Demise of the Small Family Budget Hotels on Fort Lauderdale Beach

Beach front accommodations on Fort Lauderdale Beach are fast becoming Out-of-Price for the average family on vacation in our area.

For the past few years small economical family style lodging have been bulldozed in favor of luxury high rise hotels with nightly room rates in the thousand dollar bracket. And now two more small, moderate hotels, the Avalon and the Tropic Cay are going to bite the dust in the coming year. I guess the city approval has already been granted.

The Avalon is advertised as one of the Waterfront Inns and is situated right on A1A facing the Atlantic Ocean with a standard room going for $99. You can get a bigger room or a one bedroom suite for a little more, but you had better hurry as their appointment with the Wrecking Ball is eminent. This small hotel offers 70 uniquely decorated rooms in 4 different low rise buildings featuring relaxed antebellum décor.

The second upcoming fatality is the Tropic Cay, which sits right next door to the Avalon and offers a standard room for only $89. Guess they had the misfortune to be in the line of fire by being next to the Avalon, or maybe visa versa. There are a total of only 43 guest rooms in the two story hotel, so it would be hard to get lost there.

In place of the above two small hotels will be an ultra modern resort, 22 stories high and 30 stories long called the Ocean Wave. Here is an artist rendering of the proposed hotel.

On one side of the new resort is the 25 story Q Club Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort that just opened one year ago.

On the other side is the new 24-story Trump Tower, under construction and scheduled to open later this year or early next year.

Just down the beach about a block further is the new St Regis Resort. Any of these hotels will set you back a few k's in a short visit.

The biggest fiasco was the destruction of a historical hotel called the Fort Lauderdale Beach Hotel to build a new luxury condo. It was Fort Lauderdale's first art deco hotel dating back to 1936 and was designed by Roy F. France, architect of over 40 Miami Beach art deco and postmodern hotels. A dozen of France's hotels have been demolished, but 20 still remain.

Thru herculean efforts by the historical society, the developer agreed to preserve the front façade of the hotel. The results is shown below and certainly does not resemble the historic little art hotel it once was.

And opening in October 2008 is the luxury W Hotel and Residences.

There are still a few, like maybe 4 small hotels left on the beach, otherwise you have to go back a few blocks to find something decent for a moderate price.

One of the survivors is the Sea Club Hotel on the Fort Lauderdale Beach. It has a cute, open 2nd floor deck facing the ocean, where one can have a drink or eat a bite and watch the beach happenings.

There are others that will have to wait for another day and another post.