Margaritaville Comes to Hollywood

Margaritaville Comes to Hollywood

After years of planning and anticipation, Jimmy Buffett played to thousands of Parrotheads and excited South Florida residents to open the new Margaritaville Hollywood Beach resort in Hollywood, Florida last week. Playing on a temporary stage across from the Hollywood Broadwalk’s iconic Theatre Under the Stars, Buffett played a set that included most of his all-time hits. The crowd, which included many people viewing from neighboring roof tops, happily sang and danced along.

As I’ve posted here before (see New Projects Revitalize Hollywood, Florida, September 8, 2015), city leaders hope that Margaritaville is just the beginning of the revitalization of Hollywood beach. The $150 million hotel opened in late September and already beach restaurants are reporting a significant increase in business which they attribute directly to Margaritaville guests. While the resort currently has 4 restaurants open (a fifth to open later this year), hotel guests are venturing up and down the Broadwalk for other dining opportunities during their multi-day stays. This is exactly what the Hollywood Beach Community Redevelopment Agency and the City Commission hoped would happen when the City agreed to participate in the financing of the project.

As additional residential projects are completed, local traffic will increase on the beach, bringing more business to not only the beach, but to the rest of the city. From there, the city hopes to attract other projects to all of Hollywood. So while Jimmy Buffett may be “searching for (his) lost shaker of salt”, Hollywood is “Quietly Making Noise”.