Deerfield Beach’s proposed Rivertowne Square redevelopment—an up-to-736-apartment conversion of a partly occupied shopping center at 1015–1219 South Federal Highway—is back before the City Commission on Tuesday, November 17. The published agenda schedules a second-reading public hearing on the rezoning, a vote on the major site plan and consideration of a development agreement. Each measure carries a three-fifths voting requirement.
The package was continued from the Commission’s November 5 meeting. That means the project has advanced through earlier reviews, but it is not yet fully approved and is not under construction. The next vote is consequential because it would determine whether the city authorizes the planned change from a highway-business shopping center to a planned development district.
A second-reading package, not a final approval
The November 17 agenda places three connected actions before commissioners: the second reading of the rezoning ordinance under Application 25-R-207, the major site plan under Application 25-PDD-5, and a resolution approving the development agreement for the same property. The agenda describes the rezoning area as approximately 14.7 gross acres and the site-plan property as 13.04 acres. Those are measurements used in separate application items; the public record reviewed does not explain their precise boundary relationship.
The procedural sequence is important. The Planning and Zoning Board’s September 3 agenda listed the rezoning, plat and major site-plan applications. The project’s published timeline reports a 5–0 board vote. The City Commission then approved the first reading of the rezoning 5–0 on October 6. On November 5, the Commission continued the rezoning, site plan and development agreement to November 17 by unanimous motion. The continuation was not a denial, and the first-reading vote was not final adoption.
Why the three-fifths threshold matters
The November 17 agenda states that adoption of each measure requires a three-fifths vote of the Commission. The public hearing is therefore more than a routine update: rezoning, site-plan authorization and the development agreement each have to clear the applicable vote. The City’s agenda center is the official place to review the meeting materials; the November 17 agenda summary identifies the three actions and voting requirement.
What 736 apartments would change
JBL Rivertowne Square LLC proposes to redevelop the Winn-Dixie-anchored retail center into two midrise rental buildings of up to eight stories, with apartments above structured parking and ground-floor commercial space. The developer describes a phased project with up to 736 residences, new plazas and a more pedestrian-oriented edge along Federal Highway and SE 6th Avenue.
- Up to 736 residences across two proposed phases.
- Approximately 24,000 square feet of new ground-floor retail.
- Approximately 56,941 square feet of existing retail identified for retention in the site-plan agenda.
- Structured parking, resident amenities, landscaped public-facing spaces, a transit shelter and pedestrian improvements described in the project materials.
The proposal is a substantial shift in land use: a shopping center built around surface parking would become a housing-led mixed-use property. The developer says the existing Winn-Dixie would remain open during construction. The final approved plans and development agreement—not the marketing description—will determine the binding scope and conditions.
The commercial-area figures need reconciliation
The public materials do not present one consistent commercial-area total. The September 3 plat application describes 75,527 square feet of commercial use. The major site-plan description, repeated in the November 17 agenda, identifies approximately 56,941 square feet of existing retail to remain plus 24,000 square feet of new retail. Added together, those two site-plan figures equal 80,941 square feet—5,414 square feet more than the plat figure.
The difference may reflect distinct measurement or program definitions, but the documents reviewed do not explain it. It should not be silently treated as the same total. The Commission’s final site-plan exhibits and the executed development agreement are the right records to check for the controlling commercial program.
The 106-unit moderate-income set-aside—and the covenant behind it
The developer says 106 of the proposed residences would be deed-restricted for households earning at or below 120% of area median income, with a 30-year affordability period. If all 736 units remain in the plan, 106 would represent about 14.4% of the total. That is a meaningful set-aside, but its legal implementation matters as much as the headline count.
What Broward County Policy 2.16.3 actually requires
Broward County’s Land Use Plan Policy 2.16.3 allows bonus residential density to support moderate-income housing, defined by household income not exceeding 120% of the median adjusted for family size. Its formula permits six bonus units for each moderate-income unit. The policy requires restrictive covenants to preserve affordability for at least 30 years for rental housing. It also allows a renter’s income to rise to as much as 140% of the applicable median while occupying the unit.
The policy is not an automatic entitlement. It says use of the bonus-density provisions is discretionary, does not itself create an entitlement to bonus units, and requires authorization by the local government at a publicly noticed meeting. The local government must also make the required public-facilities finding. For Rivertowne Square, the development agreement and recorded covenant will therefore be central documents: they should specify the unit count, income limits, monitoring, duration and enforcement.
The project website describes the 106 units as guaranteed. The County policy explains the mechanism, but the policy alone does not prove that every project-specific covenant has already been executed. The November 17 package is an important step toward establishing the final legal terms.
What happens to existing retail and small businesses
The developer’s materials say the plan is designed to retain the Winn-Dixie grocery store, Tijuana Taxi Company and the building previously occupied by Buffalo Wild Wings. The same materials identify several south-wing businesses—including Brutus Barbershop, Katz Louise, Hard Exercise Works and Nail Face Spa—in buildings that would eventually be removed. JBL says it is working to keep those tenants in place as long as possible during the transition.
That distinction matters. Rivertowne Square is not being presented as a wholesale demolition of every retail building, but neither is every current storefront shown as permanent. The project’s final phasing, demolition plans, tenant arrangements and construction access will determine how much disruption neighboring businesses experience.
Traffic, drainage and infrastructure claims need the underlying studies
The project website says an independent traffic study forecasts approximately 12,172 daily vehicle trips under the proposed redevelopment, compared with roughly 16,300 for the existing center—a projected reduction of about 4,100 trips per day. That is a developer-reported study result. The underlying traffic report was not independently available in the materials reviewed for this article, so the forecast should be read as a project claim until the complete study and its assumptions are examined.
The November 5 Commission meeting also included a broader discussion of citywide stormwater drainage and resident concerns about flooding. That debate is relevant context for any large redevelopment in Deerfield Beach, but the meeting record does not establish that the citywide discussion was a site-specific finding about Rivertowne Square or the reason the project items were continued. Final drainage, utility and transportation conditions still need to be read in the project’s approval documents and later engineering reviews.
A 2027 construction target is not a permit or a start date
The developer describes a two-phase schedule, with each phase taking roughly two years and Phase 1 construction anticipated to begin in 2027. That is a target, not a verified construction start. The project remains in the municipal entitlement process. Even after any Commission approvals, the development would still need to satisfy applicable conditions and obtain the construction permits required for the work.
The City’s own Development Opportunities page records that the Commission approved a purchase-and-sale agreement with MBA Development Partners for the separate city-owned parcel at 1045 SW 11th Way in March 2023. That is a different project, despite both proposals being discussed in Deerfield Beach’s current development pipeline. Rivertowne Square is the JBL application at 1015–1219 South Federal Highway.
What nearby owners and investors should watch
For nearby property owners, the immediate questions are practical: whether the rezoning and site plan pass, which retail buildings remain, how construction is phased, and what the final traffic and drainage conditions require. For investors evaluating existing rental properties, 736 proposed apartments would be a meaningful future supply addition if the project proceeds, but it is not current inventory and should not be counted as units under construction.
Tryphe has separately covered the Broward Health North medical-office project in Deerfield Beach and Broward homebuyers’ flood-map and insurance due diligence. Those stories provide useful local context, but neither changes Rivertowne Square’s pending approval status.
The decision ahead
Rivertowne Square is a significant retail-to-residential proposal for South Federal Highway: up to 736 apartments, a stated 106-unit moderate-income set-aside, new ground-floor retail and a plan to retain the grocery anchor and selected businesses. The public record also contains items that deserve precise treatment—the differing commercial-area totals, the distinction between first reading and final adoption, and the fact that the traffic reduction remains a developer-reported forecast in the absence of the underlying study.
The November 17 hearing is the next decisive milestone, not the end of the development process. Until the Commission acts on the rezoning, major site plan and development agreement—and the later permits are issued—Rivertowne Square should be described as a proposed redevelopment, not an approved or active construction project.
Sources and project records
City of Deerfield Beach — November 17 agenda center; November 17 Commission agenda summary; November 5 meeting record and continuance; October 6 first-reading meeting record.
Rivertowne Square — developer project information and timeline; Broward County Land Use Plan Policy 2.16.3; Deerfield Beach Development Opportunities.