How is Riverfront doing?

[Wild Style]

Originally Posted by Nolefan34

Wild>

1. It says the place foreclosed in August 2008. That was almost 2 years ago.
2. I said I was there 3 weeks ago, not 1 week ago.
3. You are confusing other poster's claims with my posts. I didn't say half of the things you mentioned.
4. I do not believe your facts. I visited the website and I counted 10 businesses (bars/nightclubs/stores combined). Also, Maybe you are only including one segment of Riverfront. You are excluding Revolution/America's Backyard and some other places attached to the complex.
5. I never said it was "Thriving". I simply said I have been there recently several times and it was packed, and can tell you from first hand experience that the place is not dead. I acknowleged it has gone downhill in recent years, and approximately 1/2 of the businesses are no longer there. But I do not believe that they all packed their bags overnight. But I will do myself a favor and drive by this weekend to see.
6. I DO know the streets surrounding downtown very well. And like I said, the areas outside of Las Olas to the west and the north are very run down and crime-ridden. I NEVER said Las Olas was Detroit. That was a different poster. In fact, I refuted his claim. I said there is NOTHING about Las Olas that looks like Detroit.

7. Just because a place goes into forclosure does not mean all of the businesses suddenly move out. It does not mean that bulldozers come in and tear the place apart. It just gets held by the original mortgage holding company. The tenants, who are independent of the former owner of the complex, will probably be allowed to stay if they are good tenants.

8. It sounds like you're getting all of your "facts" from a website, but not from personal experience of actually going to Riverfront. When is the last time you were there?

lol ok

[gixxer1000]

The last time I visited Riverfront was in Oct '09. I never saw it when it first opened but it seemed to be OK.

There were more places than the six listed. For one the Knockouts Sports Bar that says grand opening on the site was open back then in October. It on the second floor across from the Living Room and above the hookah place. There was also another bar that we walked passed as soon as we came out of the garage. I can't speak to the restaurants because we got there around 1 a.m. And the river taxi's were running late at night which I thought was cool.

The scene was a little young so we grabbed a few drinks and left around 2 when it started getting crowded and went to Scarlett's .

[Nolefan34]

Wild>

So are you admitting you're wrong? Like I said, according to the website the place foreclosed in August 2008. That was a long time ago. It has since been bought out by another company. I have been there a number of times since then, including going about once a month up to as recently as 3-4 weeks ago. I can attest that the place draws lots of people, primarily young people and tourists, on Friday and Saturday nights. I was there on Halloween and it was packed. When spring break comes around the place will be jammed as well.

[Wild Style]

Originally Posted by Nolefan34

Wild>

So are you admitting you're wrong? Like I said, according to the website the place foreclosed in August 2008. That was a long time ago. It has since been bought out by another company. I have been there a number of times since then, including going about once a month up to as recently as 3-4 weeks ago. I can attest that the place draws lots of people, primarily young people and tourists, on Friday and Saturday nights. I was there on Halloween and it was packed. When spring break comes around the place will be jammed as well.

Sigh

1. You mentioned America's backyard as being a part of the river front. Moderator cut: rude The discussion is the RIVER FRONT that is the complex that is east of the railroad tracks and west of andrews.

America's backyard along with these "fifteen or so bars" you mentioned are in HIMMARSHEE DISTRICT. Moderator cut: personal attack

Look at this map link

You see the little white and grey dotted line? That is the railroad track. River front is to the EAST of that (for those who don't know directions that means to the right). So we are clear Riverfront is bordered by the following (New River to the south, 2nd Avenue to the north, andrews to the east and railroad tracks to the west) Himmarshee district along with America's backyard are to the LEFT (west) of the River front (west of the train tracks). They are two totally different things, period.

I don't care if you call all of that areas Riverfront Moderator cut: rude. Moderator cut: rude. One is the river front and one is himmarshee district (or himmarshee village), period. The river front (the topic being discussed) is/was scheduled to be torn down and a mixed use complex was to be built in its place. Moderator cut: rude, you would see that they are not even renewing leases in there and the group that bought river front (they bought it in August 2009 Moderator cut: rude) has not said what they are going to do yet. Moderator cut: rude Something can go into forclosure in 2007 and the process can take months, years, weeks or days, depending on a number of factors. It went into forclosure in '08 but went up for auction in August. 2009 (not even six months ago), Moderator cut: rude!

Riverfront has SIX places open and the rest is EMPTY. Himmershee District (the place you keep talknig about) has a number of places open and only the western most building complex (the one that has the live, work, play sign on the front) is pretty much empty with some busienss on the south west corner of this complex. This is the building right next to the "park" if you want to call a open field with grass and a pavilian that. I think there is one other store front that is empty in Himmarshee district. That is just east of the imax theater

Moderator cut: rudeI know my neighborhood. YOu coming here supposedly 3 months ago isn't going to trump someone who lives in the area. YOur lack of knowledge on the names of the various areas downtown proves my point.

As for Himmarshee district yes it is doing MUCH better than that ghost town complex Riverfront, however it is not packed, not by a LONG shot. And it is no where on the level it used to be even 5 yrs ago in terms of foot traffic.

Anyway, I didn't plan to respond to this thread again, so here is me leaving the topic for the second time.

.

[gixxer1000]

I think you're confusing Nolefan34 and my comments. I was there 3 months ago and HE was there 3 weeks ago. But regardless you are still not telling the truth. The Riverfront complex that you say only has six places open and is a ghost town is not. Again, I (as in Gixxer 1000) was there in October and then the Knockout sports bar (which has a banner on the website saying Grand Opening) was open. That right there makes 7 places open. I also walked by another bar coming out of the garage that was also not on the website. That makes 8 places open. And on Top of that it was extremely crowded at night.

Also, if you Moderator cut: rude look at their website you would see that the six places you are quoting are only the bars and restaurants. If you click on retail stores there are another 7 places listed. So now were up to a total of 15 places listed on there website and you are implying that there is only 6. And we still haven't included the cinema.

ARGIE GRILL
Papaya Gyro
ART BAR
LIVNG ROOM NIGHT CLUB
OFF THE HOOKAH
RIVERFRONT PIZZERIA
KNOCKOUT SPORTS BAR
HEART TO ART
ICHIBAN CLOTHING COMPANY
THE ORIGINAL SIGNMAN
XTREME ILLUSIONS TATTOO
KOOL SHADES
LUCKEY EYES
FASHION HANDBAGS
SUNRISE CINEMAS

You really need to visit Detroit if you think this places looks like it belongs there. It was Packed at 2 a.m.

There are definitely no quality retailers or restaurants. But it was a fun place to grab drinks, hit one of the clubs and then chill by the river. So I would agree that it needs help during the day. But a ghost town that belongs in Detroit, far from it.

[Nolefan34]

Wild is getting way too technical to prove his point, but he is wrong. He is excluding the bars connected to Riverfront because they are "across the railroad tracks", or because they are not physically part of the Riverfront building. If you've ever been there, you know that it is all know as Riverfront regardless of which side of the tracks or which building. People walk back and forth across the railroad to get between buildings and bars. Its all part of the same entertainment area. You have to include the bars connecting to Riverfront to give it a fair assessment. When you include the bars/clubs that make up the area, there are at least 15-20 establishments.

[jd1gonzalez]

I don't know but I actually like riverfront. I find it to be very clean compared to other areas and the shops and entertainment it provides are very nice. Not knowing insider details I would say it seems to be doing just fine.

[Stephramirez123]

Originally Posted by MisterNY

I like your ideas Wild, too bad the powers that be are so clueless and senseless. They need to hire real urban planners in Ft Lauderdale. Another case of failed leadership and vision.

I don't think people in South Florida (speaking mainly of planners/developers) will ever understand the concept of urbanization.

(I guess the idea of NYC/Paris/London/Chicago/Atlanta is what I quantify as real cities)

I think the city of Orlando has a greater clue.

By the way, Victoria Park is one of the few places I'd live if I were to remain in South Florida.

I live in Naples now and I went back about 6 months ago to visit an attorney friend. I decided to ask her to meet me in this area for lunch and I was SHOCKED. It was a GHOST TOWN!

I am now looking to move back and I agree with Victoria Park. I have found so many great homes BUT the school is terrible. I have an 8 and 9 year old and I need them in decent schools. Any ideas around this?

[Just1Lion]

i was there in 2004 and it was pretty active. bars were open, lots of shops. i assume we're talking about he bi level complex on the intracoastal waterway? i went again in 2009 and it was a ghost town. it seemed like every single shop was closed. wasnt ghetto, but it was just plain empty.

[Nolefan34]

It is a ghosttown during the daytime. On Friday and Saturday nights, it gets pretty crowded after 10pm when the bars open. Mainly young people in their 20's and early 30's. During weeknights, some bars are open and some are closed, and there are far less people. Riverfront was very depressed for the last few years compared to the mid-2000's. But it is rebounding somewhat lately. People always need places to get drunk, even during a recession.

Capones, Fat Cats, Side Bar, Tarpon Bend, Brick, SHO (formerly Automatic Slims), Dicey Riley's, Voodoo Lounge, Off The Hookah, and Coyote Ugly (called something else now) are all bars that have been there for a while and are still there. America's Backyard and Living Room opened about 2 years ago and are actually the best bars there. The only bar that closed was Automatic Slims, but it recently re-opened under the name "SHO".

Those bars are all concentrated in a small 3-block area and you can hop around between them. So while they may not technically be part of the Riverfront complex building, they are all in very close proximity and considered part of the same district of bars.

Now, there is an even newer cluster of good bars on Las Olas that opened during the last few years located a few blocks east of Riverfront. These bars include YOLO and Vibe which are 2 very popular bars now. You can walk between Riverfront and this area as they're only 4 blocks or so apart.

Riverfront in my view is the best bang for the buck if you want to go out on Friday or Saturday night for a few drinks. It is far cheaper than Hard Rock and you can hop between bars with no cover. There is a good variety of different styles of bars.