FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Fort Lauderdale’s 1960s-era city hall became one of the casualties of historic flooding that ravaged parts of the city and other areas of eastern Broward County earlier this month.
Constructed decades before community leaders would learn about the need for climate-resilient architecture, critical operating systems were built below ground-level at 100 N. Andrews Ave.
The building’s entire basement flooded during the storm. That led to a fiscal gut punch.
The estimated cost to keep the building on life support, not even a permanent system replacement or bringing it up to Florida code, but, rather, to keep in running in a temporary status for 180 days, would cost the city some $40-50 million, officials said.
“We are not going to put good money after bad,” Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner Warren Sturman said. “Trying to rebuild this structure is actually impractical.”
Commissioners, now back to virtual meetings, made the decision to cut bait and find a new city hall at an April 18 meeting.
“We made a decision to cut our losses and at this point we are not planning on returning to city hall,” Sturman said.
Commissioners now have to answer important questions while they try to find a temporary site to conduct city business.
“Whether we demolish it, go to another site, or rebuild here, those are some of the things we will be discussing,” Sturman said.
That discussion will likely come at its next meeting on May 2.
Sturman said city leaders will discuss lessons learned from the flooding, including the need to elevate critical systems.