Naya USA Investment & Management is seeking to rezone Lakeside Plaza, a roughly six-acre office property at 6301 NW 5th Way in Fort Lauderdale’s Corporate Park at Cypress Creek, to permit multifamily development. The property includes a five-story, approximately 123,339-square-foot office building, and the proposed zoning change could allow as many as 300 residential units on the site. The request comes as owners and developers continue to evaluate redevelopment opportunities within Broward County’s established suburban office corridors.

The property is owned by Lakeside 6301 LLC, an entity associated with Fort Lauderdale-based Naya USA Investment & Management. Naya acquired the property in December 2017 for approximately $17.65 million.

The site sits in the Cypress Creek business district near the Interstate 95 interchange, an area historically dominated by office and employment uses but increasingly attracting residential development proposals.

Fort Lauderdale’s Planning and Zoning Board was scheduled to consider the rezoning request on Sept. 16. Approval of the zoning change would establish the land-use framework for residential development, although additional approvals would be required before a specific project could move forward.

The proposal is another example of developers examining whether aging or underutilized office properties in suburban employment centers can support higher-value residential uses.

That trend has already surfaced elsewhere in the Cypress Creek area. Nearby office properties have also been targeted for multifamily redevelopment, adding housing to a district that benefits from highway access, employment centers and an established commercial base.

For the Fort Lauderdale market, the rezoning request is notable because it would potentially replace more than 120,000 square feet of existing office space with hundreds of residential units, further shifting the land-use mix within one of Broward County’s longstanding office districts.

Source: SFBJ