Demand for smaller condos has changed the plans for the Tiffany House condominums, which are to be built as part of a project that will also restore the historic Escape Hotel on the city's barrier island.
Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved the developer's request to increase the number of condominium units from 74 to 128 — without changing the building's footprint or 12-story height. The revision includes no changes to the plans to restore the 96-room hotel on the property's north side.
The condominiums will go on the southern end of the Escape's 2.7-acre, trapezoid-shaped block, which is bounded by Bayshore Drive, Riomar Street and Birch Road, near the Intracoastal Waterway to the west of the W Hotel.
The developer requested the change because of a market analysis that showed a demand for units that are smaller and more affordable than some currently being built that have prices topping $1 million.
The previous plans, approved in October 2013, didn't have any one-bedroom units. The new plans call for 68. The number of three-bedroom units would shrink from 47 to 9. The prices will range from $390,000 to more than $1,000,000, the developer said. The project also will include commercial space.
The plans received the backing of the Central Beach Alliance, which represents residents and businesses in the area, and the Broward Trust for Historic Preservation, which has expressed its pleasure that the hotel will be restored. The Historic Preservation Board endorsed the changes in December.
According to city records, the Escape opened in 1951 and was the first hotel on the beach with a pool. It was developed by Bob Gill Jr., who later built the Jolly Roger, Yankee Clipper and Yankee Trader on the beach.
The hotel also had tennis courts and a nine-hole pitch-and-putt golf course. It was turned into an adult living facility in 1980 but has sat vacant for more than a decade.
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