Article Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel

By Larry Barszewski

Published October 24, 2014

Fort Lauderdale approves high-rise Intracoastal condo, but not as high as developers wanted.

A proposed luxury high-rise condominium along the Intracoastal Waterway in Fort Lauderdale won commission support early Wednesday — if the developer can work with the lower height limit commissioners approved for the project..

The 201-foot, 41-unit Aquablu had the backing of city staff and the city's planning board, but not of nearby residents. The neighbors opposed replacing a two-story building with the 20-story complex – even though it would be the same height as the adjacent Corinthian condominium building where many of them live.

The neighbors were also concerned about reduced setbacks that would put the structure closer to other properties.

After hearing hours of testimony for the proposed building on Intracoastal Drive south of Sunrise Boulevard on the west side of the Intracoastal, commissioners asked the two sides to huddle together to see if some deal could be reached.

They came back still 19 feet apart. Developer Ocean Land Investments said it could go as low as 189 feet, while Corinthian representatives set their upper limit at 170 feet.

Commissioners unanimously supported a 175-foot limit and left it to the developer to see if the $38 million project was still feasible.

Aquablu would be a non-smoking building constructed to silver-level energy-efficiency LEEDS standards, developer representatives said. The project was to have 10-foot ceilings, but those will have to be lowered to a maximum of 9 feet if the developers want to keep the same number of units.

Aquablu was originally planned as a 45-unit, 227-foot tall structure, but the city's planning board lowered the height to 201 feet, which eliminated four units. The commission was able to review the proposal because buildings over 150 feet tall in the area need special permission.

Commissioners said they had no problem with the project's density, parking or architecture — just the height.

Commissioners did not want to use the 40-year-old Corinthian as the guiding standard, saying that complex would never have gotten approval based on today's standards. Commissioner Bruce Roberts said he wanted to see Aquablu at a lower level, and any future buildings in the area even lower still.