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| Las Olas canals 1961 Archives of the State of Florida/Rubel, A. 1961 |
In October 1957, about 150 Fort Lauderdale area realtors boarded
the Jungle Queen III for a presentation and cruise to the last of the “Las Olas
district” isles to be developed. Most who consider what would be the last of those
manmade isles would typically assign it to the Las Olas Boulevard area.
In fact, this last developed isle was Sunrise Key (formerly
Wells Island) at the intersection of NE 19th Avenue and NE 6th
Court. It sat along the Middle River, directly north of Nurmi Drive and about
1,000 ft. from the Intracoastal Waterway. A bridge was built for the new
development over the Karen Canal at that intersection (some will remember the
Karen Club Apartments, now Gateway Terrace Apartments nearby). The key was
comprised of separated islands that were filled in for a road, royal palms, utilities and 82 lots.
Purchased by Eastern Properties from St. Luke’s Presbyterian
Hospital Chicago, the 35-acre key was connected at that time to Hendricks Isle;
the two keys were separated by dredging during development of this new
community, soon to be site of “$100,000-class” homes, a hefty price in the late
1950s.
Eastern Properties promoted this project in 1957 by offering
an all-expenses paid trip to Cuba or Nassau (or equivalent) to each buyer of a
lot sold through October that year. By March 1959, 35 of the 82 lots had been
sold. Development of Sunrise Key was completed late 1959. The first completed dwelling
(1959), designed by John O’Neill, was a 5,000 sq. ft. home with three bedrooms
and five bathrooms.
Before Sunrise Key, Eastern Properties, headed by Charles
Hoy, A.T. Manno and R.L. Gordon, developed Lake Estates and Golf Estates in
Fort Lauderdale. By that time, they had also developed Eastern Shores in North
Miami Beach and several communities in Clearwater and St. Petersburg on
Florida’s west coast.
Sources:
Fort Lauderdale News,
Oct. 1, 1957
Fort Lauderdale News,
Oct. 19, 1957
Fort Lauderdale News,
Oct. 26, 1957
Fort Lauderdale News,
April 13, 1958
Fort Lauderdale News, March 28, 1959
Tags: Fort Lauderdale in the 1950s, Las Olas isles, manmade islands, Fort Lauderdale developments, Jane Feehan, Fort Lauderdale history