Abstract:
"Wilton Manors is going to become distinct," said Wilton Manors Community Services Director Harold Horne. "We're going to be a daytime and nighttime destination point."
 

Full Text:

(Copyright 2002 by the Sun-Sentinel)

She's 31, making about $95,000 at her interior design firm on the ground floor of her loft apartment. She can easily close shop early, walk around back, and jet off in her Mini to meet friends for a mango martini at a trendy Las Olas Boulevard restaurant.

But she won't have to leave town if Wilton Manors' dream team has anything to do with it.

The prototype of a new Wilton Manors resident will stay to play in what city leaders are calling their "urban village."

With six major residential and commercial construction projects being planned, Wilton Manors expects to welcome 1,500 Generation X- ers and young professionals within two years, along with shops, clubs and eateries that will keep them in town on nights and weekends.

"Wilton Manors is going to become distinct," said Wilton Manors Community Services Director Harold Horne. "We're going to be a daytime and nighttime destination point."

The city's dream team consists of the city planning department, city council members and a passel of developers willing to take a chance on developing a new market for this traditionally blue- collar town.

The city wants to be an open center that offers residential choices from $110,000 condominiums to $700,000 single family homes and two new plazas with smart shops and loft condominiums. It intends to be the antithesis of a gated community.

"I don't want a wall where the $300,000-home people live and another wall for the $100,000-homes people," Horne said. "We want everything to be oriented toward the street. It's how you build communities."

Proximity to Fort Lauderdale has given Wilton Manors a natural edge.

Until recently, evolution has been gradual. Now, developers are being drawn to the city by a year-old ordinance that allows them to build multifamily homes in single-family areas. The law -- which requires them to fashion their projects after the city's traditional Florida Cracker, Caribbean, Mediterranean or modern home styles -- has cleared the way to attract affluent younger residents.

The ordinance put a sparkle in the eyes of developers looking at the Trailer Haven site.

New Urban Communities plans to construct three-story townhouses starting at $315,000 with residential lofts and commercial space.

New Urban Communities principal city planner Tim Hernandez said construction will begin next spring at what for years has been a trailer park at 2360 Wilton Drive.

"We're thinking mom-and-pop stores, an accountant, lawyer, interior designer, art gallery, little cafe," Hernandez said. "We're going to be singles, couples, probably most without kids, professionals between age 35 and 55 making between $70,000 and $200,000."

Development attorney Ron Mastriana said his clients had planned to build an industrial complex in the 1400 block of Northeast 26th Street at the site of William Thies & Sons beer distributors. But city officials persuaded Mastriana to instead build a $50 million mixed-use retail complex with loft units similar to the upcoming construction at Trailer Haven.

By the end of 2003, the city will have several residential units in place and a few more under way.

Rows of Key West-style townhouses will soon spring up along Northeast Ninth and Eighth avenues.

Another 12-unit project will emerge later this year at 3020 NE Fifth Terr., where crumbling apartment complexes will be replaced by trendy townhouses with wrap-around porches and backdoor garages.

Construction is also under way for a subdivision of 16 luxury homes in the 2200 block of Northeast Seventh Avenue. But the project has been stalled by a lawsuit filed by several residents, including former councilwoman Joanne Fanizza, Horne said.

Horne said those homes would be priced at $700,000.

Using the year-old ordinance as a tool, Wilton Manors is positioning itself to be what urban engineers call a "first-tier suburb."

They think their city, already known as a gay mecca, will continue to broaden its diversity, attracting young affluent families and professionals of color along with gay couples.

"We are probably one of the more diverse cities racially than any other in the county. We have that urban feel," City Councilman Gary Resnick said. "We're no longer a bedroom community."