This empty Fort Lauderdale lot will become the city’s next park

After years of back-and-forth, unfulfilled ideas and empty promises, Fort Lauderdale officials say the so-called One Stop Shop site will finally become a public park.

City commissioners decided to work with the Fort Lauderdale Downtown Development Authority, a public-private partnership agency, to turn the empty parcel of city-owned land into a park at last week’s commission meeting. The DDA will begin the design and community feedback process this fall and plans to present recommendations for the park to the commission next spring, said Jenni Morejon, the DDA president and CEO.

“As we look to improve public land, the value of building a park is truly something that you can almost never quantify,” Morejon said. “It’s really wonderful for the local elected leaders to say that this valuable piece of public property should be dedicated for the park and for the people forever.”

Located at 301 N. Andrews Avenue next to the growing Flagler Village neighborhood, the parcel of land used to be home to the city’s permitting center, hence the “One Stop Shop” nickname. In the early 2000s, the city published its downtown master plan, which highlighted the site as a potential future park, Morejon said. Over the years, ideas for what to do with the site came and went.

Then came the infamous Art Park deal. In late 2022, the city entered a controversial agreement with a private developer who promised to build a $140 million concert venue, food hall and park on the site. But the developer never broke ground on the project, and the city terminated the agreement last October.

In the meantime, the DDA was working on the $15 million redesign and renovation of Huizenga Park, which reopened in January with fanfare, music and puppies. The park, located on Las Olas Boulevard, now features free weekly events and programming, a dog run, a children's play area and food vendors. Morejon said the DDA learned a lot about what makes for a successful city park in its research, including the importance of shade and variety of park uses.

“There’s really no other entity out there better than the DDA right now to take the momentum that we’ve had with Huizinga Park and start leading an effort where we can gather community input and come up with really great design concepts for a future park,” Morejon said.

But the new park will not be “Huizenga 2.0,” Morejon said. The DDA will take the site’s location and nearby community into consideration, she said.

“This marks an exciting first step toward meaningful progress for the One Stop site and its future as a park,” said Phillip Dunlap, President of the Flagler Village Civic Association, in a statement. “The Flagler Village neighborhood is eager to see this underutilized site transformed into a vibrant public space that supports community life and reflects the continued evolution of Downtown Fort Lauderdale.”

Starting around September, Morejon said, the DDA will work with several landscape architect firms to create potential design concepts for the park and reach out to community members, civic associations and the city’s parks and recreation advisory board for feedback. The DDA may also host temporary activations at the site to get residents interested in the park’s future, she said.

Commissioner Steve Glassman, whose district includes the One Stop Shop site, said he was “thrilled” about the decision to work with the DDA on the park at last week’s city commission meeting. The Memorandum of Understanding agreement the city and DDA signed will last for 18 months, though the design and community engagement process might wrap up sooner.

“I’ve had great discussions with the DDA. I’ve had great discussions with the neighborhoods around the park site,” Glassman said. "My only concern is I don’t want it to take 18 months. I actually think that we can do this faster than 18 months. I’d like to just really get this moving.”