just days before Christmas at a meeting where it did not come up on the public agenda until nearly 10 pm on purpose to cause residents to leave and NOT speak against it -when I was one of the persons leading the effort to fight it- it's a real plus that a firm like @SLSHotels, with a very good reputation for promotion and marketing savvy is going to be running it.
I've stayed at other SLS properties and they are sublime in many cases, my favorite adjective.
They especially know how to promote and advertise stylish places, a word that hasn't accurately described this property since I returned to South Florida in late 2003 from Washington, D.C..
The lack of attention to marketing basics was actually one of my principal arguments against that previous  plan, to the dismay of the Diplomat Hotel's general manager at the time, when I mentioned in very pointed comments before the Broward County Commission -with him sitting directly behind me- how weird it was that the people who owned and managed it did such a piss-poor job of promoting it.
Even now, you can't find a single directional street sign for it anywhere between I-95 or US-1 or A1A and the property itself.
You know that I'm a big believer in showing effort and doggedness, so the fact that the Diplomat couldn't or wouldn't do something so easy speaks volumes for why I've wanted them out
for years.
 🏖️🌴🌊⛳️


The owner of the Diplomat Hotel wants to build three hotel towers and one residential tower on its golf course in Hallandale Beach.
https://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2018/11/06/broward-to-get-its-first-sls-resort.html

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Monday, June 11, 2018

More critical analysis about tonight's update re the awful #YoungCircle Feasibility Study that'll make #HollywoodFL #traffic #business worse, NOT better 😮


More critical analysis abt tonight's update re the awful #YoungCircle Feasibility Study that'll make #HollywoodFL #traffic #business worse, NOT better 

Updated June 12th, 2018 at 11:45 AM
For some reason, even after trying to fix it, after this was originally posted on Monday June 11th, some of the sentences are changing their fonts or sizes. I apologize for the look if after I re-edit this the gremlins pop-up again.
Want more examples of what's not working in Hollywood in 2018, especially in Downtown Hollywood? Of people in charge not paying attention or improving as they should? 
If so then you need to get yourself to tonight's meeting from 5:30 to 7:30 at the Lippman Center, 2030 Polk Street, an update on the preposterous Young Circle road project, because I have a very strong intuition that tonight will be such an example. 

A perfect example, actually, just like it was last year, when I attended the last in a series of public meetings hosted by the Hollywood CRA to try to sell Hollywood residents and Small Business owners on the idea of making what in my opinion would be a tragic mistake that will have long-term negative consequences for the city and Downtown Hollywood in particular.





I put the final touches to an important subject in an email that I've been meaning to share with you all for quite some time.

An email that I could have sent to you back in January or last month or last week and predicted with 100% certainty. Just as I was 100% correct last year when I wrote about what I saw and heard at the meeting that i'd shown up to with a great deal of trepidation. 
And then saw the same familiar faces saying the predictable things that gave me the trepidation in the first place.

The larger issue:
I personally don't believe that it's acceptable for highly-paid city employees or city agencies or city-funded groups, parties with access to lots of city-funded resources, to continue operating in a completely unsatisfactory way and specifically, acting like city residents, taxpayers and Small Business owners in the city won't eventually notice that they are being taken advantage of by being kept in the dark when it concerns something as fundamental as the usefulness and utility of US-1 as it intersects Young Circle and the Downtown Hollywood area. 
US-1/Federal Highway is the spine of Broward County and remains the main road that brings thousands and thouands of customers to the Downtown business area.
It's THE reason that they locate there!

The issue in question:
Where are the fliers for tonight's Young Circle meeting in storefront windows or bulletin boards of Young Circle and Downtown Hollywood businesses?
Where are ANY of the city's sandwich boards in Downtown Hollywood and in and around Young Circle ITSELF advertising this meeting about a proposal that will (negatively) affect Young Circle's future and the daily routine of residents?

Well, just like last year, those informational fliers and sandwich boards are NOWHERE to be found less than a week before the meeting tonight.
Or days before the meeting.
Or today.

Which is to say that there is NOTHING letting people visiting the park for last week's Food Truck Mondays or the Friday night Funtastic Friday family events and film that always draw a crowd, know anything about it in advance?

Instead, the public engagement relies on the same handful of people who are very interested in civic affairs here attending and saying everything is great and sounds great when common sense and first-hand observation tells us that's ridiculous.
And where's the diversity, especially the diversity of opinions from people throughout the area?

Last year I went to several popular and prominent businesses on Young Circle and Hollywood Blvd. the day after the last meeting that I had attended to speak to the owners/managers in order to find out from them if they knew anything about the series of meetings.
I didn't want to make the mistake of assuming they didn;t just because they didn't have anything posted at their business promoting the meetings, since it was always possible that they'd gone to a meeting that I hadn't attended. 

Nope, they didn't.
They knew nothing about the meetings.

I went to The Radius condominium, the largest concentration of Hollywood residents to Young Circle and spoke to the on-duty concierge and ten residents in the lobby over twenty minutes, asking them if they knew about it or had heard about any of the prior meetings.
ZERO AWARENESS.

Yes, there is clearly a problem with public outreach and engagement on this plan, so when are things actually going to change for the better?
Without that change, the results of any study involving this plan are completely invalid. 

If you had a business on or near Young Circle and hear that it will possibly be undergoing major construction for a lengthy period of time, why would you not get angry at the public access to your business being adversely affected? And you not having been in the loop when the decision was made?
Why would you want to stay in that area if the project actually decreases your business's opportunities if the proposed changes makes it more difficult for customers to get to your shop or restaurant?

But then I wrote all of this last year, didn't I? 
Yes I did, per the link below.

My critical lysis of awful #YoungCircle Roadway Feasibility Study that'll make #HollywoodFL #traffic worse, NOT better 😮 = coming soon. This week! 
In my opinion, it's not acceptable for highly-paid city employees or agencies with lots of city-funded resources to continue operating in a completely unsatisfactory way, acting like residents, taxpayers and Small Business owners of the city won't notice that they are being taken advantage of and being kept in the dark when it concerns something as important and fundamental as the usefulness of US-1 as it intersects Young Circle and the Downtown Hollywood area.

But it would have been just as true for promoting the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce's so-called "Spark" entrepreneur event, both last year and this year.
An event that because of my own personal interests and background, in any other situation, I should have not only been attending but promoting on this blog.
But I didn't.

Last year, a week before the event and in the days leading up to it, I made a point of looking for promotional info about it where the public in Hollywood might actually see it.
Even the minimum - what one might see if someone in your neighborhood was trying to find a missing dog.
But the Chamber of Commerce didn't even do that.
There was nothing.

Nothing anywhere visible to the public at The ArtsPark at Young Circle itself where the event was being held. Even the Park Rangers there knew nothing about it when I came by an hour before the event started. How can that be?

As it happens, last year I even took photos of the non-existent signs and sandwich boards, that is, took photos of the areas of ingress and egress to the park wher ethose should have been but weren't.
I don't post those incriminating photos here now because it'd be overkill.

So, where was the promotional effort?
How do you explain that kind of attitude? Two years in a row?
Sorry, simply having an event is not the thing as it running it correctly.

For those of you who are curious, just a little under 8,000 people read that post of mine re this state of disconnectedness to the public last year, which, while far from The Drudge Report daily reader numbers and not even in the top five of my most-popular blog posts of last year, are still considerably more than most of the blogs in South Florida, even ones connected to local newspapers or TV stations.
Just saying...

When you do not perform up to the standards that Hollywood residents and Small Business owners have a reasonable right to expect and demand, then you need to understand that there are necessarily going to be genuine consequences when people who care about the area decide to educate all the people who were not being kept in the loop.

So what's changed in the past year?
Well, if facts on the ground mean anything, nothing, so far as I or any other Hollywood resident can see for themself, based on a walk around the area in question last week, less than a week before tonight's event.
Why?

Why is CONTINUING to do such a completely inadequate job of properly informing Hollywood residents, businesses and stakeholders about a transportation plan that could drastically and adversely affect them, their 
Quality of Life, and their financial bottom line, so acceptable to the Hollywood CRA, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and the Hollywood City Commission?
It shows a real and continuing lack of insight about human behavior and failure to learn from experience, factors which continue to plague Hollywood and Broward County in the year 2018.

It's not my job or your job to do Hollywood CRA Executive Director Camejo's job or that of his staff -all of whom are well-compensated- for free. Period.
We have a right to expect much better than this.

Dave 

Snapchat: SoBeHoosier

This info below is from the Hollywood CRA's website.
Make of it what you will, keeping in mind that all conclusions are based on a very, very small number of self-selecting people, including those with some conflicts-of-interest, weighing-in on the subject. over-and-over.
In other words, draw your own conclusions but be smart and question the very premise of the project.




Young Circle Roadway Feasibility Study
The Hollywood CRA and Toole Design Group have initiated a Roadway Feasibility Study for Young Circle. This study will examine the feasibility of improving the public realm experience and functioning of Young Circle in Downtown Hollywood.

The goal of this project is to analyze the block structure and collaboratively develop and assess the feasibility of new street cross-sections and a new block structure.Presentation from May 15, 2017
Presentation from May 18, 2017 | Video from May 18, 2017
Presentation from June 20, 2017 | Audio from June 20, 2017

Sun Sentinel | Video from July 14, 2017




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