Sunset Terrace neighbors fear 7-story Eau Gallie apartment complex would worsen traffic
The vacant, aging 3.3-acre Cypress Avenue retail plaza just southwest of the intersection of U.S. 1 and Eau Gallie Boulevard dates to 1960, nearly a decade before Eau Gallie and Melbourne merged as a single city.
Now, a Miami-Dade developer wants to redevelop the site and its rutted parking lot as Avery Eau Gallie, a $100 million seven-story structure with 326 apartments, a six-level parking garage with 508 spaces, a swimming pool with deck, and ground-level commercial space.
"We have been trying for years to bring residents to that area to support walk-in businesses, to support the arts district, to support the galleries that are there," said Melbourne Planning and Zoning Board member Frank Schrader, who has lived in Eau Gallie for almost 30 years.
"There are no other 3-acre parcels that I know of within walking distance of Eau Gallie. That site, as has been pointed out, has been more or less a blighted site with minimal usage for as long as I can remember," Schrader said.
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However, neighbors in the adjacent Sunset Terrace neighborhood fear Avery Eau Gallie would worsen traffic dangers near the congested U.S. 1-Eau Gallie Boulevard intersection, which ranks as Melbourne's busiest.
“I — frankly — think this is crazy," said Planning and Zoning Board member Molly Tasker, who served on the Melbourne City Council from 2008-16 and unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 2020.
Tasker called the 3.3-acre plaza "the worst possible lot" for a developer to build Avery Eau Gallie, citing the "cozy" Sunset Terrace neighborhood.
“I do strongly support vertical development, because we shouldn't have all this sprawl everywhere. But there's better places for it than next to a fire station, next to a high-speed railroad, coming off the causeway," Tasker said.
Thursday night, after a roughly 2½-hour discussion, the Planning and Zoning Board voted 4-2 to recommended approval of a comprehensive plan amendment, zoning amendment and site plan for Avery Eau Gallie.
Schrader, Acting Chair George Lebovitz, Ray Shackelford and Milo Zonka voted yes, while Tasker and Stefan Bruegeman voted no.
Next, the Melbourne City Council — which will cast decisive votes — will consider the project on Oct. 25 and Nov. 8, Planning Manager Cheryl Dean said.
The Avery Eau Gallie site plan incorporates 17,138 square feet of ground-floor commercial space fronting Eau Gallie Boulevard, including a potential restaurant. For comparison's sake, today's 1960-vintage commercial building measures 21,249 square feet.
Meyers Group, an Aventura real estate developer, hopes to build 192 one-bedroom units (720 to 996 square feet), 109 two-bedroom units (759 to 1,283 square feet), and 25 efficiencies (586 square feet).
“We believe that the city of Eau Gallie is at a point that is going to start changing. We see it as something that is going to be really cool — I guess that's the easiest way for me to put it," Meyers Group President and Chief Operating Officer Alan Losada told the board.
"And that's what residents are looking for. They want walkability. And we see Eau Gallie as a place that you're going to start seeing more restaurants and galleries," Losada said.
Developed during the 1940s as U.S. Navy housing, Sunset Terrace is bounded by U.S. 1 to the east, Eau Gallie Boulevard to the north, Crane Creek to the south and railroad tracks to the west. The neighborhood supported Naval Air Station Melbourne, the predecessor of Melbourne Orlando International Airport.
A small group of neighbors opposed Avery Eau Gallie during Thursday's meeting. Displaying a neighborhood road map drawn on a green poster board, Jasmine Street resident Shannon Katz said commuters already cut through Sunset Terrace to avoid the U.S. 1-Eau Gallie Boulevard intersection.
"We've got this big massive thing that they want to construct, and it is in the busiest location in Melbourne. It's nuts," Katz said.
Jasmine Street resident Lou Hansen referenced FLORIDA TODAY's July 12 story that reported Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville ranked No. 12 nationwide for pedestrian deaths per 100,000 residents from 2016-20. His wife, Angela, likened traffic patterns in and near Sunset Terrace to “a gauntlet.”
"I'm very shocked that it has come this far and is even on the table as a discussion," Lou Hansen said of plans for Avery Eau Gallie.
Peter Gallo, president of LandPlan Engineering Group in Coral Springs, said the developer would reroute Orange Street about 15 feet to the south to increase visibility for motorists as part of the project. This is the street next to Reynolds Air & Heat, where a mural featuring a bald eagle and American flag faces northbound U.S. 1 traffic.
The plaza at 1300 Cypress Ave. earned mention in the city's May 2001 Olde Eau Gallie Riverfront CRA Redevelopment Plan.
"A Nation’s Bank, one of the larger buildings in this district has closed (indicative of the decline of the area’s marketability), leaving a building and/or site that could be aggregated with other parcels along Cypress to create an exciting destination of retail, commercial and office development," the May 2001 report said.
In recent weeks, tenants have vacated the plaza:
CrossFit Rise Above has reopened at The Shops at Apollo Crossings, a commercial plaza on Sarno Road. The business shares floor space with Trinity Fitness, owner Eric McKinley said.
New Beginnings Church, which operated out of the old bank in the plaza, has moved down Cypress Avenue to a temporary home at the Italian American Club of South Brevard.
Derek Gores closed his studio inside the plaza and has bought the Ralph's Art Supply building on Highland Avenue, with plans to create a "mini art center."
The Avery Eau Gallie development team may delete construction of a dog park after hearing negative feedback from neighbors.
Rick Neale is the South Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @RickNeale1
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Eau Gallie neighbors fear traffic dangers from 7-story apartment building
