Project Description (Revised)
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A Brief History
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Community Input Always Invited
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A City Gateway
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The Sails is a significant architectural statement designed to be the landmark gateway entrance to the City's waterway. Whether by boat or car, tourists and locals alike will have a signature landmark to Fort Lauderdale and its fabulous beaches. The Sails Hotel, Marina and Shops is located on the Southeast Corner of the 17th Street Causeway and Intracoastal Waterway at one of the deepest channels on the east coast of the United States. Many of the world's largest yachts moor at this location. The Sails is a mixed-use project designed to service the boating community as well as Fort Lauderdale's neighborhoods and tourists.

The Sails is divided into two major buildings. The west "Port" facility includes retail, restaurant, office space, boat storage and automated parking. The east "Starboard" facility is the Hotel, with a parking garage and additional leasable retail facing Harbor Heights Drive.

With the "Port" building of The Sails located on the Intracoastal, boaters may enter the shops or restaurant on the west facade from the marina's newly renovated docks. The shops, offices and restaurant facing the Intracoastal are located on the 4 levels adjacent to the dry dock storage facility. A set of glass elevators allow easy access to the 2 levels of office area that are placed between the first floor shops and the "top-deck" restaurant. The restaurant provides magnificent sunset views to the west. The boat storage is designed to accommodate a large variety of boat types and size. The dry dock facility will store 150 boats in a state-of-the-art structure. The storage volume is divided by centering the warehouse door and flanking it with punched window openings to provide a sense of scale. The overhangs above the windows not only provide shade, they also further enhance the sense of scale. Additionally, the lower portion of the facade will have a darker metallic panel base as compared to the rest of the facade to create a more classical yet modern approach to the design. Within the east portion of the dock storage building is a high-density, high efficiency automatic parking system that will house almost 350 parking spaces. Two rotating turntables will aide in conveying cars to empty parking slots housed within the building with high-tech efficiency. Outside the "Port" building are 5 mega yacht slips and 30 small boat slips in the west and south waterways.

The "Starboard" building is the main hotel consisting of 350 hotel rooms and suites. By placing the Hotel to the far northeast corner of the site, it minimizes the impact to the view as you reach the peak of the bridge. The typical Hotel plan maximizes density in the smallest footprint possible in an effort to minimize the volume. The Hotel facade also has many recesses and curves to add interest and scale to the elevation without overpowering the site. The 2-story Hotel Lobby and entrance are located on the north side of the site with the meeting entrance, bus and taxi queues in-between the structures. Meeting spaces are located on the west side of the Hotel just off the lobby with a small coffee shop to the east side of the Lobby. Hotel rooms start at the third level and continue up to the level 15. Two VIP units and 2 Penthouse Units are placed on level 16 with spacious open terraces. The sixth level of the hotel will have an amenity deck with a pool, restaurant, bar, spa/fitness and arcade. In addition, the service entrance is located between the buildings to reduce unsightly views from the main roads. The public parking garage access is located directly off Harbor Heights Drive adjacent to the ample street parking provided for the retail space. The parking garage is flanked by hotel suite “lofts” to the south to disguise the required parking needed.

At street level, The Sails site will be appointed with a rich fabric of urban waterfront elements including a Royal Palm lined promenade at the Intracoastal Waterway and a lawn plaza fronting the ground floor retail. Landscaping along the south edge of the site provides a sense of scale for the surrounding areas.

It was the construction of the now current 17th Street Causeway bridge, over an 8 year period and two bridge phased development, that largely contributed to the demise of the old shopping center, hotel and its services. When the height of the bridge went from 35 feet which provided a partial view of the shopping center to 55 feet at the underside to approximately 70 feet on the top, all ability to see the existing facilities was lost. The property changed hands and efforts to maintain the property or encourage tenants to remain was minimal. At one time this shopping center was a hub of activity containing a dentist, doctor, drugstore, diner, post office annex, real estate office, yacht brokers, jewelers, business offices, stores, hairdressers, exercise studios, SEATOW and the like. The hotel was Best Western with full facilities including a restaurant, marina, yacht brokerage, meeting facility.

This particular marina was the only full service mega yacht marina before the SE 17th Street Bridge. This marina also has deep-water draft capability - a very important concept in the international markets for keeping and maintaining the permanently docked or transient super high luxury yachts. Currently the super high-end of yachts with deep draft visiting Fort Lauderdale are primarily docked and serviced south of 17th Street Causeway inclusive of the commercial Port Everglades. From the standpoint of competetive international markets (Antibes, Palma, Monaco, Newport, Miami, Antigua, Savannah), the attractiveness of Fort Lauderdale is jeopardized without sufficient deep water, services-oriented, yacht berthing.

For years this property has been allowed to go into disrepair and the proposed SAILS project would change that immediately. About 1 and ½ years ago, a portion of the property (The Best Western Hotel) was acquired. A design for only a small hotel and boat storage facility was offered. That portion of the property was less than 50% of the available land for redevelopment. Because of concerns of many of the residents, residents met with the City and asked that the entire area be reviewed (8 acres) (with a master plan) so that there would be a cohesive development planned and the impact collected into one project. The city Planning Director agreed to include this area in an RFP for a Master Plan however the action was delayed by the City for a variety of reasons and the developer, hearing the concerns, went back to the table and acquired the second parcel and proceeded to do a single design to reduce the impact of separate projects that could contain cumulative results.

The SAILS was asked by local residents to consider many other changes to protect the surrounding neighborhoods. The first request was to please be respectful of the neighborhood and design his project at a minimum as opposed to the maximum allowable.

The SAILS was asked to place the tallest building portion to line up with the currently blocked view in the background provided by the existing condos so as to not impair the beautiful vista we see as we cross the bridge. The SAILS complied. At the old shopping center, there were 4 separate curb cuts from the shopping center on to SE 23rd Avenue. It was asked that at least 3 of them be removed to reduce interference at the existing intersection. The SAILS complied. Based on a large number of residents that wanted local retail returned, the developer included affordable retail in his design. We asked that all of his facilities be made available to the public, like, restaurants, spas, bars, dockage, etc. The SAILS agreed that unlike Pier 66, the property would be made open and available to the public. Involved residents asked that all of the lights needed for the safety of the property be shielded from properties that were across the canal. The SAILS complied. Residents asked that all lights from his parking garage be shielded from all view. The SAILS complied.

Residents asked that the roof tops be green and that the project utilize green building standards as much as possible. The SAILS complied. Residents asked that the building be designed to have features on all sides and that the designed facility have a 360 degree view. The residents asked that the utility requirements, condensers, chillers, power stations, all be enclosed and not visible, and that they not be placed on any roof tops, above construction, that they not be visible from traffic crossing the bridge. The SAILS complied. Residents asked that the boat storage area restrict its hours so as to not impose on residences across the canal. The SAILS has agreed. Residents have asked that the deliveries of goods for his facilities, restaurants, retail, etc. be done in the early part of the day and that they be made on his property through an entrance there – not from SE 23rd Avenue. The SAILS has agreed. Residents asked that The SAILS contact FDOT to ascertain if the east access road could be turned into one way as it is entered from SE 23rd Avenue at the intersection and all exits would be through the access road exiting on the west side of the bridge. The SAILS continues to work with FDOT and Pier 66 to address this request.

There are a number of smaller issues that were requested and complied with and a large number of residents continue to bring ideas and requests to the developer for consideration prior to the June 5th hearing.

The location of this property is prime and is, in fact, one of the major gateway’s into our city. It is the gateway from the airport to the seaport, the seaport to our city including downtown and the major boat services up the New River, the major roadway entryway to our local beaches. It is covered by mass transit in the form of bus and trolley service that runs on a frequent schedule and connects to other features throughout the city. It is comparable to surrounding commercial properties on both sides of the existing SE 17th Street Causeway Bridge.

The construction would restore a valuable piece of property, encourage economic re-growth, provide jobs, offer facilities to the public and be a positive driver in maintaining some of our largest employers, that being the marine industry. It would increase the tax base for the higher and better use of the property and would certainly improve the face of the city at one of our most valuable gateways. It is planned to be a five star hotel and facility and that alone would certainly be a great economic driver for the tourist industry.