UPDATED, Sept. 30, 3:30 p.m.: A developer won site plan approval for a 12-story, 278-unit apartment building in Dania Beach.
The Dania Beach City Commission voted 4-1 on Tuesday to approve a variance from zoning rules and a site plan proposed by First Dania Beach LLC, a partnership between the Apollo Companies, an Aventura-based firm led by CEO Edward Abbo, and North Miami Beach-based Liberty Base Investments, led by Leon Ojalvo. The property is near the intersection of Stirling Road and Federal Highway.
“We are vertically integrated, so we are going to build it in-house,” Abbo told Dania Beach commissioners at their meeting Tuesday night. “We build all over Florida … We have built more than 7,000 residential units.”
The multifamily development, called 101 Dania Beach, would have 134 one-bedroom apartments, 83 two-bedrooms, 21 three-bedrooms, 35 studios, and five live-work units on the ground floor that would front Southwest First Court.
Amenities will include a rooftop pool and barbecue area, a fitness center, co-working space, package-delivery lockers, and an on-site park. The site plan also includes a parking garage with 357 spaces, six street parking spaces, and a bicycle storage facility.
First Dania Beach LLC paid a total of $2.6 million this year and last year to acquire and assemble the 1.86-acre site, according to property records. The development site is just west of the popular Jaxson’s Ice Cream Parlor and Restaurant at 128 South Federal Highway in Dania Beach. The multi-address site behind Jaxson’s touches Southwest First Street (101-117), Southwest First Court (105, 111, 119, and 125-127), and Park Avenue East (110, 118, 124, 126).
The Apollo and Liberty entity made its apartment project much denser by responding to city incentives to provide on-site open space and adopt sustainable building standards. The developer got a bonus of about 200 units and five floors for 101 Dania Beach by designing it with a passive, on-site green space spanning 10,390 square feet, and by adopting the Florida Green high-rise building standard.
City commissioners approved a variance to local zoning rules that would have required one tree every 15 feet along streets. Apollo plans to plant fewer trees for traffic safety reasons, according to its application to the city.
Apollo’s portfolio in South Florida includes Quantum Apartments in Fort Lauderdale, Turnberry Plaza office building in Aventura, Courtyard Fort Lauderdale Downtown hotel, and Hilton Aventura Miami hotel, according to its website.