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Writer's pictureDowntownFTL

Fort Lauderdale Ranks As An Established Downtown

September 3, 2021


DowntownFTL was included in the International Downtown Associations (IDA) 2020 cohort to evaluate “The Value of U.S. Downtowns and Center Cities.” 37 peer downtowns have participated in this series which benchmarks the significance of downtown on a citywide and countywide basis.


Fort Lauderdale Ranks Competitively With Peers Like Miami and San Francisco

The IDA places U.S. Downtowns into one of three tiers based on factors such as

concentration of jobs, population density, and assessed value per square mile. The tiers

are 1) established, 2) growing, and 3) emerging. “DowntownFTL was placed as an Established Downtown based on the citywide significance of downtown population and jobs, density of residents and jobs, and assessed value per square mile. DowntownFTL has one of the lowest population densities within this tier and the lowest density of jobs—both of which signal plenty of room for growth in residential density and knowledge sector jobs.”


The established category includes:

  • Fort Lauderdale

  • Miami

  • Minneapolis

  • Pittsburgh

  • San Francisco

  • Seattle

DowntownFTL holds 38% of all citywide high wage knowledge sector jobs and over 40% of citywide office space. Through 2017, DowntownFTL ranked competitively with the other established downtowns based on a wide variety of metrics such as share of citywide population, share of young professionals living citywide, and share of high wage jobs based downtown.

Notably, the remaining categories from the study included Sun Belt cities such as Austin, Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, and Tampa. As such, the International Downtown Association indicates that DowntownFTL has a greater significance on its city and region compared to these peer downtowns.


DowntownFTL's Economic Impact Is Equal To Hosting A Super Bowl Every Weekend


The significance of DowntownFTL's impact is further highlighted by a study by Walter Duke + Partners. The study found that DowntownFTL had an economic impact of about $30 Billion prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the equivalent of hosting a Super Bowl every weekend of the year. DowntownFTL is a significant economic engine for Broward County and South Florida, directly supporting nearly 200,000 jobs throughout the region.


The growth of DowntownFTL has only accelerated since the IDA study period ended. DowntownFTL Focus will continue to highlight these trends.


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