Pompano Unity Project

09/03/2026

RiverTowne Square Planning and Zoning Meeting Tonight 7 Pm Commission Chambers
The actual proposal

The city’s agenda describes Item 9 as:

* 13.04 acres
* Retain roughly 56,941 SF existing retail
* Add 24,000 SF new retail
* Add 736 dwelling units
* Associated site improvements

That’s 80,941 SF total retail when existing + proposed are combined.

Item 8 is particularly interesting because the proposed plat would legally restrict the property to:

736 mid-rise residential units + 75,527 SF commercial use.

So there’s a slight numerical distinction in the documents that we should track: 75,527 SF in the plat description vs. 56,941 existing + 24,000 new = 80,941 SF in the site-plan description. That’s worth digging into rather than assuming the press coverage has the final numbers right.

And this is NOT the final approval

This is the Planning & Zoning Board, which reviews the applications and makes recommendations to the City Commission. The City’s own meeting description explicitly says P&Z recommendations are presented to the Commission.

So tonight is a major procedural checkpoint, not necessarily the final green light.

The agenda also explicitly says interested parties can present testimony relevant to the applications.

One important correction to the news story

The current reporting says the project involves two eight-story buildings, 736 units, etc.

But the official agenda itself only calls them “mid-rise residential units” and doesn’t give the tower heights. That means we need the staff report / development plans to see exactly what JBL is asking the Board to approve tonight — including height, density, FAR, parking, setbacks, traffic, landscaping, buffers, and deviations.

And that’s where the real meat is.

09/03/2026

Save Rivertowne Square 4:

THE FUTURE OF RIVERTOWNE: DON’T FORGET THE CULTURE

Here’s what I think we need to remember as Deerfield Beach decides what happens next.

Cities aren’t just collections of buildings.

Infrastructure creates culture.

A drive-in theater wasn’t just a screen and a parking lot. It created Friday nights, first dates, family outings and memories.

A shopping center isn’t just square footage. Winn-Dixie, Bealls, restaurants, barbers, gyms and small businesses create thousands of ordinary encounters that become part of a community’s identity.

That’s why I don’t think the answer is to preserve Rivertowne exactly as it is.

Preserve the function. Reinvent the infrastructure.

Build better buildings.

Shrink the sea of asphalt.

Make it walkable.

Add shade and trees.

Create places to sit.

Improve transit.

Make the storefronts attractive.

Give small businesses spaces they can actually afford.

Create gathering places and reasons to stay.

But keep the commercial heart.

Because once a city converts a place like this from commercial infrastructure into primarily residential infrastructure, you don’t just change the zoning.

You change what the surrounding neighborhood can do.

And Deerfield already has plenty of opportunities to build housing.

What we don’t have an unlimited supply of is land that has spent seven decades giving people a reason to leave their homes and come together.

Gold Coast Drive-In.

Rivertowne Square.

Whatever comes next should be worthy of both.

SAME LAND. SEVEN DECADES.
LET’S RENEW IT WITHOUT ERASING WHAT IT MEANS.

09/03/2026

Save RiverTowne Square 3:

RIVERTOWNE HAS ALREADY BEEN REINVENTED.

One of the arguments I keep hearing is that Rivertowne is old and needs to be redeveloped.

Absolutely.

But “old” doesn’t automatically mean “replace its purpose.”

Look at what has happened here already.

A drive-in became a shopping center.

The original shopping center evolved from Winn-Dixie + Office Depot into a new generation anchored by Winn-Dixie + Bealls.

And around those anchors grew the kind of weird, useful collection that makes an old neighborhood shopping center feel like a neighborhood: restaurants, gyms, salons, barbers, art classes, personal services and small businesses.

In 2019, the owner was already discussing a mixed-use concept — roughly 560 residential units alongside about 70,000 square feet of retail. So today’s debate didn’t come out of nowhere.

Then in 2022, JBL Asset Management purchased Rivertowne for about $18.75 million.

Now we’re looking at another major transformation.

And I don’t think the choice has to be:

“Do nothing” OR “build housing.”

We can modernize the buildings.

We can reduce unnecessary parking.

We can improve pedestrian connections.

We can add shade, landscaping, better architecture, transit infrastructure and public gathering space.

We can make Rivertowne beautiful again.

But we should remember what has made this piece of land useful for 70 years:

People had a reason to come here.

The buildings changed.

The reason people gathered here didn’t.

09/03/2026

Save RiverTowne Square 2:
RIVERTOWNE ARRIVES: THE 1980s–90s 🛒

After the Gold Coast Drive-In disappeared, the property was reinvented again.

Rivertowne Square opened around 1980, transforming a former movie destination into a neighborhood shopping center along Federal Highway.

The early center was anchored by Winn-Dixie and Office Depot. This wasn’t a luxury lifestyle center or an isolated strip of storefronts. It was everyday infrastructure.

You could get groceries. Buy office supplies. Run errands. Meet somebody for lunch. Take care of the boring stuff that actually makes a neighborhood function.

And the center kept changing.

By the late 1990s, ownership had changed hands, and by the 2000s Rivertowne was becoming an increasingly important piece of the commercial landscape around Federal Highway.

Then came another major reinvention.

In 2009, the owner announced plans to add a roughly 60,000-square-foot Beall’s store. The redevelopment temporarily reshaped the center, and by 2010 Rivertowne had Winn-Dixie and Beall’s as its major anchors.

That’s something easy to forget when looking at the buildings today:

Rivertowne was never frozen in 1980.

It was designed to evolve.

The question isn’t whether Rivertowne should change.

The question is whether the next change should continue the property’s long tradition of being commercial infrastructure for the surrounding community.

**** Picture is AI rendition of plaza not reflecting actual tenants.

09/03/2026

Ooh lalala clouds on deck

09/02/2026

Save RiverTowne Square 1:

BEFORE RIVERTOWNE: WHEN PEOPLE CAME HERE TO WATCH MOVIES 🎬

Before there was Rivertowne Square, Winn-Dixie or Bealls, this piece of Federal Highway was home to the Gold Coast Drive-In.

It opened March 23, 1956, with Forever Darling starring Lucille Ball and Bad Day at Black Rock starring Spencer Tracy. About 400 cars could pull in, and the roadside marquee reportedly featured a little cartoon gnome pointing a star-topped neon wand toward the entrance.

By the late 1960s, Gold Coast had evolved into the Gold Coast Triple Theatre, with the original drive-in supplemented by two small indoor theaters carved into the base of the giant outdoor screen. Newspaper ads show everything from MASH and Midnight Cowboy to Gone With the Wind and I’m Curious Yellow playing here.

And then there was the final chapter.

The drive-in closed over Thanksgiving weekend in 1978. The final Sunday, November 26, featured Jaws 2 and Gray Lady Down. Admission was just 99 cents.

The land was about to become something completely different.

But that’s the first important piece of the Rivertowne story:

People were already coming here for entertainment before they ever came here to shop.

Same land. Different generation. Different infrastructure. Same basic idea: give people a reason to gather.

That history matters when we talk about what comes next.

09/02/2026

09/02/2026

Need to find a couple original pieces. Anyone got some laying around?

09/02/2026

La La La

09/02/2026

Save Our Deerfield Beach 8/24 meeting had several great speakers. One spoke on the Neighborhood level flooding. His experience as homeowner in a low lying area brought several questions about inadequate service, delayed funding and repairs and civic neglect. Asking around town and the vibe on the street ranged through the spectrum. From overuse of exotic technologies to intentional flooding, through obvious neglect and misplacing priorities, to rationale of being at mean sea level in a state bombarded by rain storms regularly. What’s your thoughts on the local floods.