Regular City Commission Meeting - Regular Meeting

Good day, everybody. Today is Thursday, July 9th, 2026. This is the Community Redevelopment Agency meeting. The time is 6.01 p.m. Please call the roll.

Board Member Schwartz. Here. Board Member Serrio. Here. Board Member Simone. Here. Vice Chair Rosano.

Here.

Chair Casciano.

Yes, I'm here. Please stand for a moment of silence and the Pledge of Allegiance. All right. City Attorney, minutes for approval.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. David Tulsis, CRA Board Attorney. Item 1A is approval of the minutes from the June 10, 2026 Regular Margate CRA meeting.

So moved to approve. Second.

Please call the roll.

Board Member Schwartz? Yes. Board Member Serrio? Yes. Board Member Simone? Yes. Vice Chair Rosano?

Yes.

Chair Caggiano?

Yes. All right, item number two, public discussion. Anybody who wants to speak will have three minutes to discuss anything that is not on the agenda. And as the mayor said yesterday, anyone who is disrespectful will be thrown out. This is the warning I'm giving you now. So anyone would like to speak, please. You've got three minutes to do it. Public discussion is now closed. Presentation, please.

Mr. Chair, tonight we have a presentation on our city center initial concept design by Brookfield. We have the Brookfield team here tonight, and I'd like to invite them up to the podium.

Thank you. Thank you for coming.

oh okay thank you uh the purpose of today is really to show you what we've taken over the past three months in the form of feedback from our neighborhood meetings City staff and these meetings in particular in how we are going to express the future development for the city center project so we'd love to solicit your feedback answer your questions, but more importantly, we're here to listen. So with that, I will pass it over to our design team.

And just please state your names for the record.

I'm Chip Trageser with OJB Studios. We're landscape architects. Daniel Marquez, ODP architects.

Great.

Okay. I'm having trouble seeing. So we're going to go through our team introductions. We're going to go over the master plan, previous master plan that we had. And I don't know if you guys want to speak to this a little bit.

So the master plan that you see in front of you right now is the original plan that we had presented to you with our initial concept. You'll see that there are buildings with commercial retail space, which is shown in pink. But by and large, this is kind of the root of our presentation and design concept. And you'll see this similar element throughout this presentation as we start showing you more details.

Great. And I'm going to go through the site landscape and get the projector to work correctly. Okay, I've got it. So, excited to be here today. We started this project with the Brookfield team, really with the focus of creating a great retail and restaurant street going down the boulevard and creating an open space with the focus on creating a very active environment. We know by creating an active environment that we can drive people. We think having a highly programmed open space is a wonderful complement to the restaurants and the retail. The two work off of one another. So if we can get people to the development all throughout the day, in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening. The two play off of one another. We also know that we want to create a really wonderful, iconic space. We want people to come to this development and say, gosh, have you seen what they've done in Margate at City's place? It's incredible. you've got to see it. And we know if we get both these things right, it becomes a place where everybody comes together, right? And so it becomes a community catalyst from an economic standpoint that feeds back to the residential, to the retail, and to the restaurants. And we also want to create an urban oasis focused on celebrating the Florida botanical experience with native plantings and getting the shade right. We know we want to create a place where people can be all throughout the year. If we get the shade right, we can drop the temperature by 10 degrees. And so just looking at the overall site program, coming in off of Margate, wonderful restaurant and shopping experience off of the boulevard that leads you into the central open space that's shown. We also have the idea of having restaurants in the central open space. where you can take advantage of that. There's a recreational zone on the south side. Obviously, we've got our residential amenities associated with the residential building. We're also considering the buffer around the property where we have adjacencies where we want to screen. We're going to do that along 441 and along the southern property, but we're also going to open up views so that we can see all the activity that's happening. Circulation is key. Having great pedestrian connectivity, both from the south, from the north, across from 441 into the development, making it easy and walkable for people is very important. Vehicular circulation is very straightforward. Coming off of Margate Boulevard, extending that in, and then a loop road that provides circulation all the way through the site. On that road circulation system, we have on-street parking so it'll be easy to park. We also have surface parking that's available for everyone. That parking will be screened and buffered with landscape. There's drop-offs that serve both the restaurants and the retail and the multifamily and the overall open space and how they're working. There's two of them. And looking at the overall site diagram, we've had a lot of fun with the team really exploring this plan. But again, coming off of 441 down Margate Boulevard, great retail experience coming in. The boulevard lines up with the idea of having a central focal with the water feature that you see. That water feature, the idea that it would be iconic, it would have a big takeaway associated with it. Flexible lawn, both for active and passive recreation, is right immediate adjacent to it. And then a pavilion. That pavilion has the opportunity to really flex up and do a number of things. Tables and chairs during the day, exercise classes in the afternoon, movie night. performances in the evening. We've also located a restaurant pavilion and a sundry store adjacent to that flex lawn. And so everybody that's, you can imagine having a great meal in that restaurant, seeing all the activity on that lawn and really being a place to be. And I think the other exciting thing is the retail that's happening associated with the buildings. at the base also have great views to that lawn, to that performance pavilion and all that activity. The sundry store is located right adjacent to the idea of having a pet park on the north side. And then children's play, one of a kind play, We know the play is a really wonderful activity because it's a driver of getting people there in the morning and all throughout the day. But it's that activity specifically in the morning that really drives people into the open space. We also have an idea of nature gardens. This is a quieter zone, but it allows you to get more immersed into the natural Florida landscape. And then obviously the recreation facilities on the south side. with walking trails, exercise stations along that trail, pickleball courts, and a recreation lawn that can flex up and support a number of different types of activities. And so just coming in off of Margate, again, really appropriate scaled sidewalks that are shaded, very comfortable. But then large enough to where we have restaurants where we can get dining adjacent to the buildings is really important. The images on the right are really great examples of kind of look and feel and how this would feel. And then as you come down Margate Boulevard, this is about halfway down the boulevard, you're starting to see the idea of having an iconic kind of water feature that has a big takeaway associated with it. You're also seeing that restaurant pavilion on the right with the opportunity of having rooftop dining on it also, the Sundry store on the left. So it starts to really pull you in and activate the area. The overall open space, roughly about 12,000 square feet. And I think the, again, the nice thing about this is, It is surrounded by what we're saying is a shady grove, which has different seating opportunities. Some movable furniture and then unique opportunities with swings and other types of activities that people can find themselves in, in a very kind of shady, shady atmosphere. The water feature get on the top with the restaurants on either side. And again, everything is situated so that you have great visibility in, great visibility to a performance. children's play, roughly about 16,000 square feet. And again, one of a kind play that, you know, children are creating memories for life. So images on the bottom are good examples. And then the water feature, again, doing something iconic where water could spill into a basinless condition that's interactive, children could play in it. It could also have a botanical experience, have a big takeaway associated with it. Um, when they're off, it doesn't feel like a fountain. So that, I think that's very, very important. It becomes also a multi kind of view space and then the performance pavilion that you see in the backdrop, um, sized accordingly to be able to really flex up and support, uh, larger types of events. And then those shady, uh, seeding grows we talked about locating all around the perimeter of that lawn. And again, I think what's nice about this, you could be by yourself and find a space. If you're in a larger group, you could move and make your own kind of seating arrangement associated with it. You know, I think also in just looking at the lawn, you know, a lot of what we spend is right-sizing spaces and the lawn is appropriately scaled where if you find yourself in it early in the morning, you feel comfortable, but it can also flex up and host a large event. And we looked at some matrixes in regard to that. Just blanket seating on the lawn, we can easily get about 1,100 people. If we did standing room, you could double that. We could get 2,000 people. And that's not considering the shady groves around the perimeter, just the lawns. And then we also looked at a festival atmosphere where we It set up a vendor tents, festival tents along the street. We can get about 80 tents in the street and then another 60 plus tents in the park. So 140 tent festival, very easy. And we designed this in such a way we could close the streets and still provide for circulation in and out for the vehicles. And then the recreation zone, again, kind of flexible recreation zone, game terrace, fooshball, ping pong, putting green, this idea of this walking loop that would actually go all throughout the site with exercise stations and then pickleball courts. But again, also incorporating some shade structures in addition to trees to really mitigate the sun.

Can you guys hear me?

Fantastic. Good evening, commissioners. So I'm going to try to do one better than Chip there. Great presentation. So today, we really want to be able to present a clean, contemporary mixed-use design for what we think Margate is looking for. there's this idea or this desire from the city to have this architectural hierarchy from the idea of a base, a middle, and a capital. So rather than interpreting that in a historic way, we wanted to translate that into a modern South Florida architectural language. So the massing is organized with an active community base, a rhythmic residential middle, and then an emphasized upper elements to create a recognizable top for the building that we are proposing. So if we go to the next slide we'll start to see how that hierarchy comes to life at the pedestrian level. So here at the base, it's been designed to be very active, transparent, and certainly human-scaled. The storefront glazing, the retail frontage, the warm lighting, all of these things, inclusive of outdoor seating and landscaping, all start to work together to create that welcoming environment that we're trying to create here at Margate. The goal really was to engage the sidewalk in the public realm, just opposed to creating some sort of blank canvas or something along those lines. From here, we start to look at the larger public realm and that plaza experience. I think this view actually helps understand how the architecture is starting to frame the actual public spaces around it. It's made possible with that corner volume and the way that we've started to accentuate the materials that's cladding the overall architecture. It's highlighting that corner. It It becomes a real destination for the residents and community members to come to this destination at the terminus of Margate Boulevard and at the beginning of the park. The plaza, the landscape, all of those things really just working on that inviting environment. The buildings themselves have not been designed to be isolated objects, but they're more of an extension of the surrounding park. You can see that on how we have the amenity space at the very top of the building. That allows for that activation as the people or the residents from the building are looking onto the park itself. So again, just to support that lovely or lively public realm where people could walk, gather, dine, and spend some time outdoors. So moving on to the next slide, here's where we really start to talk about the facade articulation. The middle of the building, is organized with this consistent residential rhythm, the series of repeated bay windows, vertical articulations and balconies, along with the material variation that we've used to really help break down the overall scale of the building and to avoid any sort of flat or monolithic facades throughout the entire project. The volumes and the corners, once again, help anchor the design and give that project that identity that we think Margate is after. Moving on, we really want to also touch on the retail experience, that human scaled retail base. So here, this is highlighting that community character of the ground floor. Storefronts are transparent. The signage is integrated. into the overall architecture and the outdoor seating that Chip was mentioning, allowing for that dining and that communal experiences is really starting to allow for that environment to take shape. So the idea is this is where the building meets everyday life for the residents and the community members. So again, design that it feels approachable, active and walkable. And then overall, to quickly end on the architecture, the goal was just to bring modern architectural approach to Margate with two similar but yet distinct buildings honoring the city's design principles and using proportion, hierarchy, transparency, and landscaping along with facade depth to create a timeless mixed-use environment.

Thank you.

That is all. Sorry.

So that's Brookfield's presentation on their initial design concept. They're here tonight anxious for feedback, for your thought sharing, your ideas, and they bring that back and incorporate feedback as they can.

I have no problem starting. I have no problem. I love the colors. I love the way the building is structured. I love the balconies, which is very important to me and the way they overlook the activities that are going to be going on. And I can't wait to hear from the others. Vice Chair.

Thank you guys for the presentation. It was very good. I like the presentation. I don't like the developer's agreement. So I'm going to stand firm on that. Thousands of residents don't want the apartment. So I'm not even going to get into that. But I think the presentation overall, it was good. You know, it hit a lot of points that were mentioned by the commissioners and by residents. I was also told that there was going to be a community center. Is that still part of this?

Yeah. So there is a recreation center, an enclosed gymnasium that provides for a full court basketball or volleyball type of environment and that full court you know could be envisioned it's big enough to be subdivided in half where you can have two kind of half court courts playing I think Matt will go back to oh in like a back south corner or east

Yeah, Matthew Scott here on behalf of the developer. So what we heard from a variety of stakeholders was that the city could really use an indoor recreation facility, a basketball court that can flex to volleyball or two basketball courts. We want your feedback tonight on whether this should be part of phase one or a later phase. And it's... with how big the site is and how much we have going on with open space. We're open to moving it to a later phase if that's the preference of the board. Are you still asking?

Yeah. So as far as that, I don't have a problem with it. I heard people say that they do want a community center. Just a couple questions about it. If we were to agree on it, would it be a city-ran community center or would it be a privately-owned community center?

I don't know that we, well, I'm pretty sure it would be city owned, but I don't know. City ran? Yeah.

To the employees?

That would be the expectation. There would be something for the city. It wouldn't be a Brookfield property.

Our intent would be to use that for recreational basketball games and then potentially open play when there's nothing going on. Okay. We haven't, we have not necessarily discussed the details of that, but yes, that is the intent is to use it for that type of purpose. Okay.

And so it could be in a later phase, but the intent would be that it would be the cities, similar to other cities that have a gym. It wouldn't be part of Brookfield maintaining it or running it. I'm hoping to find out if you want it to be part of phase one or a later phase.

As far as the retail, how many square feet was it that was shown in the drawing?

The total retail square footage? Yeah. 39,000.

39,000? Is that, I mean, I'm asking you if it's amendable, but it's up to us. But I think that's a little bit low. You know what, the board, no, I think 39,000 is, it's probably the size of three Ace Plazas. So I think it's very, extremely low.

The agreement provides for 39,300 square feet. At least 39,000. This is consisting of the following. So it says... 350 residential units together with 39,300 square feet of commercial use. Correct. And that's the development agreement, correct?

Yes. Which I said I'm not for. One of the reasons why I'm not for it.

If the retail was mostly restaurant, that would be 10 plus restaurants, but they're going to put other retail in there as well.

I understand that, but I don't agree with it. I mean, you get one, what is it, what's that plaza name? Promenade, that out parcel, Cooper's Hawk, 10,000 square feet.

Yeah, I don't think.

So we're talking up on four nice restaurants?

No, I think that the more, well, maybe Matt can speak to this. I think what we're seeing in the market more often is that restaurants are not doing 10,000 square feet as much. I think it's much more popular now to go for the smaller size. I don't think, you're not seeing many 10,000 square foot restaurants.

Overall, the overall footage, the footprint of it is, I'm saying after dining and all that, it's, but I still think it's low. I think 39,000 is extremely low. You know, we've taken away over 100,000 square feet of retail in the CRA, just that we own. And just on that one side, we're going to replace it with 39,000. So just one of the reasons why I don't like the developer's agreement, along with giving Brookfield $35 million and giving them a 99-year lease, But the presentation wasn't bad. I could say that. Thank you. You're welcome. We appreciate that. You got it.

I'm hearing that a lot of restaurants are going smaller because there's 10% of the population is on GLP-1s. Right. And restaurants are dying because people are eating less.

I read the same article you read. This is how I got the idea.

People aren't drinking as much either. They're not drinking as much either because of the GLP-1s. And they're upset because only 10% of the people, they think they can get 25% of the market in GLPs, which has a huge effect on restaurants.

To get a 10,000 square foot restaurant is like trying to hit a home run.

If you go up to Boca, they have a place called the... It's a taco place. I forgot. Mexican restaurant.

El Camino.

With the outdoor dining and all that?

That place is massive. That place is huge.

That place is huge. You're right. That's kind of what I'm looking for. A meeting place where people can go and they don't have to be spread out. A place like that is wonderful meeting place. When I say 10,000 square foot, that's what I mean. I don't mean like an Outback Steakhouse or something like that. Just for clarification. Thank you.

Next would be Commissioner Osario. Board Member Osario.

Yeah, thank you. I didn't vote for the project as well. Not that I'm anti-downtown, but it's a city-owned piece of property, and so unlike other properties... local or now with golf courses within field development act where we're much more restricted as to what goes there. We have a lot of say because we own the property. So I felt like it should have gone to the voters. It didn't. Here we are today. It is what it is. I'm not going to continue to talk with people, whether I like a project or not. It seems like this is going to move forward. I'm going to give input as if it's moving forward. So I'm not necessarily a big fan of everything in the development agreement. I'm not going to say no apartments. There's going to be apartments in a downtown. I wasn't necessarily happy with the number. But it's moving forward, so here's my thoughtful input. And it seems like they still considered some of my input, even though I opposed it. Correct me if I'm wrong, the landscape architect, you guys did Rosemary Square? We did. Right, okay. I've been talking about Rosemary Square, which used to be, what was it? City Place. Then it went to Rosemary Square, and I think it's City Place again. But anyways, I've been talking about it for years since I've been up here. I brought in- In West Palm Beach. You all went there. Yeah. We went to El Camino there. Yep. It's gorgeous. It's beyond gorgeous. It's incredible. The landscape that was done there is way better than any of these other downtowns that I've seen. The focal point, that center place where you've got the fountain where the kids play in and the wishing tree, I've brought and shown pictures. At Christmas time, it was just staggeringly beautiful. Right. So I like that concept. You know, the buildings, not here to talk about the number or the height, but they look very nice, very modern. And I like that they don't all look the same. I like that they're kind of keep that same theme, but they each have their own character to it. The recreation center is something I absolutely have brought up several times. It's something that our community absolutely lacks. So I was excited to see this in here. I personally would like to see it bigger, a bigger one, so that we can somewhat compete with the surrounding communities. But I think that's a great head start. The recreation lawn, the flex space, the... rooftop potential I think is a must really a lot of places are going to having some type of rooftop element so I'd like that the ability for that is there you talked about the food trucks being able to pull up like temporary pads right for special events can you go back did you guys switch the screen at all go back to the other one yeah perfect The amphitheater or the activity stage or what's the proper?

Performance pavilion.

Performance pavilion. There you go. It kind of has its own iconic look to it as well. Yeah, kind of in the back there. Go back to that original site plan. Or not the original site plan, but where we just were. Yep, OK. What I have some... Constructive criticism on is the pet park. We talked about this in our one-on-one session. I'm not against having a pet park per se. I know it's something that the apartments typically like to have as an amenity. So I'm not saying to not have a pet park, but my concern is having an open pet park in the middle of the downtown. We have a dog park currently, which I support, and it's been a hit with the residents. then you've got the playground several hundred yards away and people are still bringing their dogs there. So I can just imagine this exasperated a lot more with people bringing, you know, aggressive dogs and things like that. So my comment is kind of looks like it's off to the side, maybe tuck it away a little bit more gated key fob for residents only. Um, as far as the, uh, if you can, if, is there a screen, um, showing like the pickleball courts and everything? But they aren't. There's a screen where they're laid out. I think it's a little too much. I think it's a little too much with the pickleball. Scale it back, do something else with it. I don't have the answer to what goes there, but it just seems like a little bit too much. We want this to be something that people come to all the time, but we... At the end of the day, I want to go hang out, have a drink, have food. I don't want to be fighting for parking because there's all these people from Coral Springs and stuff clogging up the parking to play pickleball. Seriously. But overall, who wouldn't like this if it was built? And I'm talking mostly about the activity area here. um so i i you know there's there's a lot of things i like about it um but you know rec center a little bigger cut back on the pickleball dog park strictly for residents of the of the apartment buildings and that's it for now thank you okay uh board member simone

So I'm very excited about this. I think this is a great opportunity for Margate. And I think if it's done right, that it will be a win-win and everybody will be excited with it. I'm very big into, I wasn't crazy when I saw the presentation originally of the water feature in the front. So because I wasn't crazy about it, I went online and I started looking at interactive art, if I could find something different to replace it. Because I think that water feature is kind of old now. You know, a lot of places have it. So I was looking for something a little bit more unique. So in my research, I came across Pinterest. and I got more and more excited with things that I saw on Pinterest that I thought would fit well and be unique to our city and bring everybody into our city, not only our residents, but other residents from other cities and say, look at what we have here. It's something that we don't see in any other city, completely unique. So, uh, I took, uh, some pictures of things that were on Pinterest. Now I'm not saying that these are exactly what I want, but these are kind of like ideas, um, because I'm very big into interactive art and things that I thought may fit and be unique to Margate and may fit nicely into our city center. You know, something like this, uh, You know, interactive art where it's the sand and people could go and spin it. Just something different that you don't always see. It's like sand that's inside and you flip it and the sand makes different pictures.

Commissioner, what you're describing is not much different than the tree at Rosemary Square because it's a huge draw in destination. It's got a memory, a takeaway associated with it. It's the focal. It does all the things that you're suggesting.

Can you take them to that next slide? Yeah. Here.

The tree is artificial, right? And it has lights on it. So it's a sculptural tree. Much like the second slide, it reminds me of it.

So here are some other ones that I found on Pinterest, just to give some ideas of some uniqueness that I haven't really seen everywhere. Can I say something? Sure.

I don't necessarily disagree with you. I do like the water feature. That particular water feature shown is maybe not the one that excites me, but if we can go back to the city place, it's kind of laid out where one's in front of the other. So you've got the water feature, which the kids play in, but the way it's designed, it's actually artistic. And then kind of set back is something like this, but it's a big artificial tree with different LED lighting and people gather around. It's something like this, but different. But yeah, I would say that they probably need to just take it up another notch on that centerpiece. But something like this, I agree. They should have something that people remember us specifically for.

You know, I was even thinking of, you know, you've seen the cubes, and I don't have a picture of it, but it's in my mind. The cubes where they have the letters on it, and there are various colors, and they're, you know, put together in such a way, that spells out Margate. That people could go and take a picture right there. As being something in the beginning of the downtown.

Go ahead.

Thanks.

Okay, here was...

Mr. Simone, did you pick this song? No.

Please, next. I hear some more, some more that I thought different and unique features. Next one, please. There's another, you know, unique idea of a pathway to put in the downtown.

Okay.

Something that you just don't see other cities having and doing. That I thought would make Margate stand out. I love this one. For being the beginning of, you know, possibly the downtown.

Here's another one.

It changes color. And I think our Lemon Tree Lake is just an exceptional value to our downtown. And we can definitely utilize that to our advantage by putting sculptures like this, you know, possibly a dock. and having water features, and I have some that I took, of some things that could be done on Lemon Tree Lake. And people would go to it and be attracted to it. But I thought, you know, a sculpture like this going into Lemon Tree Lake would be something different and unusual off of a dock or a walkway. Something, again, that I... I don't see in other cities, and other cities don't have the unique lemon tree feature that we could fully take advantage of.

We're not on the lake. I don't think we have the lake access, though. I like that. Where would that go?

There's a canal on the east side, and then it connects to the lake.

So you're talking about where the canal would be, where the people from the downtown would see it? Yeah.

Okay, and here's just some, you know... sculptures in between all the lush green landscaping, again, just to make it a little bit different. And here's some more that I thought were just unique that, again, would set us apart from the norm. The Disney pictures. Here are some others of, you know, we've got a lot of open and green space where we could put some benches like this. Again, something unique to Margate. I mean, the more I saw, the more excited I got.

Yeah, for sure.

As to the possibilities. I mean, I could have spent, I don't know how many hours I spent looking, but I could have spent thousands more hours because it's just full of unique ideas. You know, benches like this, something, again, unique and different. You know, I think the white one lights up at night in different colors. So there it is. Okay, here was something for Lemon Tree Lake. That would be, I think, a big draw. I think they have this in Deerfield. I can't think of the name of the park. Quiet Waters, thank you. Again, because we have that lake, something unique to us that we could fully take advantage of. They also have, it's not a very good picture, There's a movie theater on the lake. And those little boats that people can just go and sit in and relax. I saw one picture and I didn't take a photo of it to send, but it was a... like a surfboard, and they had, looked like a bicycle on it. It wasn't exactly a bicycle, but a seat and pedals that people could pedal around the lake.

Paddle ball, when I was a kid, paddle ball things. Yeah, exactly what I wrote down.

Here's another one with four big tires that people can just paddle around the lake, and I think that's the ball, again, that people can get into and just walk and have a good time. something different for the children to play on in some of those outdoor areas that we talked about. Another, yeah, another one. Okay, this I got really excited about because I would love to see something like this in our downtown. This is an interactive playground. So I don't know that I'm crazy about the rec center. I would like to see something like this because I think the rec center with the basketball leads to a certain niche, a certain kind of group where I think an interactive playground like this would lead to all the age groups. young and old, that would take advantage of it. Some more unique.

That's definitely Japanese.

Yeah, but people walk underneath them and they're open. And they line up at night as well. And this was actually an AI photo, but I thought it was pretty cool as to on the pickleball court. Pickleball and steroids. Yeah. So I don't know if they make something like this, but I thought it was really something unique.

A dunk take and we can put the commissioners in it. You first. I'm sure I'll have a big line.

So I think, you know, things like this. Who said that? would just set us apart and make us unique. And I mean, there's thousands and thousands more that just some possible ideas to have in our downtown that would set us apart from other.

It's what you're suggesting, these types of things that generate activity, people coming and talking about it. Everything you've shown is really spot on with what we preach. And as we continue to develop this plan, we'll take these types of ideas and do our best to incorporate them. It's what you're totally right. It's what separates it and makes it special.

So you'll be hiring her. That's gorgeous.

She can come to work.

So, you know, but I think this is great. And like I said, I'm getting more and more excited about what the potential could be for not only all our residents, but residents visiting us, and also for the people that would live in the apartments. I want it to be for the entire city, not just for the people that are living there in the apartments, because I hope to go and spend a day here myself and just have a great time. Go to the restaurants, relax, go to some of the interactive art that hopefully will be incorporated and just have a good time. So that's it for me. The apartments, the style of the apartments, I think is perfect. They lend itself, I think, nicely with everything that you've done. And I think people would be excited to live there, especially with all the amenities that are going to be there for them as well as, and I don't think it's, you know, it's not, stylish you know it's just not a box but it has some character to it so thank you very much i'm excited to get a move on this and get started board member schwartz gentlemen

I would agree that I could do without the recreation facility if it's basketball because we've got that in other parks. But I would, now that I've seen some of the things she's done with the kids and the unique things that aren't anywhere else, I would prefer to see that there because basketball is limited to five people, seven people, generally men. This would be, in all due respect. Fair enough. I didn't see you put a soccer field. I saw basketball.

Pick a ball court and then you have room for both.

But yeah, I think some of that is really cool. And to be honest, I am so tired of water features. I wouldn't mind seeing some of the other stuff. I don't expect me to win that one, but we have water features everywhere. And some of the artwork, especially those things that open up when the kids go under, I think was really cool. I appreciate the fact that we're only looking at 350 homes. apartments rather, because that was a big bone of contention, for people to realize this property is zoned commercial. It's zoned to have exactly that. However, originally I thought we talked about 60 square, 60,000 square feet of retail. Since 1991, I've said I want Margate to stop, shop, and live. In all due respect, even at 5,000 square feet, I'm looking at maybe eight unique parcels of something. And that is not my idea of a city center that I have waited over 25 years to see. And so while I love all the recreational part, I also want to be able to see a store where somebody might buy some clothing. I want to see a bunch of different restaurants, because if I see one more McDonald's, I think I'll just scream. But this is a chance for me to see different things. And maybe five restaurants is enough. I'm not sure. I know people like breweries. I don't drink beer, but I wouldn't care if there was one there, because it would be unique to this area. But I would like to see more retail, to be very honest, because this is, that site is what, 17 acres on that side? Yeah. So somehow 39,000 square feet of retail doesn't do it for me. And as a female who's not going to be playing basketball, I want to shop. I want to have a store to go into that isn't a Kohl's, a Macy's, or a JCPenney that may be closed, or Sears that no longer exists anymore unless you own the catalog from 100 years ago. It just has to be something unique and people need to be able to shop here as well. Because if nothing else, the promenade has that. And not that I want to be the promenade, I want to be better than the promenade. I actually want to have parking.

They have a real issue with that over there.

But I think it's a really nice concept and I appreciate all the open space because I don't think people realize how much you can do with that piece of property. So that's my 10 cents. Thank you.

Not two cents, 10 cents.

I would just like to read. Oh, sorry. The small ones light slip.

Thank you. Yes. I was going to say that when I met with them too, that's one thing I agree with a board member shorts that I had mentioned to them that I would have liked to see more retail and more restaurants in this as well. Um, so I'm still looking for a little bit more if it's possible, you know, to put in more retail and more restaurants.

My dad, I have never been to City Place, so I have no clue what you people are talking about.

I've shown the pictures here.

I know.

I'm assuming being there is a lot better than seeing it. They actually have an amazing water feature.

I would love to go see it. I have visited other places in other states, but this is close by.

What's that, Okeechobee Boulevard?

Yeah, so the thing about City Place that's, I think we all understand your point about that the water features are a bit overdone, but City Place has restaurants and shopping that don't get going until a little later. The water feature that doubles as a splash pad, families go in the morning, they get coffee and breakfast while the kids run back and forth through it. And so the idea behind it is that it has a dual purpose of being artistic and pretty, but also getting people there in other down times. And it works really well there.

So you're telling me mothers and fathers who are eating breakfast are thrilled to have their kids wet?

Right. Yeah.

And actually, the way it's set up, and I showed a video where the grown-ups can interact with the splash pad and not get wet. You literally can stand in the splash pad of a wall of water shooting up around you, and there's not a drop of water on you.

I'm just sharing that, that the idea behind it is that it's amazing. It's a way to, similar to the pickleball, pickleball courts are a way to have people there on Tuesdays.

Pickle balls, from what I understand, there's plenty of waiting lines for pickle balls, apparently. At 7.30 in the morning, I understand, at Firefighters Park, we have people playing pickle ball. This kind of weather, I can understand it. Are they going to be covered by any chance?

Because now that's the big thing, is not just pickle ball.

I don't think we were planning to cover them.

And just think of all those people who are waiting there, getting something to eat and drink there.

Because they're hot.

No, because they need their caffeine in the morning.

With regard to the comments on the commercial space and retail space and that being at 39,000, would I just remind the board that this is designed for phase one. Phase two is intended to be an extension of that across 441 and along Marriott Boulevard where you have more retail lined streets where we expand upon the success of phase one.

And I'm assuming out parcels for a Trader Joe's or a Sprouts or something.

Right. I think in the original master plan, there's a grocer planned on one of those out parcels and whatnot. But all of that will be built off of success of phase one.

Sure. I would like more restaurants and retail as well. But the water feature I would still like to see. But I agree with Commissioner Simone, and I've been saying this for years, is we still need something more, that artistic piece, that wishing tree or whatever they call it over there, something, not want to copy them, but something that's so unique that people remember us by. People gather there. The kids play in the splash pad or whatever. The grownups gather around the artistic piece. Hey, you know, I go, I'm going to get ice cream. I'll be back. Okay, we'll meet at the tree. We'll meet, you know, in the center. It just needs to be something iconic. I think you guys are on the right track. You just have to a little bit more. Turn it up a notch. As far as I would definitely want to see the basketball. I'd like to see a bigger community center. I don't think I don't have that support for that, but I do not want to take away the one that's being offered. I know that we have basketball at Firefighter Park and a few others, but There's really, the seating is like a couple little levels that's brought in and out. There's like a parade railing. It just doesn't look like a complete little basketball court set up that a mid-sized city would have. And if you compare our basketball facilities to surrounding communities, we're behind. And can I ask a question? I would not want to give up on that.

Well, I mean, it could be accommodated in a later phase.

It's not just basketball. My understanding is it could be...

It could be volleyball and other things, but my point is if there's not a consensus on it for phase one, it could be in another phase.

I'd like it in phase one. Give something to the residents that the residents can use.

But do you consider...

If we're limited on space, take a pickleball court away. There's four there. I mean, how many do we need? Two?

Do you consider basketball to be a rec center? No, but that's what we're calling it. It's basketball courts or basketball courts. A rec center maybe has ping pong, maybe has table hockey.

But you can do that. You can bring that stuff in.

Not if you've either got it as two basketball courts.

You're right, but that's because I'm right. Because in the beginning of my opening statements, I said that I wanted a much larger community center that had everything. It seems like we can't go that route. But I don't want to give up on what's being proposed then. People go up. I think that we should have something.

You realize if we do go bigger and we do have all that stuff in there, We're going to have to increase the size of the workforce.

That's fine. And I said I'm going to put a majority on that, but I don't want to forfeit what's being proposed here.

No, I'm just saying beggars can't be choosers. We're going to be running it, and we're going to be having to staff it.

I'm begging for a community center, rec center, whatever it is you want to call it. I don't want to give that up in phase one.

We hear from... the participants of our recreational basketball league about not having a air controlled, um, you know, covered facility for the kids to play basketball in coconut Creek has one coral Springs has one and their facilities are, are, are much larger. Um, the facilities in coconut Creek, which they have to, um, double as meeting space. Um, they have a, a weight room and gym in, in there. Um, But the basketball court that is there, it is one full court basketball court. And that is subdivided and. For the younger age kids, they can play on the half court. They have basketball hoops that come down and they play a full court on a half court. So they can have two games going at once. They also do that for indoor volleyball, which is, it's very popular in Coconut Creek. And we've had residents ask us about volleyball leagues here in Margate and we don't have a volleyball court for it. We have a beach sand volleyball court at Firefighters Park. So while this doesn't, This recreational facility that's proposed here does not serve the purpose as an overall community center. It does deliver what we've heard from a lot of the residents of wanting that enclosed air AC basketball courts. We get not necessarily complaints. Our basketball league is very well run and it's very popular, but it is very hot playing out there on a Saturday morning outside, no shade structure on it. just meets that one segment of the city that we do have a demand for and delivers that in an early phase of this project, which also draws more people into the downtown area to help patronize the retail that's there.

I'm done. Thank you.

I hope everybody's listening to this because almost every commissioner up here said that They weren't happy with the retail. Now it's part of the developer's agreement. So I wish you guys wouldn't have been so.

I didn't vote for it.

So gung-ho to vote for this developer's agreement. And it's funny because I heard that maybe we could put it into phase two. But then I also heard the commission or the board talk about people aren't going to go from one side of the street to the other. So I wish you guys would have just said no apartments on the east side. I wish you guys would have said, you know what, we'll treat the east side as parcel one, developer agreement one, two, three, but everything's locked in together. So it's just horrible that everybody up here said, I wish we had more retail, but according to the developer's agreement, they met your expectations. You know, you look at Coconut Creek, I'm ready to build big, huge downtown. They're getting a lazy dog there, guys. Lazy dog, you know what a lazy dog is? It's a restaurant, a very good restaurant. It's a big restaurant. It's 7,500 to 11,000 square feet. Going by this thing, we can get three of them, and that's it. You know, Coconut Creek is also, again, which I thought was great, a U of M medical center. You know, Tony Spavento, longtime Marriott resident, always said, put something like that in the downtown, and after going down to Doral and looking at theirs, it was beautiful. So I just wish that you guys would have thought about the developer's agreement before being so gung-ho on voting for it. We could have created a beautiful downtown. And Antonio, I like the recreation, I like the indoor recreational sports thing or whatever you want to call it. Because I'm going to tell you, the pictures look great. And I understand you want to get moms, kids, whatever during the day that aren't in school. And I get that. And then at night you get a different, you turn over to a different crowd. You're not going to get moms going out and hanging out in unshaded areas. It just doesn't happen. This is Florida, guys. If you saw my video today, my boot melted out in the sun. It's brutal. So if there's no shade camp, people are not going to go. We talked years ago when we were doing this with the other group. They wanted to do an indoor. It was almost like a Chuck E. Cheese almost with the ball thing where the kids jumped in. That I don't have a problem with. Joanne, you had some great ideas. You know, every year during graduation, I got to go up to Parkland and go to those waterfalls and go take pictures of my kids. It's great. But I wish Margate had something. So you had some really good ideas, Joanne, where people could come and do something, walk through and take pictures for graduation or whatever. So I think it's a great idea. But I really wish that we would have just concentrated on doing a retail across the street and that becomes successful. Then we move across on this side, the west side, and we go from there. I'm going to say it again, guys. There's thousands of people that don't want the apartments. We could have done a really beautiful, beautiful downtown shopping, dining, and retail. And we wouldn't be concerned about the 38,000 square feet. That's all we have to build. We could have done it really nice. So I appreciate the presentation, like I said, but I'm not going to vote for it, obviously, because then I'll be a hypocrite. So... Now, I just wish that this board would reconsider and go back and hit that developer's agreement and say, you know what, guys? I just want to change a couple things in it. It's not too late. That's all. Thank you.

Forgive me, but correct me if I'm wrong. Nothing yet is set in stone. This is a concept.

But they have a developer's agreement.

I understand that. But if we were to say, for argument's sake, take away the putting green, because I'm not quite sure what we're putting into, and put some more of something else there, I would assume that that would be something we could talk about. Because an agreement just simply says there's a meeting of the minds to do certain things, but a part of that is also... To tweak it. That's why they're standing here. If you don't like something or you want something else or you want shade, or as Joanne suggested, artwork that kids would enjoy and probably the adults would as well. That's part of why I think we're all sitting here, if I'm not wrong. That's correct. I do have a question, though. If we're going to maintain and we're going to own whatever that recreation center is, do we also mow it? And I know that sounds silly, but this is a whole development. So are we in charge of maintaining the outside as well, the grass and all the trees and whatever else is planted there?

So the public space amenities, all that will be worked out in a ground niche that we execute. But my intent would be that the operator, the owner of it, will be maintaining the landscaping and all of that, yeah.

But again, as far as I'm concerned, are there tweaks? Absolutely. I think that's why we're having this.

Correct. And so Matt and Matt, maybe you can help along here, but the development agreement that we're in has a timeline and kind of milestones in it for where we're at. And we're at that first milestone of them presenting the initial concept design, which is what we have here tonight. I expect them to take the feedback that they've heard here tonight and come back to us with a final design concept. I don't know if there'll necessarily be a vote for that, but a consensus of it. If they gain consensus on that final design, then they start working towards a site plan and plans that go through the process of DRC, through the city review and all that. And we start moving forward in a process. more official engineered site plan type capacity but this is the first of of two concept design meetings this is the initial they come back with um any any revisions based on feedback here tonight um hopefully getting consensus on that final design concept and then they can start going through the formal process with the city and what you said when you mentioned engineering

Have they done at least a baseline analysis by an engineer as far as stormwater and stuff? Because are you guys going to be able to fit everything that you say in these photos on this site?

Yeah, we haven't gotten that far with a civil engineer, but that's not a significant concern for the size of the site.

There's more than enough space for us to accommodate that.

But yes, as Mr. Curtis said, we think this is really helpful feedback. I think that we're hopefully taking notes and able to find a consistent theme of the feedback because there's a lot of differing opinions. So as you can imagine, we're not going to be able to do everything that everyone's asking for, but we'll try to incorporate as much as possible. Feedback is really helpful. And then come back again for that final design review.

Board Member Schwartz, you have more to add?

Yeah, thank you. I will further say that if indeed not having apartments would have made a difference, and I'm living here a really long time, then we would have had something already. So while I am thrilled that it is not 1,000 apartments, it's not 500 over there, I think you have to integrate people who can walk to a destination because, quite frankly, I'm dying to see how you're going to cross 441 and not kill people doing so. But that you have to have people who say at 9 o'clock at night, I'm hungry, let's walk downstairs or something like that, or have a playground for the kids, whatever. And I will repeat what I said before. If people out there realized that Margate had the wherewithal to have done this without additional rooftops, which I never thought I'd ever say, we would have had it. And while we all have very well spent our money on University Drive in Coral Springs and everywhere else, it's about time that we bring our money home back to Margate. Since 1989, I have said Margate is a pass-through to somewhere else. It's time for that to stop, or for those of us who remember, we'll become Hacienda Village, which no longer exists because all it ever became was a speed trap that people were going through. So I'm happy that it's no more than 350 over there. I still would like to in some way tweak some of the things. While I think it's great that we have all the green space, I'm not sure we need a putting green. If we could maybe put a couple of stores there. Or maybe do something, because I see the sundry shop is 5,000 square feet. I don't know. That's pretty big for a sundry. Yeah, I think that's true because if that's the size of what a small restaurant would be then. But again, this is the first time when the public now gets to see what your concept is because they couldn't before. and I welcome whatever feedback we're gonna get. So I very much appreciate this and the fact that it was so heavily about the open space because we are the last open space on 441 and it's taken a long time to get to this point. So I thank you for that. That's all for me.

Board Member Simone.

I'm in agreement that we need a community center. I'm just not in favor of putting the community center in our downtown. Like I said before, I think it just hits a certain target group of people and I want our downtown to be for everybody, young and old. I would rather either see that turned into a restaurant or additional shopping, or I definitely would like to see that interactive playground because I think that's unique and that would be a big hit for our downtown. So I'm definitely going to see if I can fight for that, some sort of interactive playground.

Can I ask for something? I'm just curious because it seems like each one of us wants like this extra little thing. And I keep saying, take away a pickleball court. Is four pickleball courts too much? Like, can we take away one or two of those?

I want to say that it is 300 square feet. Maybe.

Was it like 30 by 10?

The court itself is 300. And then the surrounding. Yeah. It's roughly about 30 by 60.

Yeah. Oh, 30 by 60. 1800.

Right. Yeah, that's right.

But don't forget, if they make something like that big, those big paddles and that ball, people could use the pickleball court for something like that, and that would definitely be a draw.

And it doesn't have to be huge either, where little kids are, it just has to be different things in different parts so that people go to different places around.

I'd like to see the community center on phase two or phase three. I definitely think we need one, but just not in our downtown.

All right. All right, then. Thank you very much. Please, guys, thank you. I'm going to let some people in the public talk and give their ideas.

Great.

All right. By the way, I'm going to make sure that we are talking about

got three minutes and we are talking about the downtown let's let's keep it it is rich zucchini lakewood circle yep uh 20 years in the making and i spoil it down to three minutes to speak about it um cra board you're failing us let's have workshop meetings let's have a workshop immediately as soon as possible just to even discuss this presentation. I'm not really happy with it, and I'll tell you why. Retail. We have retail now on Margate Boulevard. And we're charging them $11, basically, a square foot for rent. And we still get many failures other than our anchor. If our anchor didn't bring traffic, we would have even more failures. 441 has 60,000 average daily traffic a day. Margate Boulevard has 6,000. The idea to line Margate Boulevard with retail is destined for failure. What are we going to do when those retail outlets fail? I mean, I appreciate the Norman Rockwell Pictures. They're very pretty. But unless we have traffic and we line it along 441, the retail is going to fail. And any of the residential, it is ridiculous to put residential along 441. That should be inset off of 441 for safety, and residential doesn't belong lining 441. Retail does. So take your plan, rotate it 90 degrees, and maybe we have something to talk about. Where's a space for major retailers like a Longhorn or something like that? I'm not a big fan of having pickleball and recreation. Yes, I'm a big fan of having a meeting place and a place for respite and meditation, like an origami gardens or something on the east side. That would be really nice. I'd love to see it. I'm going to really shock everyone, but Rosano, I agree with you about limiting to no apartments on the east side. However, we must have them on the west side because a development like this requires apartments, just like Meisner Park in Boca, that attracts a much higher demographic than we have. needed apartments even for the Meisner development. And I don't know if you guys have even looked at our demographics, but if you're going to put it along Margate Boulevard, we don't have the demographics to keep those retail businesses in business. We have to line ourselves along 441 for the visibility in order to guarantee their success. So rotate your plan 90 degrees. Let's focus on both sides because I want to see the total plan, not just half of it on the east side. And yes, the east side should be meeting place, entertainment, and dining. Thank you.

Sorry, can you put up that slide again where the recreation area is? Nina Culver, Margate resident. I have a question about this recreation area. No, the one where you can see the recreation center.

Sorry.

Yes, so... You know, it's great that you guys want to want to put recreation in there. And, and I agree on the getting people there early and late at different times for different things. My problem is, as I look, there's a child's play area in front of the rec center. Where are you supposed to park for the rec center? Where do you understand what I'm saying? You're not going to get anybody over there if if you have to walk from. Yeah, from the garage or whatever that is on that side. The rec center is an amazing idea, the basketball courts. And when you talk about getting a certain group there, these are the certain groups that you're going to get there. You're going to get the disabled community spends a lot of time on basketball courts. There are elder clubs that spend a lot of time on basketball courts and not just playing basketball. There are so many people that utilize those things that you may just not be aware. So it is something important to have, especially something covered and air conditioned. All of the surrounding cities, they hold and rent out the facility for huge tournaments. Do you know what kind of revenue that brings in? That alone is worth it. But if it doesn't have parking, you're not going to get people in there. I don't know about the fourth pickleball court, but the other three are great. I think those should definitely stay. There's a lot of people that play. I don't. I would injure myself for sure. But other than that, you guys took... a lot of great feedback from when you had the presentation that we all went and saw. And using the industrial materials on the outside is something that is timeless and eclectic and wouldn't have to go over constant redoing. And I'm glad you brought up who was going to maintain the property, Arlene, because that was one of the questions. Thank you.

With regard to parking, I'm not sure if it was mentioned in their presentation or not, but that loop road that is within the parcel is lined with parallel parking. And then there's also surface parking over to the left-hand side that would be open to the public. If that is overused or full, there is garage parking that's for the public as well. Okay.

Hi, good evening, Elsa Sanchez, Moorgate resident. I really am excited about the whole plan. I understand that the different requests from the different board members. But my question is this. The apartment buildings are in the big area in the back. And then do you have retail underneath that? Okay, and then on Margate Boulevard, they're going to be also apartment buildings and retail under that?

There's only two retail, no, two apartment buildings from what I've seen. One on one side, one on the other.

It's not the future, I'm sorry. For phase one on the east side, there's two structured buildings. Both of them have ground floor retail and residential units on top.

And that's $39,000. For those two buildings underneath those two buildings, is there any more retail on other buildings on that area, on that side?

In those two buildings and the outside restaurants, the total square footage of retail commercial space is 39,000.

And that whole is phase one?

That's phase one, yes.

Okay. What's happening with Margate Boulevard? That's phase two?

Phase two would be the west side of the road, west side of 441. And we've got some general master plans in spacing of buildings. But the idea is to carry a similar concept over to the west side of the road. with more, more apartments and retail on Denise, transforming Margate Boulevard, we're extending Margate Boulevard east of 441 and creating this this downtown Margate Boulevard roadway.

Okay, that was it. Thank you.

Finished.

Good evening. Jonathan Kraljic, my resident. I'm here as a resident because after all this downtown is for residents, correct? And this process is to hear the residents feedback. How many residential units are planned for this phase? And the structured parking and building one is 556 spaces. Is that parking structure exclusive for use of the downtown residents? Or is there a certain amount of parking spaces reserved for public use? And out of the 184 surface spaces, again, who's that reserved for? Is it the public, the business patrons, or public at large? And then for the height of the buildings, I'd like to see it scaled down to maybe five stories max. And as for building two, That's six stories. I recommend putting a hotel in that building because we don't have a hotel in Margate, and our out-of-town guests have to stay someplace else. And when people stay in hotels, they patronize the nearby shops and restaurants, and then we'll bring the residents from outside the downtown to meet their guests and dine. And the top level of that building could be a banquet hall overlooking the park since we're more than likely losing a very large banquet hall already on the golf course. And would the overall parking be sufficient for hotel guests, shop patrons, and hosting downtown events, and not only the downtown residents? I do suggest considering adding a walking trail along the canal to the east I'd like to see a larger green flex lawn for downtown events. I suggest bringing the rec center closer to the parking so that people don't have to walk very far from the parking area to reach the rec center, perhaps closer to 441 where the pickleball courts are planned. Move the rec lawn east to where the rec center is planned. and the pickleball courts could be moved closer together to conserve space and not so spread out from each other. The dog park should be open to everyone, not just downtown residents. Having it open to the city at large can spark dog-specific businesses to the downtown, like groomers and dog boutiques. And lastly, the rec zone. Will the 28 surface parking... and structured parking across the street on Park Drive at Building 1 be open to the public so the public at large can access those recreational amenities? And then what are those future connections? All right, thanks. Thanks for coming out.

Tracy Van Winkle, Margate resident. So if you have 350 apartments, how many parking spots are there going to be? Because it sounds to me like you're going to have not enough parking. We're going to be the same thing as the promenade, not enough parking. So what are you going to do with the people that go downtown and they're running around, running around, trying to find a parking spot and they get pissed off and leave? Why would I want to go downtown and try to shop when I can't find a spot? You have to have enough parking for the people that don't live in the apartments so they can utilize the shops. Where are they going to park? And if you think I want to go use the pickleball and park on the backside over here and go do pickleball, get all worked up and get tired and then walk another half mile back to my car, that doesn't sound right. It doesn't make sense to do that. I just don't understand the concept of all the apartments and stuff, and I really don't understand putting them on 441, but we do have apartments going on 441 down the south, but I guess those are okay to be on 441 because it's the south end of Margate. But I just don't understand the concept of building all these apartments with not enough parking for people to utilize the stores where you're going to make your revenue. It doesn't make sense. I think you need to go back with a plan. And if you say you can cancel this 99-year plan, why not? Or is it going to put us in another lawsuit for 25 years? I mean, did we make another mistake, guys? I don't know.

Hello, Mindy Lee, Margate resident. So I just wanted to say, yes, it's a bad development deal. It's a horrible deal. However, let's talk about this. Let's talk about the demographics in Margate, right? 25% of Margate is made up of 65-year-old people or older senior citizens. Another 12.5% live below the poverty line. Of the entire total demographics of Margate, 32% live below the medium. You're offering a space here mostly free, recreational. And although I love green space and I appreciate this, It's going to be filled with people that can't afford to spend money. Look at the events that we do in Margate when they're free. They're packed solid. So we're going to take all of this land, give it away on a 99-year lease, and then all these people that can't afford to spend money are going to come in and they're going to utilize this space, right? And let's talk about the retail. Let's talk about the restaurants. Before big box stores come into Margate, they're going to look at our demographics. They're going to look at their return on their investment. If they see that 40% of the demographics cannot afford to go out and spend, you think that we're going to attract a Longhorn or any other big box store? No, they're not going to come and they're not going to open here. So forget the fact that you're going to have these big 5,000 retail. No, that's not going to exist in Margate. And if any of you think that you're going to attract that here, then you're fooling yourself. So what Arlene said is break it up into smaller units. Go back to local. Let Margate be known for like the Promenade and all that. Maybe not those high-end stores, but let other stores come in. and expand the space on commercial. Just like she said, I'm disappointed. 25 years I waited, and this is the garbage that I waited for? I'm sorry. I'm going to lay it out there, guys, because this is not what Margate is. And if these developers think that this represents Margate hometown, it does not. OK, we need to keep the feeling of Margate. You want to attract people to come into Margate. You're offering all these free services. What do you think these free services are going to look like a year from now, two years from now, five years from now, 20 years from now, 50 years when all of you are dead except you? What do you think that's going to look like? Do you think it's going to be maintained? What happens when the first hurricane comes and wipes out this beautiful landscape, these beautiful trees, this beautiful development? Then what happens? Where do we pick up the pieces? How long will it take them to rebuild these spaces? This is what I'm talking about. If this is going to be the future of Margate, the downtown that all of us have waited 25 years for, it's not this, guys. It truly is not this. Forget the fact the 99-year lease and none of us will be around to even figure out what they're going to do with it or even if they're going to be the developers or end up reselling it over or doing something with the property.

30 seconds.

Please reconsider it. Make it nice little cozy shop so we can attract people to come in and have those businesses stay and thrive. Because right now business bankruptcies are up 94% statewide and you think Margate is going to somehow – Exceed that? It's not. So please rethink this entire plan. Put something in place that's long-term, sustainable, and is what Margate is. Thank you.

Public comment is closed. Board Member Schwartz, you've been...

Yes. Well, I wanted to hear everyone. I was gonna suggest that we take one of the pickleball fields and the putting green and do, where was that park that we went to that had one after the other, they were like almost containers, but they weren't containers that were rested? Fisherman's Wharf in Tampa. That one? Yes. Okay.

Sparkman's Wharf. Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco. Yes. Sparkman's Wharf.

That's exact. That we do little things like that over there because then if you're going to have kids playing, then maybe they want to get them a soda or somewhere to sit down close by where they're playing as opposed to walk across somewhere else. Maybe you position some of these things throughout the park so that it's convenient. Otherwise, people like me with a torn tendon might not want to walk that far. to go get something to eat if there's something closer. Or something specific, since it's all playground, that has to do with kids, whether it's ice cream, lollipops, whatever the heck it might be, or... whatever children's meals that we don't have in all the other places around. So I'm more than happy to give up a pickleball field because as much as I'm happy to have all of the Margate residents come there, we have other parks for some of these things as well. And just got finished with a $10 million parks fund. So I don't want to see 59,000 people think this is the only place they can go. to see a park when there are other places specifically for this and this is also specifically for bringing people to stop, shop, eat and stay. So there has to be a balance and I'm more than happy to give up the pickleball field because That's not what this is about here. It's the city center. Some of that has to bring people for other reasons other than to play pickleball, which right now you can do in almost every other park. So I would like to take some of those other things that are maybe excessive for what it is and put other little things that make people stop there because they're convenient. I mean, even in Disney World, as you're going out, you can go stop and get a soda. You can somewhere else do that or you can buy a t-shirt or whatever it is. But it's specific and it draws people over so that they're not in just one spot and they're spread out throughout the entire area because 17 acres seems like a lot to me to walk. So, you know, put things that are convenient around. And again... My thing is to stop, shop, and stay. And I think the other thing is great, but we got other parks for that.

Just wanted to say that.

And I'm thrilled that the public has gotten up and said whatever they said regardless, because this is the first time we've heard anybody say anything about a plan. Whether good, bad, or indifferent, at least people have gotten to see it. And you've gotten to hear it firsthand.

Thank you.

In closing, I will say this. I agree with Charlene. And every resident that came up, not one of them said this is a great idea. Not one. You guys got to admit we made a mistake with this developer's agreement. It's no problem just to say, you know what? Let's just reconsider and let's do something else. I'm going to tell you this. You learn by mistakes. The promenade, and I'll tell you right now, my wife asked me to go to dinner there with the family. I drove around, around, around. I'm not a parking garage guy. will not park in a parking garage. I left. Paid for dinner, but I left. So this right here is prime retail space. To put a pickleball court, crazy. To put a recreation center, I agree with it. I love a recreation center. Not over there, guys. That's prime property. To put city-ran businesses over there, makes no sense. No sense. And I understand commissioners like Pickleball, like community centers want their input in to say, hey, I'm just the one who did that. Huge mistakes, guys. I'm telling you right now. Make it shopping, dining, entertainment. Rich, you nailed it. You put shops back there. People aren't going to go to them. I go to Ace. You know, I go to Ace and Pete's because I can pull right up, walk right in. People don't want to drive around. Tracy, you nailed it. I'm not going to go park at a pickleball court that's a half a mile away and get sweaty by the time I get there, even though I'm going to get more sweaty. But you guys got to understand, this is our future down here. You're basically giving it to a developer. 99 years. Beautiful apartments. I think the starting rate is $2,500? $3,000? Somewhere around there? $3,000, guys. So basically, this project is, this is the developer's dream. This is a project where a developer would put all these apartments, put a little bit of shopping and dining downstairs, make some extra money down there, put all the monies above that, guys, and we're selling out our community because we're building this for the people that are potentially going to live there. Let me tell you, Malaluca Drive, right here, Margate. Well, look at those apartments, guys. 60 years ago, they were beautiful, luxurious apartments. Same as that. 50 years from now when Tracy's sitting here with the gray and I'm here with the gray, we're going to be looking at this being, oh my gosh, we really made this mistake? Guys, this is prime property. You're better off selling it and putting restrictions in there and saying, no apartments. We want all retail. And let the private sector do it. But for us trying to delegate the private sector and telling the big developer what to do, this is actually... What is it called? Let me do something twice. No, no, no. Insanity. This is insanity, guys. We're basically giving a piece of property for 99 years. We can't do nothing. No say. It's limited to retail. But yet we're going to tell our residents we've been waiting 30 years for this. This is a way worse deal than the other one, guys. And we're giving them $35 million. Reconsider this, guys. It's okay to say you made a mistake. I made a lot of mistakes. I have no problem admitting to them. But this one is a horrible deal. Horrible. It's not going to be what we planned on giving the residents tax breaks in the future with the money we'd be making on that property. I can tell you right now, there are places over there. My friend has a nail salon in Walmart. He's looking to do 10,000 square feet. They want to raise him to over $40 a square foot, right? We can have him come here, $30 a square foot. He would come here in a heartbeat. That's 10,000 square feet, guys. You ask residents that are in the back of Ace, I'm sure they would love to come here for twice the rent. No problem. I'm sure you go to Winn-Dixie Plaza. They're paying $40 a square foot, same as Walmart. They would love to come here. When the promenade crashes, what are they going to do? They're going to look for a cheaper rent. I'm here, but to give it to the developer, you're looking at me again. It's a horrible, I'm looking at you. And I'm just saying it's, it's just realistically. And you guys, I mean, whoever came up with the pickleball court ideas to put it on private property, I mean, public property, absolutely ridiculous. We're not getting any return on it. And then the parking from what I heard, there's going to be 300 units and 160 parking spots for 500, 500 and something. That's not even two spots per unit. And are these units just for the apartments? Are they for the whole development? It's a horrible plan, guys. It might look good. The Norman Rockwell, Rich, you threw me back with that one. The pictures are good. Said the presentation was good. I don't agree with it, though, guys. We can do so much more on that property, make so much more money, get a bigger bang for our buck, give the residents what they want. Like I said, not one resident said it's a great idea. Reconsider it, guys. You had great ideas. You can do those great ideas without a developer, without somebody taking our money. I'm telling you, it's not going to be... The community center, you know who's going to wind up paying for it? Taxpayers. We're paying for a building that we're supposed to be profiting on? It doesn't make any sense, guys.

That's why I said, who's taking care of it? Then we're going to have to hire more staff and incur more money.

You said that, I agreed.

And I'm not... big fan of increasing our exposure, especially with what's going down the pike.

No. And I, I love the idea of the community center. I love it. But to do it on that side, let's start over there with shopping, dining and retail. If it's great and there's a need for the apartments, you've got the whole West side guys.

I'm going to need the apartments in the beginning. You're not going to need the apartment. So we have to make those. We have strip malls all along for 41 that are dead. And as all, as board member Schwartz had said, Listen, if it was able to have been done, it would have already been done. We literally have... crappy, crappy strip malls on 4441 between Coconut Creek Parkway going up to Sample. And we've offered facade grants. We've offered so much and they don't take it because they don't want to invest. These guys want to put a half a billion dollars in our city and make it something as a showpiece. And I would think that they have a rough idea if they're going to put a half a billion dollars into it that they have a rough idea

of what they're doing. I'm sure they know what they're doing. Okay. So then give them the apartments. I know, but it includes the apartments. Yes. You need people. Walmart Plaza is packed. You go there any time of the day, it is packed. You go to Winn-Dixie, it's packed. Every place there is packed. You drive along 441, these other property owners, they look like hell and they're not crying. We offered them money. You're right.

But they're not willing to do anything to make the city better. Exactly. That's why the CRA bought all this property. Because we had decided a long time ago that if we can't get them to change the city, we're going to have to buy the stuff and change it for the people of the city.

And I'm not disagreeing with you.

Okay. We're just disagreeing on how it's done as opposed to it needing to be done.

Exactly.

Anthony, there's people out there that own plazas. You get into financial statements and stuff like that. It's a whole different ballgame. There's a reason why probably that those plazas aren't renting. There's a reason. But you take the ones that are profiting, they keep up with their property. The guy on Atlantic right now, we talked about the CRA, we gave him a $650,000 grant. That building's coming along great. He's going to turn around and he wants to do another one. And the reason why he does it is because he knows how to market property. You ever watch his videos? The guy's a billionaire, right? But this right here, the city could do so much better and make so much more money.

You think the city has the ability to design, market, and do this better than people who do this across the country, across the world?

You said people that do this better than. No, I don't think the city can. But I will say partnering with a developer is not a bad idea. But the developer's agreement that you guys signed was one of the worst developer deals ever in this history. It was worse than the last.

It's your opinion. You're allowed to have your opinion.

Yeah, I do. I honestly do. We're all allowed to have our opinions, too. I honestly do. And like I said, there's thousands of residents that are not for this. They don't want it. It's great. The pictures are great. The developer's one of the best out there. I'm not criticizing you guys. The developer's deal is horrible. It's horrible for the residents of the city of Margate. doesn't get any worse we're giving you 35 million dollars we're giving you a 99 year lease why not just sell you the property sell you the property for 150 million dollars I mean it doesn't make any sense sell it and put restrictions on it we can do that it doesn't make any sense to hold on to this property and potentially come up with a number we don't really know, and then start putting public amenities on it that we're paying for.

Listen, you didn't hear me saying, you heard me questioning public amenities about what the cost was going to be and that we were going to be responsible for it. You heard me say that. So we're not disagreeing on that either. I'm just saying that we agree.

We agree. But the developer's agreement deal that was signed,

It's just the first. We can always, when they come back, we can always say no, thank you. We can always say no, thank you. Listen, let's let the experts show us what they can do after listening to us. We still have the ability to say no, and they have the ability to say no. If they don't like at the end of the game, we don't want what they have. We're not giving up our right to say no. And guess what? They're not giving up their right to say no either. But what they're doing is they're willing to commit money to show us what their dream for this area is. And if nothing else, we should give them an opportunity to show us their dream of what they think this could be as we're giving them our thoughts of what we believe our dreams should be. That's all I'm saying is give these guys a chance. They're willing to put maybe a million, two million dollars into coming up with a better design after listening to us talk about what we would like. And they know they're gonna have to do something closer to what we like if we're gonna say yes. And then they'll have the opportunity, if they don't like what we say, they can say, no, we don't want to do it. All I'm saying is, let's see what this internationally recognized business has to offer Margate. They want to make Margate the flagship of their area here so that they can show other cities in Florida what they can do. I mean, what a better opportunity. What a better opportunity.

That's all I'm saying is give these guys a chance. They're here. I think we've given them a chance. And by the developer's deal, yes, it's going to be in their portfolio. It's going to be great to say, hey, we got a property from the city of Margate, close to 70 acres, a 99-year lease, and we're in full control.

And it's working, and the stores are making money, and the place is rented, and people are here at night and take a look at all the events that are going on. We did it right. And the people of Margate are going to say, man, We did it right. We don't have to go to Carl's. We don't have to go to coconut Creek. We don't have to go to park. We don't have to go to all these other places to have fun because Margate finally has what we finally done. As Arlene have said for years, we want to make Margate a place that people drive to and not drive through. And these people have the expertise to at least give us that opportunity. And we should give them every opportunity to show us their expertise.

But that drone is not, It's not good for the city of Bargate, I'm going to tell you right now. And you say millions of dollars they've invested? I've been building for over 30 years. You've been building, not designing. If that cost them over $200,000, I'd be shocked.

No, that's what they're going to be doing. They're going to be putting more money into it. They're going to be putting in over the time from day one to when we have the final design work in front of us that we can decide yes or no. They'll probably spend the million dollars in staff time to do it. Staff time, yeah. Because that's justification, Anthony. You don't know the public. It's a justification to do the best product forward. Because if not, they're going to be out a million dollars. I don't know. How many people do you know can be out a million dollars and think it's just another walk in the park?

I'm saying it's a horrible deal. You guys should reconsider. You believe it's a horrible deal? I really do. Why not sell the property? I don't understand giving a property away for 99 years. You can't do anything with it. You have no say on it. Once it's over, it's their property. It's their property. We're going to be stuck. It goes back to the city, I believe.

It goes back to the city, of course it does. For the 99 years.

Yeah, just like Hong Kong. If I saw you on Malaluca Drive, those apartments that are there, after 99 years, I'll give you all those apartments on Malaluca. Back then, you would have said, that's a great idea. But let me tell you, there's another 20 years before they're 99 years. I wouldn't take them now.

After you reach your final design, you still have to come back with a ground lease that'll have all the details with respect to who's responsible for maintaining, who's gonna pay what costs, where the parking's gonna, who's gonna pay for what parking, what parking's gonna be available for the public, and those details will come back to you. So what you're seeing tonight is what, is the covering, the ground lease will contain all the details as far as what will happen with that property What revenue comes to the city as a result of parking? What revenue comes to the city as a result of event space or food trucks or other activities on the property? David, I understand that. We haven't signed a ground lease yet, so I know everybody's talking about that.

This is just for the drawing, and I get it. I'm just going back because we only meet once a month. If that, we meet once a month. So to hash it out here, I don't talk to these guys behind the scenes. I don't want to. But to say here that this is a good project, everybody up here has said it's not enough retail. But yet you guys approved 39,000 square feet of retail.

They can come back and change it. We still have an opportunity to okay the project or not.

But it just goes to show you that you guys approved 39,000 square feet. But everybody said tonight there's not enough retail.

And it's a start.

So you know what? Admit you agree to a developer's deal that you weren't. We didn't sign a deal. We're talking about the first. Reading, I mean, there was a first, it's coming back again, exactly. But tonight say, you know what? I want to make a change in the developers agreement and I want 80,000 square feet. You guys can do that. Or when do we do that, David? If somebody wanted to say, we want to change it to 80,000, when do you do that? Or 100,000, when do you do that?

Well, you currently have an executed development agreement that provides for the amount of commercial space in each phases. If it was a series board to desire to amend that, then you'd have to direct your executive director and your attorney to go and see if there's any ability to negotiate that amendment. with your development partner.

Okay, can I make a motion that we look into amending it, that we raise it to at least whatever you guys want for square foot retail space? I would say at least $80,000. I'd go with $60,000. I'm going with $80,000.

It wasn't $60,000 at one point, what was originally $60,000.

Just remember the $39,000 is just phase one. You have additional commercial space that goes up to $60,000 when you add in phase two and phase three.

Talking about the east side. Eastside amending it to 80,000 square feet of retail.

You're going to give up a lot of your open space. You have to give up open space.

I mean, you can give up the basketball courts.

You can give up a pickle court. For eight years ago, I've said that maybe we should look into what the county is going to make us use for surface water space. Because I think Antonio mentioned it tonight. I've been bringing it up for eight years. They might say you have to put three acres out there.

Well, we're going to find out. They're going to find out.

Wouldn't you want to find that out prior to? Why would they spend? Why would they? Why wouldn't they have a design and say this design?

What does this design? He just said it tonight. What is this? He was asked tonight, Matt.

You were asked, do you know how much surface water the county is going to make you put? And the answer was.

But it's not. My point is there's enough space out there that it's not a problem. Having worked on countless projects. That's not a concern.

They're going to make you put in special areas for surface water. They're not going to let you drain into the canal.

Well, you don't know that. First of all, you don't know that either, that we couldn't drain into the canal. Why not? It's an option to drain into the canal. My point is, it's not a concern. Regardless, regardless.

But I'm giving you facts, Matt.

To be fair to the development agreement that's executed, that this board... voted to approve, right? We have a development agreement in place. You've given us a lot of positive feedback tonight that we want to take and work on revised plans and present again. We would request that the board allow us that opportunity to do that, rather than, based on feedback from someone who I respect, but who is against this project no matter what, if we're being fair... is telling you to renegotiate with us now when the ink is barely dry on the development agreement that was presented to you that a majority of this board voted in favor of. And while we respect that you think there could be more retail, give us an opportunity to work on the plans and come back. We have to do that anyway per the terms. But to derail it at this very first moment I think would be inconsistent with what this board voted to do not very long ago.

Matt, no disrespect, but prior to you, there was a contract with the developer.

I know.

The board sat here on a candidate night when two of the people were running at Holiday Springs, and they approved a contract. You had two people tonight that are running totally against this project. So you know what? Do you want to throw it out there? Not to bid. Whatever happens in the future, you might get two people up here that are like, I don't want this damn project. So I'm just bringing it out now. I'm trying to work out a happy medium. That's all. I don't think the retail is good. Everybody up here said it wasn't good. The residents said it wasn't good. But you guys just want to sit here and prolong this problem.

Hold on. There were five speakers in a city of 60,000 people. So if we are going to design a multi-million dollar project based on A tiny, tiny percentage of the city. That would be silly. OK, this is a big city with lots of opinions. You are the democratically elected representatives of them and a majority decided to enter in this development agreement. So while we respect their opinions and we'll try to incorporate some of their concerns. There's a handful of people in a large city with a lot of people that are working that can't make it to these meetings. So it would be somewhat unfair to the city as a whole to be modifying based on pretty limited public comment.

All right. Let's hold on for a second, please. I'm not going to stop you. I'm just going to say I need a five-minute recess. Then you can continue on.

So are we doing a five-minute recess? All right.

He's calling for a five-minute recess.

Yes. That's it, Ning.

Before I go to the new person, Tommy hadn't finished. I finished him and said I had to. So you can finish.

I'll be real quick. You know, there were probably five or six people. I get it. But I'm pretty vocal on Facebook and there were thousands that were against this. There were petitions for thousands that were signed against this So I'm going to leave it at that. Like I said, I don't think the deal was the best. I think the city could have gotten a lot more. And I hope that we can negotiate something better because I would love to be partners with you guys. I really would. I wish you guys would have started on the west side or maybe even just started with shopping and dining entertainment on the east side, leaving a parcel that you could possibly build apartments. But I just can't do it right now. So that's it. Respectfully, I think you guys are great. I mean, you guys are a number one company for a reason. It just makes me wonder why you want to come to Lowell-Margaret. That's it.

We can thank Colliers and go on to Antonio.

To conclude, as you said before, I didn't vote for the agreement either. I know you wanted it to go to the ballot, which I agree. I put it on the agenda at the commission meeting to do it. It didn't go anywhere. I think also the developer agreement was already done. But just because you said you guys, I didn't vote for it either. But I did say I would still give constructive feedback.

Right, you have a partner now.

Listen, we get along. I've been on board with a lot of your projects, but there's ones I don't like. I still will tell you what I think would be less impactful, even if it's out of my control. If I'm outvoted, I'm still going to give my input. So one thing, though, that... I want to bring up again, because I brought it up in the past as far as the phases. I don't know why phase one has always had to be just the east side. Now, when we started going through this process, at one point you were no apartments at all. Now you're saying if it's the west side, you wouldn't fight it. And where I'm going with this is one of the other bidders, when we went and talked to them and stuff, they had a suggestion of phase one being... developing majority of the east side, maybe not 100% of it, but a good portion of it with just the retail, the restaurants, the shops, the public space, and then doing a residential structure on the west side. And that was phase one. So you're getting the apartments, you're getting the shopping, but you're also getting it shopping just on the east side. So I don't know why I've Couldn't go back to something like that. But, you know, it just doesn't have to be the east side of the road. Phase one could be a portion of both sides. But anyways, I just wanted to clarify where I stood on it. That's it. Thanks.

Arlene, we're going to let you wrap this up so we can move on.

I am. I'm at the point where, because although I would love the amenities for people to come, my desire is to see them come, buy something, spend money, go, and let the next group come. But would you explain about the parking so that people asked about that because I'm curious too.

Right. So the plan that you saw tonight contemplates, I believe somewhere in the range of 870 to 900 total parking spaces. Right. And so with 350 apartments, some of those are of course going to be used for the apartments. And then there's the overflow and on-street parking that would be provided for the retail and the open space features.

Is the parking garage solely for the apartments or is that... No, it's... Or is there, let's say, a first floor or something, open parking?

It would likely be like that. But when we come back for the next one, we can provide more details on specifically how we would do that. But typically, what you see in a mixed-use project is the lower floors serve the retail and the upper floors... That's what I figured, but I figured I would also ask because it came up and it's an intimate question. Well, I mean, listen... We're not trying to avoid the topic, but our interests are aligned on parking. We don't want to under-park it. The project wouldn't be successful. So it's not something that we're going to shy away from. It needs to be parked right.

And since it was asked, I don't want the public to think that we ignored the question because I was curious as well.

Sure.

Now explain why people, because I read this about Fort Lauderdale as well, and I read it about Hollywood. Explain the 99-year release. I understand that 100 years means ownership.

Correct.

Explain why that seems to be the default number when it comes to things like this.

So the CRA did an offering memorandum with Collier's where you solicited developers like my client to come to the city and make offers. And in that offering memorandum, you said that the preference was for a long-term lease so that the CRA would maintain some control over it as landlord. That was the deal that was offered to the development community. And so the CRA stays in as a partner. As you know, there are a variety of deal points in the development agreement where the CRA gets continuing revenue over the life of that lease. And so I don't want to speak for your executive director. My understanding is that was considered a better deal for the CRA than just selling the land, which would be a one-time fee. discounted and so the CRA wouldn't be getting as much money in that arrangement.

And I will simply say that I would be against selling the land because I don't want to look at University and Sample Road. Because once you sell the land that is already zoned for whatever they want to do, you have no say. So I will remind you that at one point they were going to do a hotel there. Then they were going to do a movie theater there. Then they backed out of that and did apartments all the way up to the sidewalk. And every one of us goes past that intersection and says, never in Margate.

Yeah, this is a much better design.

So at least as a landlord, I'm assuming that you have an ability to speak to the people you've rented it to, for lack of a better word, and have some input and that everybody wants it to be successful. But you still have certain control over building permits, heights of things.

Well, yeah. I mean, so the 99-year lease makes the CRA a long-term partner in this project. With a vested interest on a continuing basis. If the offering memorandum said sell the land, there would have been a purchase and sale agreement at a price point. And then we would have just been any other property owner.

Whatever you want to put there, you would have had the perfect right to do so. Right. Including exceed heights of buildings based on some of the things on July 1st that have changed.

I live local.

Thank you.

Well, I mean, listen, a lot of things could have happened. We entered into a long-term lease so that there would be this dialogue we're having where everyone's got a say and there's tons of feedback and you guys are our partners. And so that's why we appreciate that. Sorry.

And you'll be able to see those terms if and when we get to that point where you'll see the revenue stream that comes in to the CRA over the period of that 99-year ground lease.

Auditing and stuff.

And while I recognize that not even he will probably be here for that, because I know how old he is. Eventually, whoever is there, and if in 99 years it means that it has to come down and be rebuilt, quite frankly, the city is 70 years old. There's an awful lot of the city that needs to come down and be rebuilt. Because as time goes on, things change. That's part of, whatever it is, part of things happening. So, and gentlemen, I'm going to say it in the kindest way possible. But when the related group was here, one of you said, and I quote, so 500 apartments is not a deal breaker. And the other one of you said, I wouldn't even have that amount and I wouldn't have that problem. because it showed up on somebody's Facebook page, and I got to recently see it. So, I'm tired of hearing what you didn't vote for. I didn't vote for other things. I don't go and say that. Either we work together and come up with something that works for the city, or we end something, but we agree it doesn't work for the city. But I'm so tired of hearing who voted for what. We are here now, and we're going to vote for what. So, either we find something that we can all live with, and what do they say? If everybody's unhappy, then it's a good deal. Or we don't. They have heard what we've had to say. We're not all excited. Even though the green space is great, we're not all excited about not having what this was supposed to be, which is a lot of retail, because we want people to do that. I'm going to hope that you hear some of that. I'm going to hope that you hear some of that. And we do something with that. Or we rearrange some of those things. So if there are two less pickleball fields, I can live with it. There are pickleball fields in other places. But my idea is to attract people who live here and who don't live here to say, hey, let's see what's doing in Margate. Because I want Margate to finally have a name somewhere and not people ask me if I'm talking about Margate, England or Margate, New Jersey.

That's it. Thank you.

I'm going to wrap it up and say thank you for a two-hour grilling and being able to handle the questions and the answers and understanding how important... Listen, this is really important to us. It's all like looking at an elephant with a blindfold on and everybody having a different feel of what the elephant is. But there's not one of us here that doesn't want to have a Margate that we can be proud of, and that we want people to come to the downtown, people who live here and enjoy the fact that we've upgraded the city for them, and for all of our future residents. Because I promised my daughter that I wanted to make the city a city that she wanted to raise her kids in. And to do that, we have to keep modernizing. We have to keep making. We just can't stay still. If you stay still, you're going backwards. So we have to move forward. And this, to me, is an opportunity for us to move the city forward. We'll work out our differences to at least some extent. And if nothing else, everyone here recognizes the brilliance of your company. And we're hoping that you bring that brilliance to us. So thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.

We'll see you soon.

Thanks.

All right. And now on to, what's it, 4A? Item 4A.

A resolution by the Board of the Margate Community Redevelopment Agency approving the agreement for purchase and sale of real property and development agreement between the MCRA and Norvalani for the real properties located at 1491 North State Road 7 and 5750 Northwest 15th Street, Margate, Florida. A copy of the agreement is attached here to Exhibit A. Finding the sales for fair value pursuant to Section 163.3802 Florida Statute directing the MCRA Executive Director to publish notice of the Margate CRA's intent to dispose of the Margate CRA real property pursuant to section 163.383 Florida statute directing the exec director to bring back any proposals received for the sale of the market CRA property if any are received following publication of the required notice further directing the authorized market CRA officials to execute the agreement for purchase and sale of no other proposals are received by the market CRA providing for conflicts providing for an effective date. This resolution is before you for your consideration. And I just want to include one other phrase in the introductory clause where it says agreement for purchase and sale and development agreement. If no other proposals are received by the market CRA. Thank you. What is the wish of the board?

So move.

Second.

Board member Schwartz.

Thank you. This is about business. This is not about friendship. I cannot in any way, shape, or form, since now the CRA funding is city tax dollars. my tax dollars, their tax dollars. I can't approve $425,000 for a piece of property that was bought 22 years ago for $725,000 that is still appraised. It's $725,000. And quite frankly, it's going to be part of the city center. And therefore, perhaps this ought to wait until everybody agrees on what that's going to look like before there's a piece of property that's sold that may not fit design-wise, and I wouldn't want to see anybody waste their money designing anything that isn't cohesive with everything else. Or that too. So I think this is very premature, but I can't, this is being offered to be sold for less than most of our houses are equal to, the value of my house, and I can't do that. Because especially since at this point, there's no reason to. And quite frankly, right now, those people who are in the plaza, which is shops of Margate Plaza, pay extraordinarily little square foot, as in $10.80. I don't find it appropriate, now that CRA money is not coming from the county or anywhere else, and this is purely funded by our tax dollars, and that there may be less tax dollars to talk about, to do something like that at a discount of $300,000. So it has nothing to do with who I like because I certainly like the people there. It has everything to do with business. This is a very poor business deal. So I would suggest that we hold off on any of this. That's my two cents worth.

Vice Chair? Nor, nor, nor. Sorry you're caught in the middle of this. But we've told these people in the plazas to be proactive. The former commission said that when We were going to develop the downtown. We would save you guys spots, whatever. As soon as the developer got it, the old owner of Ace said, hey, I'd like to get a spot. And the owner said, a million dollars. Horrible. But I mean, I don't look at this as a business deal. I look at it as a business owner in Marigate. It's been there more than 40 years, Ace? I don't even know. He's been there. No, the original owner. And now we're asking them to be proactive and go look and see what you want to do. I understand you're going to invest millions in the property. I get it. But I don't mean to say it's not worth it. If Noor was a regular customer in the city of Marriott, a business owner, he could apply for a $600,000 grant.

That's true, but he doesn't have, no, but he can't right now because he doesn't own a piece of property.

But to talk about businesses and the bad business move, This guy's willing to invest hundreds of thousand dollars on the property, then invest millions into the building. And the situation he's in is we created it because you guys could have said, which I asked years ago to preserve the Ace Plaza. You guys didn't want to do it. There's nothing there to preserve anymore.

There's nothing there to preserve anymore. Every original...

It's funny how you guys get this impression that anything 40 years old is falling apart at 50 years old. It's falling apart, and you're saying that on the record, then nor you should get out of there. It's not falling apart. Liability. God forbid you get hurt. You just heard that the building's falling apart. So get the hell out. Run. Steve, run. The building's falling apart. Is that what you just said?

We put $2 million in it, it's not falling apart. But there is nothing there anymore historic.

So my point is, you're trying to be proactive. You're trying to do the right thing. This board, I don't know how the vote's going to go. I have no problem doing it. I think it's great you want to do it. Your neighbor, Muna, came up last meeting, last month, wanted to invest over $2 million on a parcel. I just didn't want to do it. I don't get it. We're trying to develop our city and get good tenants in. You're one of the best tenants next to the guy next to you. Well, his boss. But they don't want to do it. Why? I don't know.

I'm not saying I don't want to do it. I don't want to sell it for $425,000 when it was purchased 22 years ago for $725,000. Okay.

That's why you're making a concession. I just said that we... A concession?

That's ridiculous. They're asking to buy a piece of property that's worth, that is less money than what my house is. Well, it's less money than what most houses are.

Charlene, that's irrelevant.

I don't think it's irrelevant. I think the amount... Okay, but you don't.

But we talked about with Lester's years ago. Lester's was going to do the same thing and buy it. There wasn't a problem with it. Maybe they don't like Ace. I love your story. I go there almost every day.

That was part of a multi... That was a land swap. That was a land swap.

That was a land swap. That wasn't.

Yeah, they were going to take that side of the...

The CRA cannot get into land swap deals with private sectors. That's what they were going to do before they wanted the piece of property. That's what they were going to do. It wasn't just a straight up... Okay, so then fill me in. What was the land swap? What land swap are we talking about?

They were doing something with, they were going to go on the other side of the street. No, they weren't. Yeah, they were.

It was kind of sucked about.

I saw the pictures. They were going on the other side of the street with enough stairs.

Lesbos wanted to buy that same exact property, made an offer, and that was it. There was no contingencies.

They wanted to stop it from happening.

Was there any contingencies with another?

What? I don't remember any contingency. They submitted an offer to buy that property. We considered it, and they didn't pursue it. Exactly. What I'll say regarding this landfill, and to Board Member Schwartz, on the face of it, a transaction like this, we buy it for $725, and we sell it for $425. It doesn't look good. The purchase agreement and the development agreement has contingencies in there that they must perform. They must invest in that land. They must build a building and operate it. Absent that, this does not close. So aside from the dollars that they will pay for the property, which is below appraised value, they will have to invest in constructing a building, which will generate business income or revenue for the city in tax dollars. So I respect your opinion. I hear what you're saying regarding the value that we paid for it. What we're looking at selling for it does not match. However, there is a future benefit to that property that must come to fruition in order for this transaction to go through. And there's a time limit on that.

Okay. What's the time limit?

The time limit is they must submit buildable plans within 180 days of the execution of a phase two ground lease for the city center. So we trigger... Five years from now? No, it could be five years from now.

Seven years from now?

It could be. It could be less. The point is we don't close on that property. They don't have those property rights until that comes to fruition.

Then why would you even do this now until there's a phase two to even talk about?

So that is a point for this board to discuss. In terms of the offer that we have, they want to secure their place in the city and they're looking to do that now.

Okay. And by the way, I do remember what happened. What happened was they were going to do something with the people doing Cocoa Gate Plaza. And what happened was they didn't want to put the money in escrow. And that is why that deal fell through. And I absolutely know I'm right. It had nothing to do with the city.

It had nothing to do with the city. Exactly. I know that's what happened. We all know that's what happened.

No, we didn't all because you asked me why it didn't happen. So now I remember.

No, no, no. In other words, Lester's wanted to buy the property. Yes. The reason why they didn't buy it is because of whatever happened with the escrow. But it was the same deal with Noor.

But Lester's wasn't offering to buy the property for $300,000 less than it was worth.

I believe it was, yeah. It was not at appraised value. I don't remember what the value was, but it was.

So basically what I'm saying is if we did for one, why not do for the other? So it was the same deal. I wish you the best. I hope this passes. I think you're a great tenant, and we'll see what happens.

I don't think he's a bad tenant either. But you know what?

I'm not a realtor, and there's a realtor up here, but Antonia, is there a possibility that that property could go down in price?

21 years it hasn't.

Well, that's because of good leadership sitting up here.

Yeah, okay.

We can't have it both ways. But properties can go down. It can go down. So, Nora, you are taking a risk.

You're taking a risk. One of the few empty pieces of property in Broward County, it's not going down.

Listen, this board's here to clean up slum and blight, and that has been vacant for years. And, Nora, I'd love to see you take it and develop it and take this guy with you. Give him 1,000 square feet right next to you, and then that'll seal the deal for me. I'm only joking. I wish you guys the best. I hope it passes. No, I really do.

I have no problem with the idea. I have a problem with the amount since now we are self-funding this. This is no longer the money from the county or anyone else. And you're talking about the possibility that people will vote against their own self-interest and give up their homestead, which means we will not get 37% of our budget. You talk about, well, we won't do this and we won't do that. This is $300,000. At least come up with a fair amount that isn't that ridiculously low. Especially since, in all due respect, They're paying $10.80 a square foot. And because they're a great business, they never closed during COVID. We gave out three 500, we waived rent for three months. We gave out $500 for a parking issue that nobody had because of the carnival. At some point, We have made it very easy for people, and I think it's great to be able to afford to buy something, but then buy it at a decent amount that doesn't hurt the city. That amount hurts the city.

Just remember that with Cocoa Gate. All the hundreds of thousands of dollars that you guys said okay with.

I have no problem saying that for anybody.

Board Member Osorio.

Can someone please... list all of the protections in there. I know we had discussed about if they sell, are we going to have a certain percentage stake ownership in the business? Do we have first right of refusal? If they want to sell or assign the business, do we get to pick the partner? Do we get a percentage of the sale? I'm not so against the price that they want to pay because part of it is getting rid of some and blight and sometimes it's just the cost of doing business. But... I just want to know what those protections are.

So in the purchase and sale agreement, there's a right of first refusal, profit sharing, declaration of covenants and restrictions included. So in the event that Mr. Villani, after he closes on the property, you know, constructs and everything. If he receives a bona fide offer to purchase the property within the first five years after the completion date, the CRA will have the rights to purchase the property in the same material terms and conditions offered by the third party. If they don't If we don't exercise the right of first refusal, then the CRA should be entitled to 50% of the net profits from the sale of the property. And then we also have the right to impose certain covenants or restrictions in favor of the CRA to make sure that what is developed on that property is what's actually developed on that property.

Okay. So in this case, the deal is not a bad deal. The only thing I'm really a toss up on this though, I guess it comes down to just not having a final plan with the downtown and you know, phase two could be years away. So I'm just trying to weigh

So I'm curious to hear what the rest of the board thinks.

But that's kind of the toss-up for me is the timing. I've said it from the beginning. I think that Noor's business absolutely fits in the CRA in this downtown plan. I think the barbershop, I think the game place. But there's a time and a place. And that's just what I'm trying to figure out right now.

There should be a cohesive plan of what everything looks like before you sell off pieces.

Board Member Simone.

So I know that this property was in the developer's agreement. So the developer is OK with the sale of it? And did it have to get his approval, too?

If this is approved, that would be part of the conditions of the sale, is that you'll get a written waiver from the developer.

Is the developer going to want something as well?

They did not indicate any issue with this transaction, no.

My understanding is the way they see it, they're going to have to deal with them or work with them. It didn't sound deal with them, but they're going to have to, as being a tenant, as someone that we'd want to keep, they're going to have to figure out what to do with them. So this is almost alleviating that problem on their end. I don't mean a problem in a bad way, just trying to...

It's not contiguous to city center property. It's far enough removed from the core of our city center that they don't have any issue with it.

Thank you for clarifying that.

So then in answer to my question, basically this is just to let it go out to me if other people want to bid on the property? Yes.

So per statute, we have to advertise and put notice out that we are going to dispose and sell this property and provide a period of opportunity for other people to submit proposals. Yes. Yeah, it could be an investor. You know, anybody that's just looking to buy land.

Yeah, the state statutes require that we do this advertisement. So if we don't get any proposals back, then the agreement will be signed. If we get proposals back, then executive director will review, will likely bring to you, and then you can decide if we need to do anything further.

When the proposal...

I have a question. Let's just say we get six proposals, and one is for $550,000. Do we have to sell it to that? No. Or do we have the right to still say we think ABC is a better fit?

Correct.

Okay, I just want to make sure that if someone bids $2 more than him, he doesn't lose it automatically. It comes back to us. Okay. Arlene, you want to add more?

Yeah, I was still talking, but I seem to be the only one that when I've got the floor, somebody else is on. All I care about is that we don't advertise the lowest amount that we get the best amount for our people in this city. That's all I care. I have nothing against the business for obvious reasons. I go there. I just simply want to see a fair offer made for that property. And I don't happen to think that this is a fair offer. So I would hope that there will be other people that it, and if he came up, I would be happy with a fairer offer because I just don't think it is. That is my only issue with any of this. So when this proposal goes out for bid, does the amount of money that's already been offered go out as well?

No, what it is, it's a standard advertisement that's provided for under Florida law. It just provides the location of the property, it provides a period of time, and where the proposals are to be submitted.

I'll hope for us to do this, but I will hope because I just think it's wrong. And I think it sets a statement for all the property around it, for everybody to lowball that. And that's just not right. These are my tax dollars, as well, going to this. And when everybody complains about how we're going to lose this and lose that, then at some point, I think there need to be fair offers. And I just don't consider this one to be that.

So, and to that point, I think it's a good point. As it was already stated, it doesn't have to be a decision based on the purchase price, right? Your decision will be weighted based on purchase price and what use is going to go there. You may have somebody that submits a million dollar offer for something that you absolutely do not want to see go there.

I won't vote for a pawn shop.

Correct. So you'll evaluate those proposals based on the merits in totality, not just purchase price.

Let's say there are some pretty good offers. He has the opportunity to come up in price. And meet the price. Correct? Yes. Like he's not locked in either. Because I don't want him to underbid himself just, you know, in case we have to.

I think what we would do is if we get multiple proposals as a board, you would put them in some sort of ranking order and direct me to negotiate a final agreement with the top rank that you want to see purchases. Okay.

Might I also ask one question? Since it says that a person would have to hold it for five years, would we extend that? Could we make it seven years?

He doesn't have to hold it.

No, but he sells it. No, I get that. I get that.

I mean, I would entertain a longer term, but I think the drop down as far as what the city takes. Right now, we'd get 25% of the profit in the first five years. 50. Oh, 50%. OK, so maybe... Following five years, it goes down to 25%. Well, because I also

I also heard that if someone should consider selling the property, we would have the first right to bid on it. But, you know, if you sell something for $400,000 and someone will get $50,000 or $100,000, I think that's really a kick in the teeth to tell the people who sold it to you at an underbid price that they should now meet that amount to get back the property they should never have sold that little to start with, if you follow what I just said.

Right, but then the other option is we just let them... Well, I know that's the other option.

If you let them do that, you take the percent.

I heard that part. Once he develops the property, the value is going to triple.

No, I get that. That's all of that is strange to me.

So before we start looking at amending the agreement that has been submitted and they've signed off on what we haven't signed off on, you could table this item that is here before you and direct me to go forward with the advertisement of disposing that property and seeing what proposals we get. We don't get any proposals. I bring back the original one, and you either approve it or you direct further changes to it. If we get other proposals, we go through a similar process. We rank them based on the merits of them in their totality, and then we negotiate an agreement.

You can do all of that with a table?

Yes. Well, you can certainly direct. You can make a motion to table this. And then you can also direct your executive director to go ahead and issue the advertisement anyway, which you have to do before this gets on. See what comes back because you're talking about changing the terms of this agreement. So now we've got to go talk to Mr. Verlani to see if we can do that. And I'd rather not redraft an agreement sitting up here at 830 at night on Thursday. So that's what I mentioned to the city, or to the executive director, the potential for tabling this, direct that we go out for the advertising, see what you get, and then coming up with a final agreement with whoever you decide to work with. If there is anybody else, if there's nobody else, then you'll just be back here to finalize this agreement at your meeting in August. So I have a question.

Say you go out Do you have to, if you get three bids, four bids, whatever, how many bids? Do you have to take one at that point? Or you can say, no, I'm not going to, I'm not going to take any of them.

You can stick with Mr. Vellani's. I'm saying, can you pull it off total? Absolutely.

Well, if we table it and we go to bid, then we don't have to take anything if we don't like it.

If we approve this tonight and it goes to bid, then we have to approve it.

Well, if bids come in, we can pick those bids, but we still have to go with them. So you're a little lot more locked in if you vote for it tonight versus tabling it and going to bid.

Nobody's losing anything. He said if it doesn't... If you don't get anywhere, you're back where exactly you started.

I was just concerned that you were starting to renegotiate terms of this agreement.

And that's how this came about. I was asking. I didn't know.

So if there's no desire to renegotiate, then you can just approve this. The resolution does direct the executive director to go out and submit the advertisement. And then we'll see what we get. And if nothing comes in, the agreement will be signed. If something comes in, then we'd need to evaluate.

But then I heard him also say that if it's in 180 days, then construction has to start.

After the signing. So the agreement and the purchase.

About phase two.

I take it back. Yeah, the agreement and the ultimate purchase and the ultimate construction is contingent on the execution of a phase two ground lease.

Put in an offer and build on it next week. Right. It's not tied to phase two.

But because he's currently in the CRA property, currently a tenant, then let him have the opportunity to continue to run his business.

Of course.

He had the city center project goes. If the ground leaser phase two is getting close, then he can decide to submit his applications and do whatever he needs to do to develop the property. Ultimately close, get the permits billed and open.

Okay.

I mean, if we're looking out for the best interest of the city, truly, you table it, you go to bed.

Well, I offered what comes then I offered a table, somebody seconds that fine.

And I think what I think that nor is business has priority being a longtime tenant and stuff. Sure. I would I would strongly wait it.

Absolutely. But, you know, let's see what else. Are you seconding the table then?

I'll second the table. Yeah, I won't second it yet.

Arlene, are you done? Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, I don't know why you'd want to table this. This is correct me if I'm wrong. If he if he buys the property, develops it, puts X amount of money into it and sells it within five years. Let's say he puts $2 million into it, sells it for $5 million in less than five years. What does the city get?

We're splitting the net profit. So we'd split.

This is an investment, guys. Why would you want to table this? This guy's willing to invest in our property. And if he leaves within five years, we're getting 50%. It's a no-brainer. Why would you want to table this? I said I can go either way with it. It's still going to go to bid, and we can still consider it. It's still going to bid. That's what I'm saying. But give him the reassurance. He's done his homework. He's done what he has to do. The city's protected. If he develops it and it becomes a huge success and he wants to retire, I don't know how old you are, and he doubles his money, we're getting half of it.

But wouldn't that be exactly what the ad would be out there as well, with the same conditions?

No, no, but we're going to get people bidding on it. It's going to get very messy. It's going to get very messy because then it's going to come down to say, you know what, do you want this business? Do you want this business? Who knows what's going to happen? This guy has done his homework. He wants to do this. Give him the respect and let him do it. The city's not going to lose anything. The city's going to regain if he sells, which I hope you do. I hope you make the biggest ace in Broward and you sell it.

We'll have a party.

You retire and you still have the ace. We all win. When this goes out and we get five, six, seven people that are going to have been on it, how messy that's going to be. It's going to happen.

It's going to happen. It's going to go out.

I know. I just want to make sure it's clear. The 50% is of net profits. And as currently contained in the agreement, net profits show me the sale price is set forth in the contract for the sale of the property minus closing costs, minus the purchase price, minus all documented hard and soft costs related to the development of the property.

What, minus the cost of building the property?

That's correct, yes.

Okay, so excuse me, but there's no info there.

Like I said, nothing's guaranteed, but as soon as he develops that property, it's going to drastically increase in value. Of course it is. Especially since it's being sold under value. It can only go up from...

In my opinion, I think we have contract terms that are fair and have sufficient protections for the CRA in terms of its...

It's just one of the better contracts, Kelly. I've got to say, I don't know who wrote it up.

And whether it's a five-year ownership period or seven-year ownership period, I don't know how much difference that's going to make. And so if the board is comfortable with terms of the agreement, then don't table it and give us direction. Just move forward and do the advertisement. If you are not comfortable with the terms of the agreement, then you should table it. I believe we have a fair...

If we make a decision tonight, we're selling the property.

The only reason I suggested the table is because our attorney said that there was nothing to lose in doing that.

No, that was because we started trying to negotiate from the dais with the offer that we have, changes to the agreement that we have before us.

I kind of wish I would hear it all once so that I understand that at one time and not a piece here and a piece there and a piece there. So I'll ask the questions. If it gets tabled and then it goes out and you put out the RFP or whatever it is, then the conditions change from what you've already been offered?

Correct.

Because that's not what I keep, I don't hear the whole thing at one time.

If this agenda item gets approved and we put it out a notice to bid, and we don't get any responses back, then we stick with this agreement that's there. If we get alternate proposals, I will present those to you. If you decide to select one of those alternate proposals, then you would direct me to go negotiate a new separate agreement with that new proposer. If you choose to reject those other proposals and stay with ACE, then that contract stands as it's presented.

With whatever is part of it as it stands now. And that is with or without the table, so that I understand. I'm asking.

It's without the table.

So the suggestion for the table was for what purpose? Because you're renegotiating terms.

Yes. It's a good contract for the city. C.R.A.

Yep.

It's good.

And the city. Since it's going out to bid, I'm fine with it moving forward.

All right. So we don't have a second on the table? No. Okay.

I'll remove the table then.

Then I'm going to say is call the roll. Oh, we didn't do public yet? Oh, God. Go ahead.

Rich Zucchini, Lakewood Circle. Okay, a couple of things. And, you know, this board is in chaos. And we saw that the previous agenda item. This is a bad idea. And let me explain why. First of all, we're selling it very low below market value. Basically, you are agreeing to give away residents money. And that's not correct. In addition to that, you're also going to lose an excellent paying tenant. It makes no business sense at all. I don't know why you're so...

Well, they're not losing a tenant. He's not moving out. There's nothing to move into at this point.

If he builds and moves into, you've sold it below value and you're losing a tenant, please don't take time off of me speaking. Thank you. Listen, think outside the box. Why not have a consensus where you demand the developer to make sure that you're going to accommodate a facility for him along 441? Because that's the solution. In addition to that, also agree that you're going to offer him a percentage lease in the beginning so he can transition to the high visibility, higher rent, but with a percentage lease, he'll be able to do it very easily. And give him a percentage lease. Come to a consensus tonight that you would offer him that so he doesn't have to worry about his future. Because he's worried about his future because you guys can't make up your mind. And every time you come up with an idea, it's... You're not thinking outside the box. You know, we talk about decisions, and we talk about apartments. Vice Chair Rosano, we talk about no apartments on the east side. Why the heck did you agree to vote for a variance for an ALS to build old apartments to block us from Lemon Lake, which would have been a major improvement for city center? You know, the chaos and the bad decisions are ridiculous up here. This board is in chaos. Come to a consensus, demand that the developer build and accommodate for him a long 441, which will guarantee his success. And with that, offer him a percentage lease. And for people who don't know what a percentage lease is, see me after the meeting and I'll explain it to you.

tracy van winkle um first question is do did we offer the liquor store is he gonna buy a property too or no the liquor store that's on margaret boulevard because i know he was up here but i didn't i didn't get the results of that

Not right now, I think.

He's not? Okay. Not right now. I would say lock him in. He's been here forever. The property's been sitting there empty for how many years? So I don't care how much you paid for it. You're going to get something back on it. You're going to get return on it. He's going to be happy because he's still in Margate where he wants to be unless you guys don't want him to be in Margate because that's what you're going to do. You're going to end up pushing a good business out of Margate. Again, I would keep him. I would do that for him. And then my next question is, do you guys own the car lot, the lawyer office, the restaurant? How much stuff are you guys taking out with this downtown?

Which car lot?

The car lot.

The car lot. That's on the corner. Yes, we own the car lot.

So you own the car lot? You own the lawyer's thing? So all that's coming down?

Not the two-story building.

What's the lawyer's thing? So is downtown only going to the two-story?

There's a vacant property that we own.

You're talking about where the pawn shop is? What's the two-story?

Yeah, it's a pawn shop.

Okay, we don't own that.

Two-story?

Yeah. We don't own that. We do not own that. We should have, but we don't.

Okay, so downtown's going to stop at that street that you can turn to get to Margate Boulevard?

No. There's a specific downtown area. I think it's...

The core of downtown is basically Margate Boulevard.

So basically, if he buys that property, he's not going to be in the downtown.

Technically. He will be outside of...

I'm skipping a jump from the downtown.

That's what I'm saying. So he's not really going to be in the downtown. Correct.

Not the physical, what somebody would call the downtown, but close enough that...

But that's what I'm saying. So he still wants to be a Margate.

Oh, of course. Years ago, the original owner, years ago, 20 years ago, was being offered first right of... whatever it's called, it was refusal, thank you, for a spot in what would have been the downtown. When the last agreement was done, and prior to him, the owner offered to buy a quarter acre, they had the nerve to tell him $1 million. That wasn't you, that was Frank, right? Yeah.

Well, I think we should appease our businesses that have been here for a long time. Let them buy the property, no matter if it's... It's been sitting there for over 20 years with nothing on it. We have a lot of empty lots in Margate. 30 seconds. Let's start filling them up and making it look better. I think that would be good. But you could also get rid of that other hotel that's down there, too. That could go.

Oh, one would love to.

That's it. Thank you.

Hello, Audrey Blackmore, 5540 Southwest 8 Margate. I'm just trying to understand, like Ms. Tracy was asking, where exactly does this downtown area include? I thought it was just across the street where the swap shop was. So then I think she mentioned you're knocking on this whole plaza here by the city hall here too? And now where Ace Hardware is too?

where the gem is on one side and where they are on the other side. That's all part, they're different phases. That's part two, that's part three. We're talking before about phase one. All, that's 50 plus acres.

And this all belongs to Brookfield.

It's all going to... No, this still belongs to the city of Margate. It will always... The CRA. It will always belong to the CRA. Or when the CRA sunsets, it will belong to the city of Margate.

Controlled by Brookfield.

Well, that's the question. For only a certain period of time.

Because I remembered when Mr. Ace... I don't know his real name. Noor. His name is Noor. When he first brought up the suggestion of buying property, someone up there said he has to okay it with Brookfield. But then you just told Ms. Tracy, Brookfield has nothing to do with him, so...

Well, I don't know. I think they said Brookfield does.

The property that we're talking about tonight with respect to Mr. Villani is included in the development agreement with Brookfield because it was made part of the proposals that were requested by the CRA. So therefore, we have to get Brookfield's consent in order to be able to sell the property to Mr. Villani because it is part of the agreement currently. It's not included in phase one. It might be included in phase two. But at this point in time, we just need to get their consent and they have not offered any objection to the potential sale.

At this point. That's correct. Thank you. Just trying to understand. Thank you.

Steve Strauss. I've been coming to these meetings before for the only one that has been here the longest is Arlene. The rest of you weren't even here. I remember when they fired Dennis Holstein. You know? Not Dennis. What was his name? The guy that you had here running the CRA? Jeff Horace. I remember when you fired that board and Jeff Horace. And the board took over the CRA. And back to when Dennis Holstein was here, he told me, explained to me that the way CRAs work is You get the money through the county, correct? Not anymore.

It's the money we would have sent to the county. Okay. It's back, but that's over.

That's over. We don't get that. I realize that. But he explained to me that you don't have to sell. You can give the land away. You can sell it for a dollar. You can do it on a land lease. So to say that you're losing money selling it under value, that's kind of – Because the CRA is to bring back blighted areas and build it up.

Correct.

But they're supposed to take that money. That's what funds bondage.

There's nothing that says you have to sell it for market value. You can sell it to them for a dollar.

But again, Steve, that's what funds the grants and those things like that.

But you're giving $35 million to the developer. How long is it going to take to get $35 million back from phase one? Has anybody thought of that? On top of that, if that, at the beginning, the way I understand it, you get rent, they pay you a percentage until the property is rented, correct? They give you a flat fee until the property is rented.

Am I correct? I don't know. Are you talking about this transaction?

No, no, I'm just saying. All I'm saying is you can give him that land for $1. You don't have to save or lose the money selling it for $400 or $350.

Elsa Sanchez, Margate resident. I've been listening to Nor speak about being there and not having a contract. He wants to stay in Margate. He wants to do a building that is going to be a lot more money. I would like to see him stay in Margate. I would like to see him stay in the property that he's working so hard to get. And so, yes, I am okay with him purchasing for that amount of money because he's going to put a lot of money in it. He's going to put and make it worthwhile for the center, for the downtown to be worth of that building. So I do approve for him to be able to to get this and work and do that building and improve it and make it part of the downtown. Thank you.

Okay, please call the roll.

Board Member Schwartz. I'll vote yes. Board Member Serrio.

Yes.

Remember Simone?

Yes.

Vice Chair Rosano?