A new luxury hotel is proposed in Sunrise near I-75, drawing both support and opposition
A new seven-story luxury hotel could rise next to a Sunrise shopping center just west of I-75, a plan that has drawn mixed reactions.
The hotel would be branded as a high-end Hyatt Place, with select service options, and Hyatt House, with upscale extended-stay services, according to H&M principal Daniel Masveyraud. It would include 174 rooms and span 102,271 square feet.
Supporters say the hotel could be an economic boon, offering new amenities and convenience. Alejandro Lopez, owner of Wings in Weston, a restaurant in the shopping center, sees it as an opportunity.
“As a locally owned, independent restaurant, we rely on steady foot traffic and a vibrant local economy,” Lopez wrote to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “A hotel brings visitors, business travelers, and families who will dine, shop, and spend their dollars at nearby mom-and-pop establishments.”
“No one wants to see a seven-story hotel from the backyard of their house, especially when they’ve seen a green parcel their whole entire life,” said 16-year-old Jett Grom, who started the petition with his friend Paul Gracey, also 16.
Plans take shape
A rezoning application under consideration would change the designation of 15 acres, including most of the plaza, from a community business district to a planned development district, or PDD.
The PDD designation would allow the construction of seven stories, the future development of mixed-use spaces in the zone, and for H&M to pursue improvements in the plaza.
Warga menyatakan kekhawatirannya terhadap peningkatan kepadatan penduduk, terutama dengan adanya prospek pembangunan pemukiman baru.
“Apa yang sebenarnya kita lawan adalah penzonaan ulang itu, bukan?” kata warga Sunrise, Niccole Pazos, 41 tahun. “Dan ruang serba guna akan berdampak dan melibatkan penghuninya dalam berbagai cara.”
During a quasi-judicial hearing before the City Commission on Feb. 3, H&M representatives presented several aspects of the plan and its projected impact.
These included improvements to the shopping center — including increased lighting, security measures, pedestrian crosswalks, landscaping and new signage.
Masveyraud mengatakan dia juga merupakan tetangga yang sering mengunjungi pusat perbelanjaan dan paham betul dengan kawasan tersebut.
The partners at H&M “are members of the local community and plan to own this hotel for the very long term,” Masveyraud told the Sun Sentinel in an email. “I personally live five minutes away from the site, and have, for years, visited the shopping center at least three times for week for lunch and/or dinner.”
Jimmy Tate of Tate Capital, the shopping center’s original developer, leases spaces in the plaza to local businesses and contracted with H&M for the hotel build. He noted that since there are many hospital and medical buildings in the region, patients’ family members would have a place to stay when visiting their loved ones.
The hotel also would address the demand for upscale accommodations in the area; Masveyraud projected a stabilized occupancy rate of 82%.
Raising concerns
Some residents argue more traffic isn’t needed in the neighborhood, especially on a sloped road. “I have to go a separate way,” said Gracey, who lives in a neighborhood beside the proposed hotel lot. “It’s just going to bring more traffic.”
H&M has committed to funding and building an additional right turning lane at an intersection, Indian Trace and Southwest 160th Avenue, that sits beside the lot.
Pazos, Grom and Gracey questioned whether the hotel would raise security issues as a result of newcomers driving into the community, noting the presence of a preschool near the plaza. Tate and Masveyraud said the Hyatt-branded hotel, with its higher-end status, would draw affluent clientele.
“Our proposed hotel is an upscale Hyatt, not a motel,” Masveyraud wrote. “In fact, security experts have opined that it is safer to have a luxury hotel at the back of the shopping center than a vacant, unlit, undeveloped piece of land.”
Tate menambahkan dia berharap banyak pelanggannya adalah anggota keluarga pasien di rumah sakit terdekat.
Tate also said the shopping center’s current businesses are poised to stay, despite community concerns over the potential loss of local fixtures: Some lease agreements extend into the 2030s and 2040s.
If approved, hotel construction could begin as early as this summer.
