The owners of the Diplomat Golf & Tennis Club in Hallandale Beach plan to develop 250 condo units and 938 condo-hotel units on the grounds of the 127-acre property.
Their project design is a cluster of four buildings that would range in height from 20 stories to 30 stories, so the club owners need permission to exceed the current 10-story height limit for the property.
The Hallandale Beach Planning and Zoning Board will decide November 7 whether to approve the development. City commissioners will have the final say at public hearings scheduled for January 6 and January 20.
The owners of the Diplomat Golf & Country Club include Louis Birdman, principal of Hallandale Beach-based Birdman Real Estate Development, and Mike Meyers and Nate Sirang of California-based Concord Wilshire Companies.
They bought the club property last year for $20 million. The property is located east of the Intracoastal Waterway, a short drive from the 998-room Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa.
Their $450 million project includes a 30-story, 250-unit condo building and 938 condo-hotel units spread over three buildings 30 stories, 24 stories and 20 stories tall. They also plan to build four single-family homes on the southeastern edge of the 18-hole golf course.
The project also would include renovations of an existing restaurant and a 60-room hotel on the grounds of the Diplomat Golf & Tennis Club as well as country club. The hotel closed several years ago but the golf course, restaurant and tennis club have remained open.
The former owner of the property, the Plumbers & Pipefitters National Pension Fund, had proposed building a 500-room hotel and 950 residences there. But the pension fund failed to win approval for its $500 million project due to community concerns about the increased street traffic it would produce. [Sun-Sentinel] — Mike Seemuth