Tamarac Commissioners Vote Down Planned Apartment Complex and Restaurant

New 278-Unit Apartment Complex with Dining Space Proposed for Tamarac

Tamarac’s City Commission on Wednesday voted down a zoning change that would have cleared the way for a new 278-unit apartment building and restaurant.

According to city records, the Advantis Tamarac project would have included a six-story luxury apartment building and 4,135 square feet of space for a restaurant at 7951 W. Commercial Blvd. Tamarac’s Planning Board had supported the project.

Mayor Michelle Gomez and Commissioner Kicia Daniel voted to move forward with the proposed development Wednesday, while Commissioner Elvin Villalobos, Commissioner Marlon Bolton, and Vice Mayor Morey Wright voted “no.”

Ten percent of the building’s apartments would have been reserved for “workforce housing,” with income restrictions aimed at making those units more affordable. The rest of the units would have been rented for prices few middle and lower-income Tamarac residents could afford.

“My major issue is the square footage of the restaurant; my major issue is the percentage of unattainable housing,” Bolton said.

The three-acre project site was formerly Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, which closed in 2022. No applicants other than the Advantis developers have asked the city to build at the site, officials said.

Commissioner Kicia Daniel lauded the project as one that would change Tamarac’s Commercial Boulevard corridor for the better.

“I love the project,” Daniel said. “It will change the demographics on Commercial. Instead of homeless, now we’d have people who actually pay rent and it brings up our income.”

“Let’s change and actually step out to what we said we want and we believe in,” Daniel told her fellow commissioners. “We can’t vote ‘no’ on everything when you actually have a good project in front of you.”

Bolton and Villalobos said residents’ opinions about the project were mostly negative, leading them to vote it down.

“Luxury living is great but it does not provide the needed affordable housing that our lower-income residents need,” Tamarac resident Kate Johnson said at the meeting.

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