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Looking north at Brickell Avenue skyline in downtown Miami, Florida
Showing posts with label The Related Group. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Related Group. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 18, 2026

Update re the incompatible 1301 S. Ocean Drive project for multimillionaires on Hollywood Beach that The Related Group and Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy have been trying to cram down the community's collective throat for YEARS now


This is what we want to keep, and not let it simply become a memory!
A small reminder of why I and all of my savvy, sensible friends -like Cat Uden- push back so hard versus the serial, nonsensical public policy and misanthropy emanating from #HollywoodFL City Hall the past few years, both the elected Mayor and City Commission, as well as the city's imperious, feckless, and thin-skinned highly-paid bureaucrats. ☀️🌴🏖️😎. 

Hollywood Beach, Florida photo by Catherine "Cat" Uden.


Below, an edited and expanded version of the email that I sent out this morning right around 1:00 am regarding the incompatible 1301 S. Ocean Drive 26-story project for multimillionaires on Hollywood Beach that The Related Group and Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy have been trying to cram down the community's collective throat for YEARS now, despite the vast majority of the community that actually knows the pertinent facts making clear throughout that time that they are firmly AGAINST it. 

Against it today, tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. NO means NO! 

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Just a short note before I go to sleep, having received Steve's email/Substack post, at bottom, late tonight and not immediately seeing it in my inbox because of my watching the Winter Olympics on TV: The current Hollywood City Manager, Mr. Keller, is someone whom I have never liked or supported -and who in any case is on his way to retirement in a few weeks.

IMO, he's already checked out and is biding his time. So all that said, he is NOT of a mind to actually do the right thing for the area's citizens re the incompatible 1301 project before he walks out the door, as far as saving THE most natural remaining part of Hollywood Beach for posterity.
Mr. Keller does not care about that part of Hollywood Beach's future, nor does he care about the past memories that so many of us have with it and why, even if we actually preferred using the beach area near what used to be the one-and-only garage off of Johnson Street, we DO want to see it preserved exactly AS IT IS.
So that said, there's no point in any Hollywood resident thinking even for a moment that he's suddenly -magically- going to see the light and change his spots when he's already more than halfway out the door for good right now.

In his letter below to the Broward Planning Council, which I hasten to remind you, also includes Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy, the individual who more than anyone else in Hollywood has tried to cram this Related Group project for multimillionaires -with its $4 million dollar starting prices- down the throats of the vast majority of the community who zealously opposes it, Keller rather conveniently forgets to mention several salient facts, only one of which I will share with you now, owing to the lateness of the hour, 12:55 am. Wednesday morning.

Among the most important of these facts is that Mr. Keller consciously neglects to mention in his recitation of the history of how the City of Hollywood first managed to obtain the 1301 S. Ocean Drive parcel in the first place from The Summit condominium is that there was a precondition/codicil in the contract that the City of Hollywood had to agree to, and then sign an acknowledgement of, in order to receive the parcel years ago.
That precondition was an important one: the property could ONLY be used for community/
recreation/educational purposes. 
Period.

I myself have personally attended several public meetings in Hollywood since this project came forward as a P3 project, replete with all the secrecy of The Manhattan Project -designed to keep residents and stakeholders in the dark- and heard people say they were on the Board of Directors of The Summit condominium -located across the street on the north of 1301- and publicly declare that they have copies of the germane docs that show that the clause was put in the deal to ensure that the City of Hollywood could never go back on the deal in the future. 

Their biggest fear?
A perfectly understandable one given where The Summit is located on State Road A1A and Hollywood Beach, and how the pay-for-play local government hereabouts is conducted: The City would sell the land to a developer that would build something there in the future.
Perhaps something that would tower over The Summit and ruin thereby ruin both its ambiance and the views that at least some residents there enjoy and were paying a premium for, both at the time, and in all of the ensuing years.

IMO, the City of Hollywood is breaking that original deal with The Summit and any halfway honest judge -even in Broward County- viewing the relevant docs would agree and rule that this project simply can not go forward.

And that, of course, would leave Hollywood Mayor Josh Levy with egg on his face, having to explain to the very people at The Related Group and its 1001 minions and the other developer friends of his who dumped close to $100k into his 2024 re-election campaign coffers in its closing weeks, why HE could not get it across the finish line.

But of course this is only one of the many things that is both completely unethical and wrong with the deal. My blog is full of fact and photo-filled posts making those points in ways that are easily understandable in making the case AGAINST it


Letter from Hollywood City Manager Sides with Private Developers on 1301 Project Land Use Designation.
Broward Planning Council Meeting Set for Feb. 26, at 10 am, Room 422, Broward County Government Center
; Follow Up Article Coming
Steven Paul Schneider
February 17, 2026
Letter from Hollywood City Manager Sides with…
https://stevenpaulschneider.substack.com/p/letter-from-hollywood-city-manager/comments


See also the anti-1301 Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100080492761252 and Cat's campaign Instagram page at 


Dave


David Bruce Smith  

My blog, now eponymous, formerly called Hallandale Beach/Hollywood Blog

Monday, November 7, 2022

Did the Pandemic Change How You Feel re #HollywoodFL? Yes. Hollywood residents and stakeholders no longer see the city as "special" and they personally blame the Mayor, City Commission, City Manager, and City Attorney for abusing their trust and sending the city in the wrong direction

Did the Pandemic Change How You Feel re #HollywoodFL? Yes. Hollywood residents and stakeholders no longer see the city as "special" and they personally blame the Mayor, City Commission, City Manager, and City Attorney for abusing their trust and sending the city in the wrong direction


This post today is the Reader's Digest version of what dozens and dozens of well-informed people from every part of Hollywood have been telling me and my friend and fellow civic activist, Catherine "Cat" Uden in detail for well over a year: they believe that the city has gone completely in the wrong direction, and that self-evident fact has led increasingly larger number of Hollywood citizens, residents and stakeholders to get more angry and feel bitter at Hollywood City Hall than they ever imagined they could. 

That's especially true for Hollywood's most involved residents who follow every move the city makes publicly, and who, in the past, had always thought of these elected officials as simply friends and neighbors in a position to positively influence the future direction of this city.

Now that's NOT anger at the City Hall building, obviously, but rather at the very people there who've been entrusted with running the city in the best and most transparent way possible, people like the City Commission's members, all of whom took an actual oath to follow, protect and defend the Florida constitution. But they aren't doing that. Far from it.

Based on our one-on-one conversations in-person, over the telephone, and in the many emotional and exasperated emails and texts Cat and I receive, a very clear majority of the city's best and most informed residents personally believe that the Mayor, the City Commission and several people in the City Manager and City Attorney's offices, have knowingly and deliberately lied to the public and abused their longstanding trust in small and subtle ways that has left them shaken, if not in despair for this city's future. 

Now, they no longer believe that "Hollywood is different."

There in no one I know and respect here in Hollywood who feels the city's elected officials and  top bureaucrats response during/after has been anywhere close to satisfactory. 

Even people who always disagree with each other AGREE on this!

More on this matter at length after the election. An election that has been without any organized in-person candidate debates or forums of any kind, which has only angered people more, because they wonder where the groups are that in the past were involved in hosting those very things at locations throughout the city, and especially in Downtown and over on Hollywood Beach.  

There are a lot of people in this city who have an awful lot to answer for.



https://twitter.com/UdenCatherine/status/1580530579807748097



https://twitter.com/UdenCatherine/status/1585436563634520064




------------------

Read the whole thing in its original form: https://twitter.com/hbbtruth/status/1586756350184398850

2/ Instead, #HollywoodFL has INCREASED secrecy re PUBLIC info/facts/context, and is ACTIVELY avoiding normalcy, INSISTING on online mtgs. for important matters -inc. P3's- instead of returning to in-person engagement. ALL to avoid PUBLIC accountability!


3/ For 10 months, #LindaSherwood, a #Macon #GA-area woman has been VOTING as elected official in #HollywoodFL, city she's NOT been legal resident of since B4 roughly mid-January at latest, based on HER signed @FHAgov docs re primary residency.


4/ #HollywoodFL's City Mgr/City Atty/Mayor/City Comm. have engaged in a criminal conspiracy to keep #LindaSherwood on dais, meaning her one-time constituents are repped by a no-show #GA resident, yet gets salary/benefits fm taxpayers while violating #FL Constitution.

5/ Instead of #HollywoodFL citizens being fully represented @ City Hall by a person who legally LIVES in city where they do -as they are legally entitled to- they are, instead, "represented" by #GA resident who CONTINUALLY breaks multiple state/federal laws w/impunity.



6/ Why is this #SoFL town's City Mgr./City Atty./Mayor/City Comm. seemingly engaging in a criminal conspiracy -against their own city's citizens- to keep #LindaSherwood on dais @ #HollywoodFL City Hall, despite KNOWING she has/is breaking MULTIPLE #FL + U.S. laws?


7/ The answer, like so many criminal cases involving public corruption @ #SoFL City Halls is #RealEstate. These #HollywoodFL officials need to KEEP her YES vote to build a luxury condo tower -on public land!- for multimillionaires, 5x's higher than zoning allows.


8/ Say hi to #LindaSherwood, a Lizella, #GA resident for 10 months, yet STILL a voting member of #HollywoodFL City Comm. She LIVES 570 miles away -and city KNOWS it! I + public wonder when this charade ends and someone is ARRESTED.

Monday, September 19, 2022

Completely contrary to common sense, logic and Florida's Sunshine Laws, Hollywood city officials, including the city's soon-to-be-resigning Planning Director, Leslie Del Monte, allowed several representatives of The Related Group to speak today for 25 minutes at the city's PACO meeting re their very unpopular 1301 S. Ocean Dr. project

 



Updated Sept. 22, 2022 at 1:00 a.m.

A VERY reliable and well-informed person -and upset- called me late this afternoon to tell me that, completely contrary to Florida's Sunshine Laws, Hollywood city officials, including the city's soon-to-be-resigning Planning Director, Leslie Del Monte, allowed several representatives of The Related Group to speak this afternoon for 25 minutes at the city's PACO meeting re their very unpopular 1301 S. Ocean Dr. project.
A project that continues going forward despite a lack of support among the community AND The Related Group NOT having the REQUIRED community meeting with the public as the city's own rules mandate.

It's the city's own requirement, NOT a suggestion.

And again, what happened today took place despite 1301 NOT being listed by the city as an agenda item on the city's website or any printed agenda.

I'm also told that it was a VERY, VERY chummy 25 minutes, too, like a bunch of 
old friends just talking about things amongst themselves like they always do when nobody outside their small inner circle knowing anything about it.

I'm further informed by this same trusted source that several City of Hollywood Commissioners were/are blindsided by this news, and had no idea that The Related Group was going to be allowed -encouraged?to participate at the meeting by city officials
WITHOUT any public awareness or ability by the public to engage or protest what was taking place.

Yes, more than ever, as I've said before, "Special rules for special people" should be the City of Hollywood's official slogan.

By the way, WHERE exactly are the links to any 2022 PACO meetings on the city's own 
website? http://fl-hollywood.civicplus.com/Archive.aspx?AMID=105

Zip. Nada. Nothing. Goose Egg.
No PACO meetings have been posted on the city's website since February of 2021.

Don't kid yourself, things like this do NOT all happen by accident!

FYI, I tweeted about this around 5:15 pm on my way back to Hollywood.

If you aren't currently Following me on my Twitter feed or regularly visiting my blog on your own every few days, you might want to strongly consider doing both going forward so you have a better context for understanding just what is taking place right in front of all of us at Hollywood City Hall.

Not by accident, but, rather as part of someone's plan.








Saturday, April 2, 2022

City of Hollywood Commissioner Linda Sherwood has CONSCIOUSLY and DELIBERATELY cast a vote in a city + state that she no longer lives in. Period. Investigate/prosecute HER + City officials engaged in a coverup to get deal done! 🤨😠


City of Hollywood Commissioner Linda Sherwood has CONSCIOUSLY and DELIBERATELY cast a vote in a city + state that she no longer lives in. Period.

Investigate/prosecute HER + City officials engaged in a coverup to get deal done!
🤨😠

Now we all have a much better understanding of why, in 2 long years, the #HollywoodFL 

Mayor, City Comm. and City Mgr. -and their staff that acts like Related publicists- has NEVER once publicly said why they've refused to force them to follow the city's OWN rules that require them to meet the public in-person.

More about this in my next post, which will have LOTS of QUESTIONS about ethics and professionalism that local newspapers and TV stations are completely failing to ask the responsible officials and pin them down so that the public knows who knew what when...









Thursday, March 17, 2022

Temporary placeholder for The Related Group's preposterous plan to ruin Hollywood Beach forever in exchange for a few dollars that won't actually lower anyone's taxes, contrary to Related's simple-minded assertions


I'm still working on my account of what took place all day Wednesday at Hollywood City Hall.

Both in front of the cameras and the public as well as online and below-the-radar regarding The Related Group's preposterous effort to build an incompatible 26-story luxury condo tower for multi-millionaires on PUBLIC LAND on #HollywoodBeach, so I'm leaving this collection of my Wednesday morning, afternoon and evening tweets here as a placeholder, to let you know that I'll have something here on Friday that will be full of facts, insight and ideas you can't find anywhere else in South Florida.

The lack of media attention this issue generated on local Miami TV stations in terms of LIVE reports from the scene or on 11 pm newscasts, and the general sense of incuriosity at The Miami Herald and the South Florida Sun Sentinel, is just a sign of what has happened to any pretense that this was a major media market for serious news coverage. It isn't any longer, and hasn't been true for at least 15 years.

Too many local reporters in South Florida seem to aspire to be well-paid publicists for large companies, and deal with life at an arms-length. The sooner many of them resign or retire from "journalism" the better off everyone here will be.

I should have something up here on the blog and on my Facebook page Saturday by Noon.








South Florida Business Journal
Related Group returns to Hollywood with smaller proposal for oceanfront condo

By Brian Bandell  –  Senior Reporter, South Florida Business Journal
March 16, 2022

The Related Group will make another attempt at winning approval to build a condo on a public beach site in Hollywood, but the terms of the deal and size of the project have been revised.

The City Commission declined to move the project forward Feb. 3 during a long hearing featuring hours of public comments mostly against the project. On March 16, the City Commission will vote on the 99-year lease and development deal with revised terms. Four of the five commissioners must agree.

Read the rest of the article at:

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South Florida Sun Sentinel
Editorial
Reject Hollywood high-rise condos, once and for all

March 16, 2022

Hollywood City Commissioner Caryl Shuham told the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board that public comments continue to run roughly 10 to 1 against a proposed deal for a private high-rise condominium complex on the city's public beachfront.

That's no surprise.

Six weeks ago, the commission nearly killed the deal at 3 a.m. after 10 hours of discussion. But enough commissioners gave Related Group of Florida and the city another chance to make the agreement work better for the city.

It still doesn't work well enough.


Read the rest of the editorial at:
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/editorials/fl-op-edit-related-hollywood-condo-project-20220315-qizwwmz72veozhfdzgnup5klse-story.html

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https://www.change.org/p/hollywood-city-commission-hollywood-residents-opposed-to-high-rise-on-public-land-at-azalea-terrace




Thursday, February 10, 2022

Reality is starting to sink-in for The Related Group. #HollywoodFL residents and stakeholders really DO hate their absurd plan to build a 30-story luxury condo tower for multi-millionaires on PUBLIC land at Hollywood Beach. An energized public is prepared to make life miserable for any Hollywood elected official or city employee who tries to change the ambiance of that quiet, natural area of the beach.

October 19, 2021 photo of Hollywood Beach via Catherine "Cat" Uden https://www.instagram.com/p/CVOYElvvMLa/


In a few moments, you'll have the chance to read for yourself the 4 complete media accounts of what took place at last Wednesday's Hollywood City Commission regarding The Related Group's ridiculous plan, and some things for all of us to remember in advance of the next meeting on this subject, on Wednesday March 16th, the day before St. Patrick's Day.

That'll necessarily include many smart, dumb, inarticulate, curious and incurious comments from our local elected officials, including two truly great "money" quotes, which make it seem like at least some of them were living in two completely separate worlds, no?
 
In one world, a cold-hearted look at the facts-on-the-ground where logic meets reason, the other, a kind of fantasy story that depends upon unicorns, dragons and a collective sense of amnesia among the citizens of this community, wherein, for the benefit of the developer, we all forget everything we have personally seen and witnessed first-hand with real estate development on Hollywood Beach the past 15-20 years.

"Do we sell our soul for just money?" Shuham asked. "Once we sign it, we're stuck. We don't get to walk away from this. This contract is not a good deal."

Commissioner Traci Callari, stating she had planned to vote yes on the deal, blasted Shuham for making the city "look like a fool" by airing her concerns at the 11th hour, in public.


Hmmm.. could it be because Comm. Shuham could NOT legally talk about it with her or any other commissioners if Shuham wanted to stay on the right side of Florida's  Sunshine Laws, so often ignored in South Florida city halls, and a subject that I've written about dozens of times over the past 14 years here on my blog, Hallandale Beach/Hollywood Blog?

Yes. Something that Callari should know something about given that she was recently the President of the Broward League of Cities, the Broward politico lobbying group that over the years has received hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars from Broward citizens to employ attorneys and consultants to further their power grab in Tallahassee and continue to put citizens, taxpayers and Small Business owners at a further disadvantage, while trying to carve out more power and privileges for politicos.

I also wanted to single out those of you who have been telling me for years that I made a real mistake a few years ago when I decided to be more open-minded to what Comm. Callari said, and that I would judge her in the future by her words AND actions, and not just her often hostile or antagonistic attitude towards citizens or common sense or both.
You all are looking more and more correct right now, given what Comm. Callari said in front of everyone at the public meeting.

There's really no need to impugn her, since all we have to do is take her at her word that she REALLY believes the nonsense she spouted last Wednesday.
Yes, my days of giving her the benefit of the doubt are.. Gone With The Wind.

And for the record, Comm. Callari caring whether the Hollywood City Commission looked "like fools" at that meeting is hardly a reasonable measurement barometer on this specific issue, given the fact that neither Mayor Josh Levy or Commissioner Callari or any of the other 5 members of the City Commission ever did the right thing over 19 very long months, and publicly chide The Related Group and their execs for Related's repeated, abject failure to meet with the community at an in-person meeting as required by the city's very own rules.
That's a very low bar to surpass, and yet...

Yes, a public meeting where the actual neighbors of such a prospective building could speak, much less, the rest of the Hollywood community -and the South Florida news media- that genuinely loves that quiet and natural ambiance, and who'll fight to ensure it stays that way, could look Related Group execs, attorneys, architect, and transportation consultants in the eye and ask them to defend what they claim, and then point out its many self-evident holes and flaws in logic. 
Though a plan so devoid of logic and common sense, and which fails to properly judge both public sentiment and human behavior, will not suddenly transform in one month.

Just because the Hollywood City Commission itself, collectively, was not showing proper diligence -or any curiosity!- in their thinking and judgment, and instead chose to act more like cheerleaders for the plan, via their softball questions publicly for two years -save Comm. Shuham- doesn't mean that we could not throw fastballs at a public in-person meeting when we got the chance to let them know that this deal was NOT a fait accompli.

Or, as I said in my last blog post before last Wednesday's meeting, here:

By the way, again, for the record, the Miami Herald has said nothing about this preposterous, incompatible Related Group plan since they first sent word of their unsolicited bid to City Hall 19 months ago, and the city, in their failed decision-making process, decided that it was both a love letter and a promi$$ory note.
Nor has the Herald EVER mentioned Caryl Shuham by name since the day after she was elected on Nov. 6th, 2018. Really.

I checked and then double-checked their archives before I posted this.

--------------

Bisnow South Florida
Vote Delayed On Related Group's Controversial Condo Project
Deirdra Funcheon, Bisnow South Florida
February 3, 2022
 
At the end of a meeting that lasted from 5 p.m. Wednesday to 3 a.m. Thursday, city commissioners in Hollywood, Florida, delayed a vote on whether to allow Florida's most prominent condo developer to build a 30-story condominium on part of a taxpayer-owned, beachfront site that now includes a public park.

Commissioners are now scheduled to vote on March 16 whether to authorize city officials to execute a comprehensive agreement, a ground lease and easements between the city and PRH 1301 S Ocean Drive LLC, a subsidiary of The Related Group.

Read the rest of the article at:
https://www.bisnow.com/south-florida/news/commercial-real-estate/hollywood-florida-related-group-condo-111743

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South Florida Sun Sentinel
Hollywood delays vote on condo deal - Vice mayor skewers plan as too risky in marathon meeting

Susannah Bryan, South Florida Sun Sentinel
February 4, 2022

HOLLYWOOD - Go big or go home.

In the wee hours of Thursday morning, the folks who want a private 30-story condo built on a prized piece of taxpayer-owned beach in Hollywood went home without a deal.

But the proposal, skewered around the midnight hour by Vice Mayor Caryl Shuham, is not dead.

The commission agreed to resume discussions on March 16 to give city staff and The Related Group time to come up with a revised deal. The 5-2 vote came just before 3 a.m. Thursday, ending a marathon - and sometimes snippy - debate that began Wednesday afternoon.

The 10-hour meeting, compared by some to a filibuster, began with a two-hour presentation by city staff hyping the deal as a boon for Hollywood that could bring the city an estimated $1.4 billion over the course of a 99-year lease.

Read the rest of the article at:
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/hollywood/fl-ne-condo-tower-hollywood-beach-vote-20220203-iiikon4pkjb27a4u6swijk7fq4-story.html

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South Florida Sun Sentinel
Editorial
Hollywood puts off vote on condo on public land, but problems remain
February 4, 2022

Residents speak during a meeting at Hollywood City Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022 to vote on the building of a condo tower on a section of taxpayer-owned beachfront land. John McCall/South Florida Sun-Sentinel/TNS

Hollywood is trying to make better a deal that the city can’t make good.

We have 10 hours of new evidence. That’s how long it took Wednesday night and Thursday morning for the city commission to discuss and hear comments on the proposed lease of oceanfront property to Related Group of Florida.

The company would build a 190-unit, 30-story condo on roughly one acre of the four-acre site. In return, Related would pay for a new, upgraded Harry Berry Park, a larger community center, a plaza and a sculpture garden. Hollywood officials say the project also would bring the city money from rent and increased property tax revenue.

After that marathon debate, the commission voted 5-2 to continue the discussion on March 16. Given the level of opposition, we’re doubtful that the city and Related can refashion the deal enough to gain more support.

Read the rest of the editorial at:

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South Florida Sun Sentinel
Editorial
Hollywood gets reality check on Related condo deal

By Randy Schultz
February 9, 2022

Caryl Shuham is not a prosecutor. But shortly before midnight last Wednesday, the Hollywood city commissioner delivered a forceful indictment.

For roughly 45 minutes, Shuham - a construction lawyer - picked apart the proposed deal under which Related Group of Florida would build a 30-story condo on a public oceanfront site in return for building a park and community center. Supporters call it a great example of public-private partnerships, known as P3s.

Such partnerships, however, must strike the proper balance between public and private. Shuham argued that the deal would have been very unfair to Hollywood. "It began on Related's terms" after the company approached the city, Shuham told me, and stayed there.

Shuham called the projected revenue to the city "speculative" because Related based it on inflated sales prices. The contract, she said, "guarantees nothing" to Hollywood. After Related sold the 190 units, the city would be dealing with a condo association. Nothing prevented the project from becoming rental.

Read the rest of the editorial at:
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/commentary/fl-op-col-schultz-hollywood-commissioner-beach-high-rise-related-20220208-w3p5mfkub5hoxfwf3qdaojl36e-story.html