BEST PRACTICE CITIES' CATHY SWANSON-RIVENBARK LED COMPLEX PROCESS THAT CREATED WINNING PUBLIC/PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP
“But for the tenacity -- within the context
of a very difficult economy – of Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark, myself and the
developer, I don’t think this project would have come to fruition.”
BEST PRACTICE CITIES' CATHY SWANSON-RIVENBARK LED COMPLEX PROCESS THAT CREATED WINNING PUBLIC/PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP
Lon Tabatchnick, who developed Margaritaville in partnership with Starwood Capital, from concept to opening in 2015, said the project delivered everything promised, including a resort with a coveted Four Diamond rating.
Margaritaville
enhances the beach with free concerts at the historic bandshell at the edge of
the resort and it achieves a goal of linking the ocean to the Intracoastal
Waterway – with a water taxi stop at the resort’s 5 o'Clock Somewhere Bar &
Grill on the intracoastal.
Peter Bober, who served as Mayor of Hollywood during the successful redevelopment process, said Margaritaville revitalized a care-worn but storied property that dates back to the founding years of the city.
The site once was home to Florida’s
largest bathing pavilion, the Hollywood Beach Casino, that featured a shopping
arcade and Olympic-sized swimming pool.
Margaritaville is the greatest thing to happen to Hollywood Beach since the 1920s,” Bober said.
“It’s a textbook example of how a public/private partnership can actually
happen with the public being completely engaged in the process. The finished
product exceeded my wildest expectations.”
BEST PRACTICE CITIES' CATHY SWANSON-RIVENBARK LED COMPLEX PROCESS THAT CREATED WINNING PUBLIC/PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP
“In 2009, the City of Hollywood was teetering on bankruptcy. City attempts to develop the parcel that became Margaritaville had failed three times.
The result is a
99-year lease agreement that provides the City's General Fund with a
significant revenue stream, a 1,000-car parking garage for beach visitors, a catalyst
for additional private sector investment and increased foot traffic for
hundreds of small Hollywood Beach businesses,” said Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark.
BEST PRACTICE CITIES' CATHY SWANSON-RIVENBARK LED COMPLEX PROCESS THAT CREATED WINNING PUBLIC/PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP
A top 10
ranking in Conde Nast Traveler, AAA Four Diamond status and resilience through
the pandemic have proven the Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort to be one of
the best public/private redevelopment projects in the nation.
Best
Practice Cities (www.bestpracticecities.com) Founding principal Cathy
Swanson-Rivenbark, while serving as City Manager for Hollywood Florida, steered
the project through uncharted and difficult waters.
Her
leadership created not only the #7 resort among all Florida resorts ranked by
Conde Nast readers, but also an anchor for redevelopment and reinvestment that
has kept hundreds of small businesses on Hollywood Beach alive even in
unmatched challenges during COVID-19.
PLANNING BEST PRACTICES CAN ACCOMMODATE MORE WHEELCHAIR USERS
By promoting accessibility, communities not only support populations who wish to age in place; they also create more flexible, sustainable housing for all.
This feeds
into the late architect Ron Mace's concept of Universal Design, which is
defined as design usable by all people to the greatest extent possible, without
the need for adaptation or specialization.
"We know that an overwhelming majority of older adults desire to remain in their current homes," Peters says.
"It makes sense to plan on someone
having a mobility disability, whether due to accident, illness, or age."
PLANNING BEST PRACTICES CAN ACCOMMODATE MORE WHEELCHAIR USERS
"There is at least a 60 percent probability that a newly built single-family home today will have at least one person with a disability living in it in the next 50 years,"
says Brian Peters, community access and policy specialist for
IndependenceFirst, a disability advocacy and resource center in Milwaukee.
Many planners and elected officials think accessible housing is only needed by people with existing disabilities, Peters says,
but according to a 2018 AARP
survey, while 76 percent of Americans over the age of 50 want to age in place
in their current residence, a third of those surveyed say it won't be possible
without major, often expensive modifications, like in the bathroom above.
