South Florida Business Journal, Sept. 18, 2002

By: Terry Sheridan

Several high-profile property owners, including the mayor of Fort Lauderdale, stand to gain if a new and controversial federal courthouse is built on South Andrews Avenue near land they own.

Property values in the area are expected to increase wherever the $100 million, 434,000-square-foot courthouse is built. The Downtown Development Authority and another business group are pushing a plan to help spark redevelopment south of the city's downtown area.

Tom Tobin, former member of the city's planning and zoning board and a Tarpon River resident, figures property values will skyrocket with the courthouse's expected move. And, he added, several influential property owners in the area could gain from that.

The local development community is abuzz with speculation about who would gain if the courthouse is built on nine acres that encompass the South Side School site and on an adjacent park.

The proposal has angered nearby Tarpon River neighborhood residents, who want the park to remain.

About two blocks north of the proposed courthouse site, Mayor James Naugle co-owns a single-story office building at 510 and 514 S. Andrews Ave., near the new Publix grocery store expected to open early next year.

According to a downtown transit proposal being shepherded through planning and community meetings by former state House Speaker Tom Gustafson, the Naugle property, or property immediately adjacent to it, would become an office tower intended to block the view of the county jail from Andrews Avenue passers-by.

Naugle, who said he was unaware of the office tower plan but has considered putting up an office building on his site anyway, downplayed any influence his ownership would have on a courthouse move.

"When you are a public official, some people will try to say something like that," he said, adding that he has favored a location north of Broward Boulevard for the courthouse.

Naugle apparently holds no property interests in that area....