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aying to rest a slew of marketplace rumors, Crocker Partners and ING Clarion announced plans Monday for the $175 million, 30-story Atlantic Center mixed-use project in downtown Fort Lauderdale.
The partners will put up what’s billed as the market’s first hurricane-resistant building with 400,000 square feet of office space and 50,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space on Southeast Second Street just south of Broward Boulevard.
The building will rise on a 1.5-acre site adjacent to the city’s oldest office tower. One Financial Plaza is owned by Mainstreet One Financial Plaza Ltd., an affiliate of Mainstreet Capital Partners. Mainstreet Capital was formed by Paul Kilgallon in 1999.
The parcel, now a parking lot, is between One Financial and the Camden Las Olas apartment building.
A company affiliated with Crocker Partners paid $14.9 million for the site in September.
Atlantic Center is to have two generators capable of powering the building at full capacity even if the downtown electrical grid is knocked out, said Angelo Bianco, senior vice president of Crocker Partners.
The windows will be impact-resistant glass capable of withstanding hits from large objects. In testing, the glass must withstand two strikes by 2-by-4 lumber shot from a cannon.
Shortly before the Atlantic Center announcement, street talk indicated Mainstreet’s Kilgallon had approval power over what would be built on the adjacent land.
“That’s strong,” Kilgallon said Monday about his supposed approval rights for the new project. Crocker “submitted plans to us, but it was a neighborly thing.”
Rumors also contended Kilgallon would approve the project if Crocker and ING would buy One Financial. ING was under contract to buy the building before Hurricane Wilma walloped it. ING managing director Ed Rotter confirmed longstanding damage estimates of $15 million to $20 million.
But Crocker and ING aren’t buying the building, and repairs to the building’s curtain wall, or skin, will begin in February, Kilgallon said.
That could take nine months to be followed by a likely sale, he said.
“We could probably sell it now, but we’re not sure if we want to,” he said.
Bianco said Crocker is interested in investing in new and existing assets.
“One Financial is a lovely building, and we look at them all,” he said.
When told that sounded like he dodged the question, Bianco replied, “That sounds like what I can say at this time.”
Source: http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/news.html?news_id=41258
Hungarian-born Tibor Hollo, who arrived to this country in NYC in 1948, is the builder of the first high rise in Brickell, pioneered high density development in the Omni/Venetia area, and is developing what Florida East Coast Realty—his company—considers to be the last great waterfront parcel in Brickell Village. His life is one of adversity and triumph. He studied architecture in France during a time where Europe was on the verge of a
conflagration of hate and war. His mother was a Holocaust victim. From these circumstances, Mr. Hollo learned his lessons and developed his business acumen. Mr. Hollo’s legacy is one of setting the stage for future development. In many respects, he has laid the groundwork by which other developers have been able to capitalize. Were it not for Mr. Hollo’s Omni/Venetia efforts, it would be questionable whether the area be seeing its current surge of activity. At this point, he has been developing in Miami for over a half century.
For a long time, the Omni/Venetia area was considered a neighborhood that had not lived up to its potential. As a mall, the Omni failed and the Grand didn’t become the flagship hotel Mr. Hollo had originally intended. The Venetia, in the south fringe of the area, has one of the most prime lots in the city, but for years remained in obscurity. At one point in the 1990’s Mr. Hollo began to lose some of his properties and had to resort to seeking assistance in order to keep his company afloat. Today, with the development of the AAA and the PAC, the entire area has exploded with activity and Mr. Hollo’s vision for the neighborhood north of the I-395 is coming to fruition. Mr. Hollo, however, is not surprised. This was what he envisioned for the area when he began development there over twenty years ago.
His major acquisitions have been, for the most part, confined to within the City of Miami proper, although he has done work in Broward and North Miami. The designs of his buildings have, for the most part, been simple. They have basic rectangular shapes like Bay Parc, The Grand, Venetia, and now Villa Magna. Opera Tower has broken the mold with its curvilinear shape. Much of his architectural work has been contracted to the Corradino Group Architects, although he has worked with 
efforts have not just been contributory; rather they have been unprecedented resulting in major activity from other developers. Mr. Hollo envisioned a future for Miami, built over 3 billion dollars worth of development, and is now seeing his vision be realized.Currently, his firm has plans to build a 1000 footer (One Bayfront). If he succeeds in doing so, it could be the first ‘supertall’ to ever grace our tropical skyline. Much is owed to Mr. Hollo, and it is pleasing to see that his work is not yet finished. He is grooming his two sons to take over his well established company, Florida East Coast. His vision will be transferred to them and his efforts, long from now, will continue through their work–as Miami becomes the 24 hour city that he had been envisioning since the 1960’s and did so much to help develop. 
Boom or Bust: Miami 