By Daniella Aird
Staff Writer
Posted March 31 2003 
 

Wilton Manors · Developers are swooning over a neighborhood that was once considered the city's biggest sore spot. Trendy town homes with Key West-style flair are selling for $300,000 in the Highland Estates neighborhood -- streets that were once littered with crack pipes, needles and other drug paraphernalia. Buyers also are flocking to $130,000 condominiums that were once run-down apartments in an area that is rapidly evolving into one of Wilton Manors' prized destinations. "I remember Highland Estates being an area you really didn't want to drive through at night," said Beth Nielsen, who owns Broward Townhouse Realty Group and travels the neighborhood helping developers hunt for now-valuable property. For years, developers ignored the area, with its established reputation for drug dealing, violence and prostitution. But that changed when Kids in Distress, a shelter for abused and neglected children, began a multimillion-dollar expansion of its campus along Northeast 26th Street. The stylish peach-colored center that now spans two city blocks -- where 10 dilapidated houses once stood -- helped create a new wave of development. The neighborhood is considered a hotspot among developers, largely because of its proximity to several of the city's key areas, such as Wilton Drive, Wilton Manors Elementary School, the city's new library and a new park, Island City Park Preserve, scheduled to open in April. "Kids in Distress was willing to invest in the area and establish something positive," said Community Services Director Harold Horne. The drop in crime is noticeable. Calls for police service in the area last year totaled 222, down from 328 in 1992, according to police reports. Wilton Manors is speeding toward development, with new shops and restaurants emerging on Wilton Drive, a newly renovated library, the recent formation of the nonprofit development group Main Street, as well as the city's year-old ordinance that allows contractors to build multifamily units in areas formerly zoned for single-family homes. As it sheds its blue-collar image, the city is settling into its new reputation of being "on the map", said Coldwell Banker real estate agent Kathleen Costanzo, who is selling condominiums for as much as $135,000 in the new Wilton Village in Highland Estates. The 64-unit complex on Northeast 26th Street -- advertised as the "newest coolest address in Wilton Manors" -- used to be a crumbling apartment building. "Wilton Manors is definitely considered a hot area," Costanzo said. "When you hear people say Wilton Manors is on fire, they mean it. I have people from all over the country, as far as California, wanting to move here." As for Highland Estates, the neighborhood "is becoming a gold mine", Costanzo said. The up-and-coming area that exists today looks nothing like what it used to be, said Mark Vanderbosch, vice president of operations for Kids in Distress. Ask Vanderbosch how the old Highland Estates looked when the organization began work on its center back in 1998, and he'll rattle off a list of unpleasant sights and smells: "Cat urine, garbage, piles of cigarette butts, termites, rats, mice, wild cats, spiders as big as my fist. ... I mean, it was atrocious. We just knocked everything down and started from scratch." Vanderbosch said developers started calling him as the new center took shape. Kids in Distress added $8 million worth of new property, including residential centers, a preschool, office buildings and a conference center. "They wanted to know what we were doing and what the finished product would look like," he said. "I don't think they were willing to invest until they knew how nice our facility would be." Horne said, "Developers don't like being pioneers in an area. They want to know that whatever they invest, they're going to get back." Still, Costanzo said Highland Estates is considered a gem partly because it's relatively unknown among developers. "You never want to buy in an area that's already developed," she said. "That's what's so great about Highland Estates. It's in the middle of a positive transition." Picking property in Highland Estates was worth the risk for developer Robert Jolley, who said all but three units of his project, Duval Villas, tri-level town homes starting in the mid-$300,000s, are sold. "We were selling units before we started building," Jolly said of the 24-unit development at the corner of Ninth Avenue and 28th Street that is set to open in January. "That's a pretty good indication that we picked the right area." Daniella Aird can be reached at daird@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4550.

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