Broward County Proposing Major Development Project For Area Surrounding Amerant Bank Arena
Transforming over 150 acres, including Amerant Bank Arena's parking lots, into a vibrant development hub, Broward County’s ambitious mixed-use proposal introduces 1,400 residences, 600 hotel rooms, and retail to the Florida Panthers' doorstep.
There could be some major changes coming to the area around the Sunrise hockey barn that the Florida Panthers call home.
Officials from Broward County, which owns Amerant Bank Arena, have submitted an application to the city of Sunrise regarding a mixed-use development plan that will be discussed during a city commission meeting on Tuesday evening.
Much of the 154-acre site that the project would be built upon is currently being used as the arena’s parking lot.
On the site would come around 1,400 multifamily units, of which 15% would be designated for affordable housing, as well as 300,000 square feet of commercial space, 1.6 million square feet of space for offices or educational purposes, 600 hotel rooms including up to 60,000 square feet of meeting/function space, and around 10 acres for green/open space and public space, according to official documents.
Before the project can move forward, city commissioners must approve the application, which requests that the land use designation for the area be changed.
According to official documents, the site is currently designated for industrial, commercial low residential and low-medium residential uses on the city’s Future Land Use Map (FLUM), and the county is seeking an amendment to the FLUM that would change the designation to Transit Oriented Development (TOD) due to the county’s recent purchase of land for a nearby transit hub that would provide express bus service into Miami-Dade County.
If commissioners approve the ordinance and the Broward County Land Use Plan is amended, the Sunrise city commission would likely hold an adoption hearing within the following six months, per the documents.
Though several parking garages were included in the rendering at the top of this page, they were designated for residential, office, urban flex and hotel use. There was no indication of how parking for events at Amerant Bank Arena, such as Panthers hockey games or concerts, would be handled should the development project move forward.
This will be something to monitor both in the short and long term, as it could create impactful changes to the way fans attend Panthers games.
Stay tuned.
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Photo caption: Amerant Bank Arena-area development rendering (Broward County) / Nov 30, 2023; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; View of a Florida Panthers logo on a jersey worn by a member of the team during warm-up before the game against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre. (David Kirouac-Imagn Images)
