Shady Banks Civic Association

The property that is now Hortt Park used to be divided into two parcels, one parcel was the old (and smaller) Hortt Park, and the other was the Hortt School campus. For many years the Hortt School (originally a public elementary school) was used as an administrative facility for the Broward County School Department. In 2009, the School Department sold the property to Broward County for use as an expansion of the existing Hortt Park, and the management of the park was turned over to the City of Fort Lauderdale. The School Department vacated the school buildings in early 2011. Soon after they were torn down by city contractors, and the site was cleared and stabilized with sod.

In cooperation with our Shady Banks Civic Association, the City of Fort Lauderdale's Parks and Recreation Department has worked up an impressive plan for the redevelopment of the expanded Hortt Park. That redevelopment project will take several years to complete. Phase I of the project involved tearing down and removing the school buildings and stabilizing the site. That phase was completed in September of 2011. Phase II involves the construction of a new community center building adjacent to the existing playground. That building will be called the Hortt Park Community Center and will be available for use by our Civic Association, and for other public functions. As of this writing (November 2011), the construction of the community center building is just getting underway. Phase III of the project will involve the installation of additional park facilities including... a tennis court, volleyball court, additional playground equipment, and additional trees and landscaping. The Phase III work will come in the future -- after the community center is completed. Our neighbors are delighted with the Hortt Park redevelopment plan, and we thank the City staff for their good work.


Playground	The old conference trailer - we met here for 30 years	School campus demolition September 2011

Community Center concept drawing	Community Center Early November 2011	Community Center Mid November 2011

Community Center March 2012

Below are links to three concept drawings for the Hortt Park redevelopment that the City has provided to us. Click on the links to view the drawings and see the changes that are coming to Hortt Park.

To go to other pages on this site, use the Site Navigator (at left)
or click here to go to our Home Page.