Fort Lauderdale Pier Sixty-Six developer Tavistock seeks 270-foot towers as Harbour Inlet neighbors push 120-foot limit

Tavistock Development Company wants Fort Lauderdale to allow four 270-foot towers at Pier Sixty-Six. Neighbors in Harbour Inlet want the city to keep the height limit at 120 feet.

Tavistock, the developer behind the $1 billion Pier Sixty-Six resort renovation, needs City Commission approval to build four mixed-use towers that would rise 270 feet in a neighborhood zoned for a 120-foot height cap. Approval of the Planned Development District rezoning for Phase Two of the Pier Sixty-Six redevelopment requires at least four of the five commissioners. That vote is likely several months away.

Three of the proposed towers would sit on the south side of Southeast 17th Street. The fourth is planned on the north side near the Pier Sixty-Six resort, according to the developer's plan.

Joseph Maus, president of the Harbour Inlet Association, said he and other residents do not want towers that tall built east of the Intracoastal Waterway along busy Southeast 17th Street. Maus lives three blocks east of the site.

"At 4 p.m., I won't be able to see the sun. I'm going to see a 270-foot building," Maus said. "It's just way, way too much for that property."

Residents worry the towers will bring more traffic, strain local infrastructure and disrupt their neighborhoods. They also say the three towers on the south side would cast shadows on homes in Harbour Inlet, a neighborhood southeast of the 17th Street Causeway Bridge.

Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said residents are angry about the proposal. He declined to say how he will vote.

"They're up in arms over it," Trantalis said. "They are not happy about it and for good reason. No one in the city wants to see overdevelopment. And this is a classic example of overdevelopment."

Tavistock officials said they are planning a high-end project that will be compatible with surrounding neighborhoods. The developer said some nearby residents support the project but are not saying so publicly because they fear backlash from neighbors.

The current proposal is smaller than one Tavistock floated in late 2021, when it proposed three towers rising 480 feet. Two of those towers would have been built on the south side of the 17th Street Causeway Bridge and one on the north side. That plan would have required Fort Lauderdale to raise height limits citywide.

Residents opposed that proposal, saying it would damage neighborhoods, worsen traffic and overwhelm the city's underground pipes. City leaders dropped the zoning change, forcing Tavistock to produce a new plan.

Earlier this year, Tavistock unveiled the current proposal for four 270-foot towers with a total of 339 residences.

Trantalis said he has heard from residents who think 270 feet is still too high. He paused before commenting on Tavistock's work at Pier Sixty-Six.

"Let me say this," Trantalis said. "I think Tavistock brought a new level of luxury" to the resort.