Smart Water Meters In Fort Lauderdale

[0:10] What is up, Fort Lauderdale? I know, I know.

[0:17] I've been MIA for a few weeks, and you're probably thinking, who is this and what is this show? But your favorite neighborhood podcast is officially back in your feed. That's right, folks. This is Let's Talk Lauderdale, where we dive into what's really happening in and around Fort Lauderdale. And we talk about the people, places, and stories that make Broward the best little corner of South Florida. I'm your host, Uncle Marv. And while the temperatures have been high, high in the 90s, yes, the microphones were cooled down. But we are now ready to go and to jump back in to catch up on what you've missed out in the 954. Let me explain why we were a wave. Well, first of all, if you've been listening to the show before, my co-host Jen decided to take a little break, so I was doing things on my own.

[1:12] However, a little thing called family got in the way. I shouldn't say in the way. That's not the right way to describe it, but I've probably hinted at this. My mom was diagnosed with multiple myeloma just over five years ago, and basically I've having to travel these past few weeks to spend time with her. She lives a couple of hours north of here. So that has consumed a lot of my time as we've been dealing with extra hospital visits and considering what might be happening soon. So that is where life has taken me. But I'm still here. We're going to do as much as we can to stay on schedule and keep you up to date. So that's it. Personal update and let's get back into what's been happening here in the 954.

[2:07] Lauderdale had quite the run alongside the FIFA World Cup 2026. This run July 19th, with Spain topping Argentina in the final. And even though the city didn't actually host any matches, those were played, you know, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fort Lauderdale did turn into one of the tournament's busiest satellite hubs, and the numbers backed that up. The Downtown Development Authority pegged the local economic impact near $175 million.

[2:44] With over 210 visitors that filled Broward County hotel rooms throughout the six weeks that the tournament was going on down here. Some of the hotels truly saw some wild spikes. The club at Pier 66 reported occupancy up roughly 500% compared to the same time last. And for the Portugal-Colombia match that happened on the 27th, countywide hotel occupant jumped 9.7% year-over-year with revenue by room over 30%. So it was a great fan experience. Broward County ran free watch parties at places like Amarit Bank Arena in Sunrise for several marking games, USA versus Paraguay, Colombia versus Portugal, the quarterfinals and the finals. And every single one of those was sold out. Hollywood had watch parties that pulled in about three. No, not three hundred thirty thousand people downtown, which was a nice windfall for local restaurants and bars. There's.

[3:57] Fans got creative with their team pride. Thousands of Colombian supporters gathered at the Dalmar Hotel to greet their national team. And Scotland's Tartan Army was a constant, kilted presence around town, despite the South Florida heat. So local spots like Mickey Byrne s, Kelly Brothers' Escape Rooftop Bar, and Lona Cocina Tequilaria all ran nationally themed watch parties throughout the tournament. And the trophy itself even made an appearance nearby. There was an oversized soccer ball activation tied to the FIFA World Cup trophy tour, that was set up at the Omni Fort Lauderdale Hotel and that was the 13th through the 15th as part of a Broward County promotional partnership.

[4:47] And then the official FIFA Fan Festival ran at Bayfront Park in downtown Miami, as well on the 13th through the 15th. So easily reachable by Brightline. So probably the biggest story though was Inter-Miami's role as a training base. So the Florida Blue Training Center and Inter-Miami CF Stadium hosted a record 13 national teams this summer, 11 of which actually competed in the World Cup itself. So I won't run down all of that, but the complex also hosted a sold-out concert by Karen Leone, who was the singer of the tournament's official anthem, Lighter, and that drew over 24,000 fans and marked the venue's first ever sellout. So put it all together, Fort Lauderdale leaned hard into the World Cup as a lodging, training, and fan celebration hub, even without hosting a single official match. And by most accounts, the local hospitality and small business sector came out of it with a serious economic boost.

[6:03] So I'm going to get a bit personal as we talk about the Fort Lauderdale Smart Water Meter Program. Many of you know that Fort Lauderdale is replacing roughly 65,000 water meters citywide with a smart slash digital advanced metering infrastructure system dubbed AMI. And that project actually started in late 2025. It's expected to run into late 2027. And the city authorized installer is called Envocore. They are handling the physical swaps with crews averaging 100 installs a day, trying to get up to 400 a day. So here's what the deal is. There was supposed to be a notification promise where the city was supposed to send communications a few weeks before your scheduled installation via mail, email, and, of course, updates on Spotlight FTL slash social media. So, yes, I saw that. I knew it was happening. The benefits that have been pitched, near real-time usage monitoring, fast leak detection, and improved billing accuracy.

[7:19] Now, this is where it gets all cranky. I have seen reports all over the social media about billing going up, jumping up sometimes $175 to $200, a couple of reports of $500, won $1,200. And that case cited 55,000 gallons of supposed usage in a single month. Now, I know that Mayor Dean Trantalis publicly acknowledged the spikes and said the city would investigate the spikes.

[7:55] But that has got to be a surprise. So this rollout was supposed to be neighborhood by neighborhood. Our neighborhood just happened a couple of weeks ago. And we did not get a notice. There was supposed to be a notice on the door, one of those little door hangers. There was supposed to be those little flags planted. And the only way that we knew something had happened is as we pulled into the driveway, we noticed all the dirt and stuff piled up around the meter outside. And then, of course, we get in and yes, there is supposed to be a little bit of, you know, possible water pressure issues, a little discoloration that's supposed to dissipate. You let your water run for a little while, but ours lasted for a few days and water pressure was low throughout the house for almost a week. Now, there is a dedicated smart water meter program hotline, and I'm going to put that number here in the show notes, and I'm going to say it here. It's 954-745-0567, and then you actually have to hit extension 308, and you can talk to them. And we called, and they said, oh, yes, we know we've had some of those issues. They'll come back out and fix it.

[9:20] We were supposed to be notified and we were not. And so we don't know when the fix actually happened because they changed until we started going through and changing all of our faucet heads, all of the aerators and stuff, and slowly things started to come back. So, uh, I know that there are a ton of people that have been complaining. Residents that, you know, have noted.

[9:46] That yes, the old meter problems are, you know, having issues, but these new smart meters that are supposed to fix everything, maybe they're not just yet. So hopefully that will be fixed and the bills will stop rising because I'll be honest with you, go up a little bit. There's only two of us in the house. We really could not have used as much water as it said. So maybe it will readjust and come back down. So I know that there was a commission update in May that noted that the project might be pushed back a little bit. We targeted for later in 27 that was originally estimated, but the cost, this is where we're going to kind of see where things are. The cost is going to end up somewhere near $80 to $81 million.

[10:39] Again, basically, folks, if you do have a situation where your meter has been changed and you're having issues, please be sure to call the meter program hotline. And again, that number is 954-745-0567. If you have an issue with the billing, well, call the City's Utility Billing Line at 954-828-5150.

[11:08] If you took a look at the Let's Talk Lauderdale Facebook page, about a week ago, I threw a picture on there of a little bagel place that I happened to visit Sunday morning. I actually had a client that I needed to see on a weekend, and it was literally right next to this place called Bagels & Co. And I thought, you know, these are nice little places that need to be mentioned more often. And so I stopped in, got a little bite, and realized, oh, I should have taken a picture. So I took a picture as I was driving by to leave. Now, a little history about Bagels & Coal. I thought it was just a little neighborhood place, but no, it is actually part of a hospitality brand named Glue Hospitality. It was founded in 2021 by Joey Bagels.

[12:04] And the company relocated its headquarters to Fort Lauderdale, but it operates 18 locations across Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida. The address is downtown in Fort Lauderdale. It's 21 Southwest 7th Street. So if you're looking at a place to go, it is open daily from 7 a.m. To 3 a.m. And it's got pretty good ratings, 4.4 to 5 on Uber Eats and TripAdvisor. And the praise is for their fresh eggs, generous bag, generous bagel sizes and friendly staff. So it's a pretty good place there. So you may want to check that out if you get a chance to be downtown. And then of course, listen, what I think I should do is start asking you guys, where are some of these nice, quaint, neighborhood friendly places? Not the national chains, but things that make Fort Lauderdale and greater Fort, Lauderdale have the reputation that it does. So if you've got a place that you think we should visit, send it in. Either send it to the email address in the show notes, the website, contact us, and let me know where you think we should visit next.

[13:22] Now, what I was also thinking about as I was driving through downtown, I made a couple of trips past the old Sears at 901 North Federal Way, and that has been a fixture in the Flagler Village since 1954. But it did close in January 2022. It was 68 years that the shopping center had been there. It was fully demolished in October 2023, and it was supposed to be this big, huge redevelopment plan. That has been sitting empty for quite some time. So I said, I wonder what's going on there. And I wanted to give you an update in case you were wondering as well. So the property was owned by the Miami, it was actually, let me get this right here. Sunny Isles-based RK Centers, which is led by the Miami Heat owner, Rainin Katz, and.

[14:28] He has owned property, has owned it since 1987, but they sold it and some adjacent parcels to a Denver-based real estate firm called AIMCO, A-I-M-C-O. It was sold for roughly $100 million in 2022. Now, the total project is about nine acres, so it's not just the Sears Plaza. It's also some adjacent plots as well. And AIMCO's proposal, and it was going to be called 901 North, still might be, but it calls for up to 3 million square feet of mixed-use development, including three residential towers, and those towers are going to be anywhere from 21 to 30 stories, about 797 apartments, a 188-room hotel, and over 200,000 square feet of commercial retail restaurant space. There's supposed to be a grocery store and then a 2,000-space parking garage. And it was going to feature a Main Street-style pedestrian layout with a park called the Grove. Yes, you read that. You heard that correctly. The Grove is going to include a mural project on a construction fencing that they put up in 2023 to activate the corner while it sat vacant.

[15:53] Well, complications apparently is what's happened here. So in November, 2025, AIMCO's board voted to sell off a bunch of real estate holdings and liquidate their entire it, R-E-I-T. No, I don't know what that is. I'm not a financial guy. But it was a plan that the shareholders formally approved on February 6, 2026. And the 901 North site was one of the properties AIMCO had been actively investing in.

[16:28] But that might, could be part of the liquidation, and it'll be interesting to see what happens. So that's up in the air. So Fort Lauderdale officials have publicly voiced concern that the 901 North project, it was supposed to break ground early this year. So now it could get sidelined or delayed if AIMCO sells the site to a new owner, who scraps or redesigns the plans. And as of now, it is still being described as one of the most important urban projects in Fort Lauderdale, but no groundbreaking has begun, and the property's ownership fate remains tied to, what ENCO does with their relation process. So it'll be interesting to see what happens there.

[17:23] And let's round out the show with some events things that are coming up in the next couple of weeks, let's see here if you listen to this in time this weekend green day's American idiot is musical tribute that will be staged at revolution that is happening live on July 25th, Adam Ray has a stand-up comedy performance. This was actually a rescheduled event from April, and that will be at the Lillian S. Wells Hall at The Parker, also on July 25th. Lionel Richie with Earth, Wind & Fire will be here Friday night. They will be performing a co-headline concert at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood on July 24th.

[18:18] Mumford and C award-winning indie folk band will bring their new prize fighter tour to Hard Rock Live on August 6th with supporting acts including Lord Huron and Marcus King Band. I'll have links to all. You can get more information. There is a free Fort Lauderdale Neighbor Day happening on the 26th, and that is going to be monthly free admission day for local residents at the NSU Art Museum.

[18:51] And if you are looking for a place to just hang out, have some drinks, there is a Courtyard Happy Hour with live music and local vendors. It is First Fridays at YOLO, and that will be on August 7th. So a lot of these things I'll have. But if you want to go look and figure out some of your own events to go look at, take a look at visitlauderdale.com slash events and find out the things that you may want to look at. So that is going to do it, folks, for this episode of Let's Talk Lauderdale. Thanks for hanging with us as we shake off the rust and get the show back on a regular rhythm. If you enjoyed the episode, share it with a neighbor, co-worker, or that friend that is always complaining there's nothing to do in Lauderdale. Make sure you're subscribed in your favorite podcast app, drop a rating review, and we'll see you soon. Until next time, stay cool, stay safe, and as always, let's keep talking Lauderdale.