Russell Galbut and partners’ Live Local Act mixed-use project at the Galleria mall in Fort Lauderdale landed city approval a year and a half after submitting the application.
The city of Fort Lauderdale gave a unanimous green light to the colossal, eight 30-story tower projects slated for 3,144 units on Thursday, the Sun Sentinel first reported.
Galbut, who is building the project through his family office GFO Investments with partners InSite Group, Atlas Hill Real Estate and Prime Finance, described the approval to The Real Deal as a “game changer” after a patient process that sparked some opposition from residents.
“Everybody says a year and a half to get approval is so long, and they’re right, but typically in Fort Lauderdale, it takes even longer,” he said.
More than 200 residents packed a city meeting last year to protest the redevelopment. A month after the plans went public in October 2025, residents launched a petition opposing the project that garnered more than 1,000 signatures. They argued the redevelopment would worsen traffic, strain infrastructure, create noise and pollution, cast shadows on neighboring properties and accelerate displacement.
Galbut told The Real Deal that he and his partners have a better understanding of the project today and said the redevelopment would help address housing affordability while easing traffic “because people who are living there won’t have to be in cars.”
The developer unveiled updates to the project at a May Bisnow event, showing a redesigned Macy’s, glass-clad apartment towers with balconies, revamped parking areas and upgraded retail space. He also fired back at opponents, saying, “We cannot let the idiots, the minority — the very strong minority, but they’re very vocal — dictate what happens in a community.”
Plans call for a $100 million investment comprising five towers with 1,981 residential units, including 1,181 market-rate apartments and 800 workforce housing units. Galleria West would add three towers with 1,163 units, split between 690 market-rate apartments and 473 workforce housing units. The phase also features 170 hotel rooms, 9,140 square feet of office space, 5,001 square feet of restaurant space and 4,806 square feet of commercial space.
In addition to its residential component, Galleria East would have 61,200 square feet of commercial fitness space, 32,600 square feet of commercial space and 1,360 square feet of restaurant space.
Galbut and his partners paid $73 million for the 800,000-square-foot mall last year, a discount from the $100 million-plus price Keystone-Florida sought when it listed the property. The joint venture paid $91 per square foot.
The mall was 67 percent leased when it hit the market, and occupancy has remained below 70 percent since. Tenants include Apple, Macy’s, H&M, P.F. Chang’s, the Capital Grille, Blue Martini, Michael Kors, Aldo and Zales.
The approval marks a comeback for Galbut after last week’s setback, when he withdrew applications for three Miami Beach projects that would have added nearly 400 residential units to South Beach. But he said the withdrawals haven’t shaken his faith in the Live Local Act.
“We are constantly thinking about what is right for the community, and maybe we did go too high, and we are looking at that,” Galbut said. “But Miami Beach has an opportunity to have something, a tool in their tool shed to change the dynamics of what’s happening on Miami Beach, to stop the loss of our residents, to fill up the stores on Washington Avenue and Lincoln Road with a great tool known as Live Local.”
In other Live Local matters, Galbut said construction on Nema, a Live Local project at 3180 Biscayne Boulevard in Edgewater, is expected to begin in the second quarter of next year. The development will include 1,030 resi units, an 86,000-square-foot Lifetime gym and a 26,000-square-foot private club offering poker, blackjack and other card games under a restricted pari-mutuel license, without slot machines.
