(Crystal Proenza is associate editor of Real Estate Florida.)

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL-The Broward County Supervisor of Elections has committed to a 72,000-square-foot build-to-suit complex at the $1.6 billion Riverbend Transit Oriented Development. Developer Coral Springs-based Amera-Barron will construct the $22.8 million project beginning in summer 2009 for a summer 2010 delivery.

The deal marks the next phase of the six-million-square-foot, mixed-use Riverbend TOD development, which is set to eventually include over three million square feet of office, 800,000 square feet of retail, 1,200 residential units and 500 hotel rooms. The project is located on 100 acres at the western quadrants of the Interstate 95/Broward Boulevard interchange.

Charlie Ladd, a principal of Amera-Barron, says every building adds a critical mass to the TOD site, which is adjacent to Downtown Fort Lauderdale. He tells GlobeSt.com that another 12 to 15 acres of site infrastructure will commence with the groundbreaking of the new Supervisor of Elections headquarters, for which Stiles Corp. is the general contractor and Solomon Cordwell Buenz & Associates Inc. is the architect.