(FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA) – Hines, the international real estate firm, in partnership with Urban Street Development, Cresset Real Estate and Las Americas announced that it has closed on the site for its FAT Village development - a 5.6-acre, 835,000-square-foot, office, retail and residential mixed-use urban village in Fort Lauderdale’s Flagler Village neighborhood.
FAT (Food Art Technology) Village is located along North Andrews Avenue between 5th Street and Sistrunk Boulevard and is two blocks from the Brightline’s Fort Lauderdale high-speed commuter rail station, which connects Fort Lauderdale to Miami, West Palm Beach and, in 2022, Orlando. This four-block creative enclave will serve as the reimagined epicenter of the City’s art-centric district and will feature approximately 500 multifamily units in two residential towers; 80,000 square feet of curated food and beverage offerings, shopping, entertainment, and art studios and galleries; and 350,000 square feet of office space in two of Hines proprietary, heavy timber T3 (Timber, Transit, Technology) creative office buildings.
FAT Village will expand Downtown Fort Lauderdale’s economic engine by creating a true live, work and play environment. The visibility and walkability of this city-defining project will help Downtown Fort Lauderdale in its competitive positioning to appeal to its share of the new to market office users coming to South Florida, as well as companies already located in the region seeking to relocate to Fort Lauderdale’s urban core.
“Over the past ten years, Hines has been very focused on studying the theme of urban revitalization and it has become abundantly clear that creative neighborhoods have become the most desired work and lifestyle destinations within cities,” said Alan Kennedy, Managing Director and South Florida City Head for Hines. “Similar to what's happened in DUMBO in Brooklyn, the Fulton Market in Chicago, Ponce City Market in Atlanta, and Wynwood in Miami, FAT Village was once an industrial warehouse district, but it is now a creative neighborhood that is home to art galleries, studios and restaurants. Our vision is to harness FAT Village’s high social coefficient to create a development that celebrates the history of the area and complements the artistic spirit of the neighborhood. We are delivering a place that will become Fort Lauderdale's premier live-work-play destination.”
Co-founders Alan Hooper and Tim Petrillo of Urban Street Development have been a big part of Downtown Fort Lauderdale’s transformation and were pioneers who changed the face of Flagler Village and the FAT Village neighborhood. There are few development companies that design and build mixed-use projects while operating high-trafficked food and beverage operations. “We strive to add that extra ingredient that makes places exciting and cool, and now FAT Village is on the verge of being a place where you can live well, work well and eat well,” said Petrillo.
From first to neighborhood restaurants to high-end lofts in warehouse districts, Urban Street has endeavored to set new trends for Fort Lauderdale. “Everyone wants to be a local, so it is super important to design FAT Village from the inside out; maintaining its’ art-centric fabric, while also inserting local food operators that our neighbors already embrace,” says Hooper.
“Fort Lauderdale is growing rapidly, and as more businesses and residents continue to call the area home, it is important that we have the right infrastructure in place to support the growth,” said Horacio Peña, CEO of Las Americas. “We are excited to be a part of the FAT Village development and put the emphasis on placemaking to build this community and create a true live-work-play environment.”
Hines has engaged South Florida-based Blanca Commercial Real Estate as the leasing partner for the T3 office buildings. Blanca Commercial Real Estate is the market leader in leasing new office developments and has successfully represented landlords on more than 3.5 million square feet of new office developments.
Formal design for the project commenced in early October after receipt of site plan approval. Construction of the fully funded and fully entitled project will begin in late 2022. The grand opening is expected to be in the first half of 2024.
About Hines
Hines is a privately owned global real estate investment firm founded in 1957 with a presence in 255 cities in 27 countries. Hines oversees investment assets under management totaling approximately $83.6 billion¹. In addition, Hines provides third-party property-level services to more than 367 properties totaling 138.3 million square feet. Historically, Hines has developed, redeveloped or acquired approximately 1,486 properties, totaling over 492 million square feet. The firm currently has more than 171 developments underway around the world. With extensive experience in investments across the risk spectrum and all property types, and a foundational commitment to ESG, Hines is one of the largest and most-respected real estate organizations in the world. Visit www.hines.com for more information. ¹Includes both the global Hines organization as well as RIA AUM as of June 30, 2021.
About Cresset Real Estate Partners
In 2021, Cresset Partners and Diversified Real Estate Capital formalized their long-standing partnership to create Cresset Real Estate Partners. Founded by a team of nationally recognized real estate entrepreneurs, Cresset Real Estate Partners manages a rapidly growing real estate portfolio—currently valued at over $3 billion—on behalf of institutional and family office investors. The team leverages extensive real estate experience with a deep team of operational, tax, legal and fund management professionals to provide investors a comprehensive solution for their real estate investments.
About Las Americas
Las Americas is a Chilean Real Estate Developer and Investment Fund Manager founded in 1993 by Horacio Peña and his partners. Through its history, Las Americas has developed in Chile all type of real estate projects, such as condo buildings, offices, master planned communities, single family homes and hotels. It has been actively investing in multifamily residential projects in the US since 2013, representing a select group of high net worth investors. Additionally, in Chile, Las Americas is one of the main players of the infrastructure industry, managing several toll roads and also manages one of the country’s main cemetery park operators.
About Urban Street Development
The founders of Fort Lauderdale’s Urban Street Development have a strong bond to the communities in which they invest and build. Alan Hooper and Tim Petrillo have built a “re-development” business in Urban Street Development that focuses on revitalization of localized areas that possess the potential for growth and renewed lifestyle. South Florida general contractor and real estate developer, Alan Hooper, and restauranteur and developer, Tim Petrillo, bring a unique combination of skill sets not commonly found in the development industry. Urban Street has developed and constructed a multitude of successful real estate projects, as well as some of the most popular restaurants in South Florida. www.urbanstreetdevelopment.com
