Fort Lauderdale residents slam controversial Galleria Mall redevelopment plan
Hundreds of Fort Lauderdale residents showed up to Mayor Dean Trantalis’ public forum on proposed changes to the woefully outdated Galleria Mall.
None were happy.
Packed into the Coral Ridge Country Club just blocks away from the mall, residents groaned, moaned, sighed, winced, shook their heads and heckled as Trantalis and Fort Lauderdale Director of Development Services Department Anthony Fajardo discussed developers’ proposal for the Galleria Mall under the Live Local Act, two things city officials said they also oppose.
“I have a nightmare thinking about this project,” Trantalis told the audience.
The mayor organized the meeting following reports of the latest proposal to redevelop the 1980s-era mall after it was recently sold to new owners, a collective of real estate and development groups led by Russell Galbut, a Miami Beach-based investment and development firm founder. The behemoth proposal — which includes retail space, a 170-room hotel and several 30-story residential rental buildings with over 3,000 units, 1,200 of which would be affordable housing— shocked residents so badly, the mayor’s forum on the matter was standing room only.
“Our vision is to restore the Galleria as the premier shopping and lifestyle destination for Broward County,” Galbut said in a statement last month. “It will be a place where people can gather, shop and experience Fort Lauderdale’s diverse and creative energy.”
Developments made under the Live Local Act, a state law passed in 2023 meant to encourage developers to build more affordable housing, are not required to be scrutinized by public hearings and city commission votes, Trantalis said. Developments that qualify for Live Local must be mixed-use, both residential and commercial, and have 40 percent of its residential units dedicated to affordable housing. In return, developers enjoy a streamlined approval process and tax incentives.
There are five pending Live Local developments in Fort Lauderdale, including the Galleria Mall, and five approved projects.
“What the statute does is it kind of ties our hands,” Trantalis said. “It says to the cities, ‘Hey, you may have zoning laws, you may have certain building requirements, but if a developer comes to your town and says we’re gonna build affordable housing [...], then you have no say over what the rest of the project is going to be like. As a public official, being on the city commission for over 15 years now, to me that’s an anathema.”
Though the owner has offered to meet with him to discuss the proposal, the mayor said he wanted to hold a forum himself to hear residents’ concerns first.
He certainly got his wish. At the top of the meeting, Trantalis said he was expecting about 100 people, but 200 showed up.
“Well, we’re all mad,” one woman muttered as she walked in.
Something needs to be done, but not this
One thing all residents and local officials could agree on at the meeting is that the Galleria Mall is a far cry from its glory days. Much of the mall is vacant, and Fort Lauderdale residents long for their own Bal Harbour Shops or Aventura Mall. But, as residents made clear, the proposal is just as unpopular as the existing mall.
The most common complaints: it’s too tall, too dense, too ugly, too much. Residents are also concerned that the influx of residential units would make already bad traffic in the area unbearable, and many audience members groaned loudly when Trantalis and Fajardo confirmed the units will be rentals, not condos.
As the mayor clicked through presentation slides of the development’s renderings, audience members audibly gasped like they were watching a horror movie. “Oh my God!” “Wow.” “Unbelievable.” “Scammers!” “Holy s---!” “Where’s the mall?!”
But, Trantalis and Fajardo insisted, this proposal is not set in stone.
Under the Live Local Act, municipalities have limited control over major development projects, but city staff can push back on a proposal if it doesn’t meet certain requirements and city codes not covered under Live Local. City staff rejected the proposal as “incomplete,” Fajardo said, citing two issues regarding height and zoning that the city attorney’s office is reviewing. City staff have not yet received an updated proposal.
Live Local has ruffled feathers in other parts of Broward County, especially when it comes to height requirements. Earlier this year, developers sued the City of Hollywood after it rejected plans for a 17-story mixed-use project under Live Local because of the height. The developers said the proposal qualified under Live Local because it used the nearby Margaritaville resort as a height benchmark. The city argued that the resort cannot be used as a benchmark because it was built under special circumstances.
The kerfuffle over this proposal is the latest in a storied saga of failed plans to update the Galleria Mall. Several proposals fell through over the years because residents or city officials disapproved. During the Q&A portion of the meeting, one woman asked, “We already had three developers quit on the project. How do we get these developers to quit on the project?”
Some audience members laughed and clapped. Trantalis pushed back on that, arguing that the city and residents should be willing to work with the owners. “Why do you want them to quit? You want them to keep it the status quo? You don’t want anything to happen here?” he asked.
“Look at Aventura. You could build a mall like that without having housing attached to it,” she said. “It takes a special developer to get there, and we can wait on that. [...] We can wait on a better developer whose willing to work with us.”
“I think most people in this room want to see some change at the Galleria Mall,” countered Trantalis. “The question is what next steps can we take in order to ensure that it’s going to be closer to what the vision of the community is. Tonight is the first step.”
City’s hands are tied
Some residents questioned whether the city did enough to fight the Live Local Act, and others were unsatisfied with city officials’ claim that their hands are tied when it comes to curtailing these developments. Most wanted to know what the city will do to pare down the plans for the mall.
Abby Laughlin, a longtime Fort Lauderdale resident and former president of the Coral Ridge Association, said the mayor’s forum didn’t instill much confidence that the city or residents will be able to substantially change the owner’s “really unattractive” proposal. The proposed development as is would mean that Laughlin “won’t be able to see any sky” from her nearby home.
“I understand the limitations of Live Local. I’m just trying to find where can we push back. Where are the parts that we can have any impact at all?” Laughlin said after the meeting. “It really depends on the quality and the integrity of the developer. I know they don’t have to meet with us, but it would mean a lot if the developer does reach out and start talking to the neighborhoods and see what their issues are.”
Richie Baptista, 73, moved to the neighborhood in 2016 specifically because it was close to the mall and there were talks of a “big beautiful renovation” at the time. Watching the shopping center deteriorate, and subsequent deals fall through has been extremely disappointing, he said. He does feel a little optimistic about the proposal changing after the meeting, though.
“Something has to be done, but I am worried about the scope of this project,” he said.
This story was originally published October 29, 2025 at 2:13 PM.
