City of Hallandale Beach
The City of Hallandale Beach, conceived more than a century ago as part of an oil baron’s elaborate coastal playground, has indeed met the mark.
In the late 1880s, industrialist and Standard Oil co-founder Henry Morrison Flagler envisioned the East Coast of Florida as a new “American Riviera.” Flagler began by building lavish hotels and connecting the area’s short-line railroads into a solid line that stretched from St. Augustine to Key West. Along the way, he supported development of farming communities in land that had formerly been wilderness or uncultivated swampy or sandy grounds.
One of those areas came to be known as Hallandale. As Flagler expanded his Florida East Coast Railway south from St. Augustine, Daytona, Lake Worth, and West Palm Beach, he recruited Luther Halland, son of a Swedish minister, as an agent to set up a trading post and start a Swedish settlement just south of Dania, a Danish community begun a short while earlier.
The inhospitable land was primarily sand and swamp, where Seminole Indians sporadically hunted and gathered cootie root, used to produce a starchy dough.
The settlement’s growth was slow and challenging. By 1905 there were only a dozen families, a mix of Swedish, English, and African-Americans struggling to create a viable farming community. They eventually succeeded, and in 1927, with 1,500 residents, the town was officially named Hallandale.
Today, known as Hallandale Beach, the city comprises 4.55 square miles with a population topping 37,000, still a colorful mix of ethnic groups, with Canadian, Hispanic, West Indian, Caribbean, Russian, German, and Eastern European residents.
While the city has a sizable financial district, and dozens of residential and commercial quarters, it is a world-renowned destination as the home of Gulfstream Park with its racetrack and casinos, and Mardi Gras Casino, legendary host of greyhound racing. With proximity to beautiful beaches, recreation, and a strategic location, Hallandale Beach is one of the fastest-growing areas in Broward County and Metro Miami and a tourist’s paradise, fulfilling Flagler’s dream.
In 1996, the City of Hallandale Beach created the Hallandale Beach Community Redevelopment Area (HBCRA) to revitalize and beautify an area bounded on the north by Pembroke Road, on the south by County Line Road, dividing Broward from Miami, and east to west from 14th Avenue to Interstate 95.
HBCRA’s objectives have brought new opportunities for the City’s renaissance by strengthening economic development, reinvesting in residential neighborhoods and commercial properties, beautifying public spaces, and improving infrastructure and roadways.
And SRS is proud to be among the major agents of change, working with City officials and developers to transform well-trafficked thoroughfares such as Hallandale Beach Boulevard into lively, accessible, and pedestrian-friendly attractions serving residents and visitors alike.
SRS projects in Hallandale Beach include:
Commercial
Atlantic Shores I
Atlantic Shores II
Fashion Row
Hallandale Beach Plaza
Hallandale Beach Shops
Seventh Avenue Village
Municipal
Hallandale Branch Library
Ingalls Park/Renovation
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