The Real Deal Weekly Dirt: Chaos in Surfside

A Surfside commission meeting went haywire last week. 

The current mayor had the former mayor escorted out by police. Members of the commission raised their voices (actually, yelled) at each other. 

The special meeting consisted of one agenda item: an ordinance tweaking setback requirements that could have allowed the planned memorial to extend onto the Champlain Towers South property. Dubai-based Damac Properties paid $120 million for the oceanfront site last year and filed plans this summer for a luxury condo building. 

In exchange for freeing up space on the north side for the memorial and moving the building farther south, Damac could have built more square footage on the higher floors. This is all depending on how the ordinance was being interpreted — one of the main points of contention.

Many of the families of the 98 people who died in the 2021 collapse have pleaded for the memorial to be on a portion of the actual property where their loved ones died. 

Tuesday evening’s meeting erupted into chaos and confusion relatively quickly. 

Martin Langesfeld, whose sister and brother-in-law died in the collapse, was critical of the mayor. 

“The fact that everyone behind me is extremely confused about what is being presented but that you are very clear makes it very clear you are not involved with any of the families,” he said. 

Mayor Shlomo Danzinger had ex-Mayor Charles Burkett removed from the chamber after he addressed a commissioner directly, violating Robert’s Rules of Order, parliamentary procedure that legislative bodies typically follow.

The ordinance failed, with Danzinger and Vice Mayor Jeffrey Rose as the sole ‘yes’ votes. A spokesperson for Damac told my colleague Lidia Dinkova and me that the developer will instead be moving forward with its original plans for the property. 

It’s unlikely, but not impossible, that an on-site memorial will be reconsidered. 

What we’re thinking about: Billionaire developer Joe Lewis was charged with insider trading and turned himself into the Manhattan office of the U.S. Attorney on Wednesday. What does this mean, if anything, for his developments in Wellington and Fort Lauderdale? Send me a note at [email protected]. 

CLOSING TIME 

Residential: Retired commercial brokerage boss Dan Hughes and his wife, Beth Ann Hughes, sold their penthouse at Two Park Grove for $17.5 million. A land trust purchased the condo at 2821 South Bayshore Drive in Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood. 

Commercial: PGIM Real Estate sold the Park Place At Turtle Run 22-building apartment complex in Coral Springs. Greystar paid $56.1 million, or about $160,000 per unit, for the 350-unit rental community. 

— Research by Adam Farence 

NEW TO THE MARKET 

Omaha businessman Steve Buchanan is looking to flip his nearly 2-acre oceanfront estate in Highland Beach for $59.9 million. The Buchanan Energy and Bucky’s Convenience Stores founder paid $40 million for the 14,000-square-foot, eight-bedroom mansion last year. It’s on the market with Jonathan Postma of the Postma Group at Coldwell Banker. 

A thing we’ve learned 

A village called Golf exists, and it’s obviously located in Palm Beach County. The 0.8-square-mile town has a population of just 255 residents, according to the 2020 Census. 

Elsewhere in Florida 

• Former President Donald Trump allegedly asked a staffer at Mar-a-Lago to delete camera footage to obstruct the Justice Department’s classified documents investigations, AP reports. 
• Water temperatures in the Florida Keys hit 101.1 degrees Fahrenheit last week, likely marking a record.
• About six months after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ takeover of the Sarasota liberal arts college New College of Florida, its board of trustees voted to advance $2 million for a center to combat “cancel culture.” Meanwhile, professors are fleeing: New College is also dealing with 36 open faculty positions, representing about a third of its full-time faculty staff, Axios reports.