LAWSUIT FILED: CITY OF HOLLYWOOD SUED FOR ILLEGALLY LEASING PUBLIC PARKLAND FOR LUXURY CONDOMINIUM TOWER
Residents and Nonprofit Group Challenge 99-Year Ground Lease of Public Beachfront Land Without Voter Approval
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. June 25, 2026 — Abrams Law Firm, P.A., on behalf of Plaintiffs Keep Public Lands Public, Inc. (“KPLP”) and Kathleen DiBona, today announced the filing of a lawsuit in the Circuit Court of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in and for Broward County, Florida, against the City of Hollywood and PRH 1301 S Ocean Drive, LLC (“1301 LLC”), a subsidiary or affiliate of The Related Group, challenging the legality of a proposed 30-story, 210-unit luxury condominium tower on a public beachfront.
The property at issue, located at 1301 South Ocean Drive on the City’s barrier island, is home to a park, a library and the Hollywood Beach Culture and Community Center, and has been owned by the City and used exclusively as recreational space and community facility for more than four decades. The property is subject to a recorded deed restriction limiting its use to “open space, park, recreational and other public and municipal purposes.” The lawsuit alleges that the City’s Comprehensive Development Agreement and a 99-year ground lease of the property to 1301 LLC violate that deed restriction by permitting a privately owned, for-profit residential condominium tower that would exclude the public from approximately 93% of the property.
The complaint further alleges that the City Commission approved the Development Agreement and a May 2026 First Amendment without first obtaining approval by a majority vote of the City’s electors, as required by Section 13.01(c) of the City Charter and Section 30.21(C) of the City Code of Ordinances, both of which mandate a referendum before park or beachfront property east of the Intracoastal Waterway may be sold, leased, or encumbered for 50 years or more. No referendum has ever been held.
The lawsuit also alleges that the Development Agreement was void from the moment it was signed, because the proposed residential development was flatly inconsistent with both the City’s and Broward County’s comprehensive plans, which designated the property for community and public use, not high-density residential development. On February 26, 2026, the Broward County Planning Council voted 13 to 2 to confirm that the property is designated “Community” under the County’s Comprehensive Plan, rejecting the City’s position. Despite that ruling, the City adopted a First Amendment to the Development Agreement in May 2026, at a single public hearing, in violation of the two-hearing requirement under Florida law, seeking to invoke the Live Local Act as a new legal basis to revive the project.
The lawsuit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief, including a declaration that the Development Agreement and First Amendment are void and unenforceable, and an injunction permanently prohibiting the City and 1301 LLC from taking any further action in furtherance of the project.
Keep Public Lands Public, Inc. (“KPLP”) is a nonprofit formed to oppose the misappropriation of public lands, including the project at 1301 South Ocean Drive. Its mission is to prevent the abuse of restricted public lands through grants of exclusive, for-profit private access that exclude the public, and to stop private interests from taking over community parks and public spaces. The issue has taken on statewide significance with the passage of House Bill 1389 (2026), which extends the Live Local Act to government-owned property and allows local governments to dedicate public land to housing developments that set aside at least 40% of their units as affordable for households earning no more than 120% of the area median income. The project at 1301 South Ocean Drive improperly hands public property to a private developer under the authority of that statute, but without complying with other legal requirements.
If you would like more information, please contact 954.332.2358 or admin@abrams-law.com. KPLP is currently raising funds for this initiative at https://gofund.me/3c20364a2.
