Mayor expects multiple housing projects, plus changes downtown
By Lisa J. Huriash South Florida Sun Sentinel
Wilton Manors will now be able to grow by up to 750 new homes in future redevelopment projects.
Broward County is expected to sign off on the city’s request to prepare for new growth. It’s part of accommodating well-planned development, said Mayor Scott Newton.
“We have to grow,” but “we have to grow smartly,” Newton said. “This provides we have the units to give to developments that want to come in that the residents and the community wants.”
Newton said he doesn’t expect the 750 new homes to be in one lump project. Rather, “it will be many projects within that area, not just a block or two, it’s many blocks.”
Already, the city is on the cusp of major change to its downtown.
Wilton Manors has already approved plans for a boutique hotel near the landmark Five Points intersection, which is considered a symbolic crossing in Wilton Manors. Although there is a motel in the city, this would be the first hotel — and one of the tallest buildings in Wilton Manors, with seven stories rising to 90 feet, the maximum height for the neighborhood.
The 123-room Wilton Hotel & Pool Club could start construction late next year or early 2026, said developer Mark Ellert. “There’s still a lot of design work to do,” he said.
He called the prospect of more development in the area “very beneficial” because “the more locals to support the hotel the better.
“We think Wilton Manors is a very unique special little community and certainly seems to have the capacity to absorb 750 residents.”
This most recent land use plan, in the downtown, calls for the allocation of 750 residential units, including at least 10% of them (75 units) restricted to affordable housing for 30 years.
Experts said there are “huge, huge gaps” between incomes and the cost to buy a home in Broward, and many more affordable units are needed throughout the county.
Newton said his vision is to accommodate “teachers and people that work in the restaurant business. They can’t afford to be here and that’s unfair to all of us. Happy employees are ones that don’t have to drive 20 miles.”
The units for the potential new growth would be available to developers for projects “that may come in the future,” said Wilton Manors City Manager Leigh Ann Henderson.
Henderson said the city recently updated its land use and zoning regulations to promote mixed-use redevelopment along our commercial corridors. “However, the city’s pool of available redevelopment units was running low, currently there are 135 unallocated redevelopment units,” she said.
This new infusion of units, which gives the city permission to build, allows “Wilton Manors the ability to review and approve future projects.”
According to city documents, the 750 redevelopment units will encourage the development of affordable units within the City’s Urban Center Mixed Use Zoning Districts and Highland Estates.
Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com. Follow on X, formerly Twitter, @LisaHuriash
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