Developer of Fort Lauderdale’s Galleria Mall megaproject shrugs off critics: ‘Idiots’

The Miami-based developer behind the sprawling, nine-tower redevelopment of Fort Lauderdale’s Galleria Mall says he’s excited about the project, but he has one major complaint: it’s taking too long.

Russell Galbut, who’s real estate collective purchased the dying shopping mall last year, discussed his plans for the mall and presented never-before-seen renderings of the redevelopment while speaking on a panel at a real estate conference Thursday afternoon in Hollywood. A slideshow presentation quickly flipped through images of a shiny new Macy’s store, tall glass towers and verdant landscaping for the crowd of real estate moguls and insiders at the Bisnow Broward State of the Market event.

“I am bullish on the county’s future, and I’m really bullish on Fort Lauderdale. Part of the reason is that it’s really the hole in the donut,” said Galbut, the managing principal and co-founder of Crescent Heights and founder of GFO Investments. “Miami has been and is on fire, and so is Palm Beach, and what happened is it just seems like Fort Lauderdale was overlooked.”

But it’s not all sunshine and donuts.

While the mall redesign was a hot topic at the conference, it’s been a hot button issue among Fort Lauderdale residents who heavily criticized the plans as too tall, too large and too much of a traffic magnet.

Galbut had some choice words: “We cannot let the idiots, the minority — the very small minority, but they’re very vocal — dictate what happens in the community. The community is for everyone.”

The massive mall makeover is being done under the Live Local Act, a controversial state law that encourages developers to produce mixed-use projects with affordable housing in exchange for tax incentives and a streamlined process that overrides some local building controls. The redesign includes retail space, a hotel, nine 30-story residential rental buildings with thousands of units, about 40 percent of which is dedicated to affordable housing.

In December, the Sun Sentinel reported that Galbut’s Galleria project would get expedited approval thanks to the Live Local Act. But about six months after the Office of the Attorney General said the mall plans were legal, Galbut said the permitting process with city staff is very much still underway.

When asked by the Herald when he thinks construction will begin, Galbut said it’s too early to say since the plans haven’t been approved.

“There’s been many changes, many responses and many questions. We’re in a constant, never-ending answering of questions. Sometimes questions that have been asked before, we answer them again,” Galbut said. “The city commission has been incredibly wonderful. The mayor is incredibly wonderful. The problem with Fort Lauderdale is they have an administration that’s been stuck with the old ways for a long time. They haven’t modernized. They don’t understand computers or technology or AI. They take too long to give comments, and sometimes they repeat comments that they did twice before.”

‘It’s not carte blanche’

Mayor Dean Trantalis brushed off Galbut’s complaints that approval is taking too long.

“Every developer says that,” he said.

“Live Local does give the developer more flexibility, but it’s not carte blanche. The application has been kicked back several times because there are still certain requirements that they must fulfill, which have yet to be fulfilled by the development plan,” Trantalis said. “You can’t just walk into a community and say, ‘I’m just going to build this whether you like it or not.’”

The mayor added that it’s not a good look for the developer to call critics “idiots.” Since Commissioner John Herbst’s resignation, the Galleria Mall debate is likely to soon become a campaign issue in that district leading up to the Nov. 3 election, Trantalis said.

“I don’t think name-calling is going to be helpful coming from either side,” he said. “We should be careful about the rhetoric that we use and to try to become more understanding of the beliefs and the feelings of the community as we try to integrate development projects.”

The Galleria Mall was a hotspot in Fort Lauderdale when it was built in the ‘80s. But over the years, the once vibrant shopping center became more of a ghost town. In September, GFO Investments and InSite Group announced it acquired the mall for an undisclosed amount of money. Galbut promises to restore the mall to its former glory where residents will be lining up to eat, shop and host quinceañeras, bar mitzvahs and weddings.

“We’re going to bring it back as a 24-hour community. We’re going to have plenty of places to work in the property, plenty of places to live in the property ... and it will become that urban core, which it should have been 30 years ago,” Galbut said at the conference.

In October, hundreds of residents packed a forum Trantalis held to discuss the redesign and how it relates to the Live Local Act. Residents shared several concerns (and heckles).

A major concern was that the influx of residential units would worsen traffic in the area. Galbut disagrees.

“You won’t have traffic. Once somebody gets there, they’ll be there. It’s really a traffic solver,” he said. “It’ll create affordability because it’s being done under Live Local. The most important thing that you get out of Live Local is its speed to permit, and that’s true in every other community it seems but Fort Lauderdale.”