765-Unit Terrasse Filed at 1645 Cordova Rd, Fort Lauderdale
Two 36-story towers and a 19-story third tower would use the state law's height and zoning override, with 40% of units set aside as workforce housing.
A filing at 1645 Cordova Rd in Fort Lauderdale proposes 765 apartments across two 36-story towers and a 19-story third tower, using Florida’s Live Local Act to bypass rezoning and exceed the site’s height cap. The filing entity is W D Cordova LLC, a Florida company whose authorized members, according to state corporate records, are John Thompson Loos III and Amy Loos Mergler of First Lauderdale Investments. The project, dubbed Terrasse, would demolish 47,965 square feet of existing retail on the site. Fort Lauderdale’s Development Services Department has not issued a decision, and this story treats the project as filed, not approved.
Why it matters
The Live Local Act lets a developer skip the discretionary hearings and height limits that normally govern a site like this one, as long as 40% of the units are set aside as workforce housing for 30 years. Terrasse is that trade at real scale: 306 of 765 units, a full 40%, against 459 market-rate units, on a corridor zoned for nothing close to 36 stories. Fort Lauderdale neighborhoods have already been pushing back on towers rising under the law with no public hearing required. A filing this large, from a locally connected ownership group rather than an outside institutional sponsor, is the clearest signal yet that Broward developers of every size now see Live Local as the default path to density on South Florida commercial corridors, not an edge case.
The numbers
The project totals 765 units: 459 market-rate and 306 workforce, an exact 60/40 split that meets the Live Local Act’s minimum threshold rather than exceeding it. Two of the three towers rise 36 stories, the third 19 stories. Architect of record is Dorsky + Yue International. The site currently holds 47,965 square feet of retail that would come down to make way for construction.
What’s next
The filing has not yet gone before Fort Lauderdale’s Development Services Department for a decision, and no hearing or administrative approval has been confirmed in city records as of this writing. Because Live Local qualifies the project for administrative review rather than a City Commission vote, the next visible marker will likely be a staff-level site plan determination rather than a public hearing date. The American Developer will track DSD’s review and update the project’s status once the city acts.