Developer Beth Nielsen
has made a career of turning Wilton Manors' blighted neighborhoods into
pricey addresses.
Nielsen, 38, grew up in
the nearby Coral Ridge area of Fort
Lauderdale. Back then, much of the housing in Wilton Manors was old,
run-down apartment buildings.
''There was a lot of
crime there,'' she said.
In 2001, Nielsen went
into the family business -- real estate --
after losing a sales position. While most developers saw little
opportunity in Wilton Manors, Nielsen saw possibility. She went door to
door, looking for sellers in Highland Estates, a dilapidated area west
of Dixie Highway on the north side of 26th Street.
Then she found a builder
and sold the properties for development. No
longer the middleman, she is now a developer herself with her company,
Broward Townhouses Development.
''People in the business
told me I was crazy -- no one would pay $280,000 for a town house in
Wilton Manors,'' she said.
Soon, she will be selling
2,700-square-foot units with private
swimming pools for $720,000 in the Casa Gabriella project at 816 NE
29th Dr., near the Island City Park Preserve.
''Who would have thought
there would be homes selling for that much
in Wilton Manors? . . . I've found my passion. I love doing what I
do,'' said Nielsen, who moved to Hawaii and Jamaica, only to return to
Wilton Manors.
People are drawn to the
city by its location, it's small-town feel and its large gay community.
Phil Commins, who moved in a couple of months ago, paid
$140,000 for
a 650-square-foot, one-bedroom condo on Andrews Avenue and Northeast
19th Court near the water.
''My support system is here. My place of worship is
here. It's easy
to get to and centrally located,'' said Commins, 40, a sales manager
and singer.
Commins spent years living in Hollywood, paying less for
more space,
but he was ``miserable socially. What makes me tick as a person I find
in Wilton Manors.''
BIG CHANGES
Rick Sherman, a mortgage broker and investor, said he
has seen ''remarkable changes'' in the city since he moved there in
1995.
''It used to be a sleepy little town with older,
established small
family businesses and vacant storefronts,'' he said. ``The residential
areas had limited landscaping and deteriorating maintenance properties.
Over the years and currently, the houses are being remodeled, painted,
expanded and repaired.''
Cory Ewing, the city's senior planner, said the rise in
affluence in
his four years with the city is reflected in major development changes.
Older single-family homes are being renovated or
demolished and
replaced. And, as Nielsen envisioned, town houses are popular. So are
mixed residential and commercial developments.
The Wilton Station project under construction at 1409 NE
26th St.
will have 272 condos selling from the mid-$300,000s to $1 million. It
also will have about 20,000 square feet of retail and office space.
Two of its six buildings are expected to open by year's
end.
When Tom Shidaker moved to Wilton Manors 16 years ago,
there wasn't much to do.
''If you wanted to go to dinner or shop, you had to go
outside Wilton Manors,'' he said.
Today, Shidaker is president of the board of directors
of Main
Street, a project to help make Wilton Drive more of a traditional town
center, blending, commerce, housing, arts and entertainment.
Bill Mattax, president of the Wilton Manors Business
Association,
has seen an increase in membership but wonders if the city will be able
to keep its small-town feel.
''Wilton Manors is an island community that has always
had
small-town charm. I would hate to see something like what happened to
Key West,'' Mattax said. ``Part of the charm here was that you knew the
folks at the local restaurant, bank, dry cleaner. You trust them, and
they know you by name.''
Redevelopment is already pushing around some small
businesses.
LONGTIME RESIDENTS
Virginia and Tim Flaherty have run About Town Lock &
Safe at
2180 Wilton Dr. alongside other local, serviceoriented small businesses
-- a nursery, printer, office supply store, greeting card store,
jewelry repair and hardware store -- for 20 years.
Now Urban Communities is going to tear down the strip
mall and plans
to build a mixed-use development that would be part of the Main Street
project.
Most of the other storefronts have been vacated. The
Flahertys are determined to find another location in Wilton Manors.
But with developers rapidly buying up shopping centers,
Virginia
Flaherty is afraid that once she finds a suitable location, her
business will face the same situation again.
While she realizes that progress is inevitable, Virginia
Flaherty,
54, said developers in Wilton Manors, where she and her husband have
lived since 1976, are getting carried away with the town house look.
''There are so many two-, three-, and four-story
developments with
no elevators. It's overkill, and it is taking away the small,
service-oriented businesses,'' she said.
Herald writer Yamiche Alcindor contributed to this
report.
