The GLCC has entered a tentative contract to buy the property where Global Crossing, a communications company, is currently located at 2040 N. Dixie Hwy. in Wilton Manors. (Photo by Juan Carlos Rodriguez)
advertisement
advertisement
|
By JUAN CARLOS RODRIGUEZ
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Calling it a “milestone for the community,” members of the Gay & Lesbian Community Center of South Florida’s board of directors announced plans to buy a 5.6-acre property in Wilton Manors that would be a new permanent home for the center.
Finding the center a permanent home has been a central issue with the organization since the sale of its property on Andrews Avenue in Fort Lauderdale to Tarragon Corp. in 2003. Tarragon, a national developer, had once agreed to build a new gay center as part of its original contract to buy the GLCC property on Andrews Avenue. But plans for Taragon to build a new center across the street from the current GLCC fell apart as Tarragon stocks crashed and the company nearly went bankrupt last summer.
Paul Hyman, executive director of the GLCC, revealed the new plan at a special event for GLCC founding members at the Atlantic Resort in Fort Lauderdale on March 12. He described the new property, which is located at 2040 North Dixie Hwy. just south of the 5 Points intersection, as “the building with the satellite dishes.” Global Crossing, a communications company, currently occupies the building.
Hyman would not reveal the purchase price because the deal has not been closed. What is certain is that the GLCC entered a contract to buy the property and is negotiating a price while a slew of inspections and assessments, including structural, mechanical and engineering, are completed.
The property had been originally listed for $6.1 million and had been reduced to $4.9 million. But Hyman said he expects the purchase price to fall well below that number. The GLCC sold its Andrews Avenue property to Tarragon for $2.19 million in 2003.
Hyman and building committee chair Tyler Healis said they expect the deal to close within four months. But they said it would be up to a year before the GLCC moves from its current location on Andrews Avenue.
The purchase will include four buildings, which Hyman and Healis said would require minimal construction or upgrade and are essentially ready for occupancy. All together, the property holds as much as 30,000 square feet of office space and interiors that can be used for community meetings and special events as well as separate spaces that could facilitate the GLBT groups that currently meet at the center.
“We want this place to be really comfortable and accessible for people,” Hyman said Tuesday. “I feel like we’re on the verge of something great for the greater community.”
Healis said the sprawling property will easily accommodate one of the heated concerns surrounding the Tarragon plan: parking. He said there will be more than 200 parking spaces at the new location.
“It’s a wide open space,” Healis said. “We can do whatever we want to do.”
The pending purchase will bring to a close the contentious relationship that the GLCC has had with Tarragon Corp. The GLCC sued Tarragon Aug. 29 to separate itself from the developer, recoup a $750,000 letter of credit and secure assurances that the developer could not sell the property while the GLCC was housed on its property. The center also won rights to the 1.2-acre property across from its current building, where it once planned to build a new center.
Hyman said the center is finalizing negotiations with Tarragon to take over ownership of the property. He said the GLCC will likely hold on to the property until its board determines the right time to sell.
In the meantime, Tarragon has been trying to sell the Andrews Avenue property. Hyman said he is negotiating for a “satisfactory lease agreement” that will allow the GLCC to stay at its current location until it’s ready to move to the new campus.
Hyman said the new building will enhance the center and increase its reach throughout the community.
“Our mission to serve as a hub for the community remains the same,” Hyman said. “Only now, the scale has increased and we’ll be able to expand.”
Hyman and Healis said the plan represents a “quantum leap” from the days when the center was bound to Tarragon.
“We went from being embedded in a condo which wasn’t certain,” Healis said, “to now having a 5.6-acre beautiful campus where we’re the masters of our own destiny.”
|
