County Approves Gulfstream Park Project
A major redevelopment at Gulfstream Park won the blessing of county commissioners Tuesday, making it the first such project to move forward since voters agreed to slot machine gambling at the area's pari-mutuels last year. To be built on 66 acres next to the racetrack in Hallandale Beach, the Village at Gulfstream Park will include 1,500 condos, an office-retail complex almost the size of Fort Lauderdale's Galleria mall, a 500-room hotel and a 2,500-seat movie theater.
Proponents tout it as creating a long-sought town center for Hallandale Beach complete with outdoor cafes, pedestrian promenades and water gardens. County approval was uncertain until developers scaled back the project midway through a three-hour debate. They reduced the size of the cinema and the amount of office space by almost a third and cut back the amount of retail space more than 15 percent. Owners of the four pari-mutuels (Gulfstream, Mardi Gras Race Track and Gaming Center, Pompano Park Harness Track and Dania Jai-Alai) promised to redevelop their aging complexes if voters allowed them to add slots. Each eventually will be allowed to add casinos with 1,500 slot machines. "This is part of what we said would occur, that the addition of slots would encourage economic development and job growth," said Ron Book, a lobbyist for the Village project as well as the gambling industry.
"Here, you end up with a full mixed-use development with a retail component, a residential component, an office component and a theater component. "
May 9, 2006
Posted By Terry Goodwin
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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