What's New on NE 13th Street? A Fall Look at the Corridor on Poinsettia Heights' Southern Edge

"If we were to continue a bicycle lane, what form would that look like? Does the traffic really support that?" A Fort Lauderdale transportation staffer put those questions to the Central City Redevelopment Advisory Board at its May 6, 2026 meeting. He was describing a proposed study to extend the NE 13th Street lane elimination east past the FEC tracks, possibly as far as NE 15th Avenue.

NE 15th Avenue is the western edge of Poinsettia Heights. The Poinsettia Heights Civic Association describes the neighborhood as running from 15th Avenue on the west to 20th Avenue and Lake Melva on the east, with the Middle River to the north. NE 13th Street separates it from Lake Ridge to the south. A street plan that has spent years ending short of the neighborhood is now being studied all the way to its corner.

Where the strip used to stop

In 2019, the Sun Sentinel called 13th Street one of Fort Lauderdale's best-kept secrets. It described the retail cluster as roughly a half mile long, from NW 4th Avenue to NE 12th Avenue. Farther east, the street turned mostly residential.

The street design follows the same line. City staff told the advisory board that the lane elimination was put in around 2018 and stops short of the railroad. The proposed study would start "where the extension stopped," run past the train tracks to NE 12th Avenue, and then look at what could be done between there and NE 15th Avenue.

For Poinsettia Heights, that leaves a gap of about three avenues between where the shops and the slower street end and where the neighborhood begins. Everything new on the corridor this year falls somewhere along that gap, and the city's two most recent moves address it directly.

The address walk, west to east

The addresses below run in order from the roundabout end of the street toward Poinsettia Heights. They reflect what has opened, closed and kept going since the start of 2026.

1. 603 NE 13th Street: Shellshock Records. Owner Gunther Schenk spent years in record-store culture, including at Radio-Active, before opening his own shop on May 23, 2026. Ahead of opening day he told Miami New Times he expected to stock between 3,500 and 4,000 records and eventually hoped to grow to as many as 10,000 titles. The store was billed as heavy on punk, indie, metal and jazz, with Schenk's background in underground music shaping the inventory. The listed phone number is 754-227-8300.

2. 815 NE 13th Street: a closure, then a café. Milk Money Bar & Kitchen closed at this address on December 22, 2025. When Browardist reported the closure on December 29, no replacement had been announced. By June 2026, The Infatuation was reviewing Si Buenas Café at the same street address. It's a small Colombian coffee shop with a panela latte topped with panela cold foam, a case of Colombian and Venezuelan pastries, and tables that seat two at most. Bottima, a barbershop, also lists 815 NE 13th Street and says it's open seven days a week with walk-ins welcome.

3. 850 NE 13th Street: showrooms. LUV Bridal lists its Fort Lauderdale bridal showroom at Unit B, and The Sliding Door Company lists a showroom at Unit A. Neither page shows a recent update date, so call ahead before making a special trip.

4. 1105 NE 13th Street: Gulf Stream Brewing. This is the eastern anchor and the business closest to Poinsettia Heights with a full calendar. More on it below.

5. NE 15th Avenue: the neighborhood's corner. This is where the city's proposed study would end.

The 2026 openings at 603 and 815 are both small, daytime businesses: a record shop and a coffee counter with two-top tables. They sit in the part of the street the 2019 description already counted as the strip. Farther east, the activity comes from one larger venue that programs most nights of the week.

Gulf Stream is already pulling the corridor east

Gulf Stream Brewing marked eight years on September 19, 2026 with a "Release The Kraken" anniversary party that included new beer releases. Its October 2026 calendar shows a weekly schedule close to Poinsettia Heights' western edge.

Calendar listings can change, so check the brewery's events page before you go.

Gulf Stream isn't alone at that end of the street. On June 27, Gulf Stream, Gulf Stream Distillery, Pizzeria Magaddino and Two Drums Seltzer put on a "Red, White and Booze" neighborhood block party with music, games, food, tastings and local businesses. Four businesses teaming up for one event east of the tracks is the kind of cluster the 2019 description didn't include.

The study also names this area specifically. Staff said it would look at the curve near Gulf Stream Brewery and the stretch past the train tracks, and at what the city could do within its own right-of-way to improve safety.

What the city has approved, and what it's only studying

The two city actions this year are at different stages, and they shouldn't be read as the same kind of commitment.

Approved: the roundabout sculpture. On September 15, 2026, the Community Redevelopment Agency board approved up to $150,000 for a new public art piece at the roundabout at NE 13th Street and NE 7th Avenue. It's called Community Connections and is designed with interconnected elements meant to represent community relationships. It will replace the deteriorating artwork there now. The city says the project addresses safety concerns tied to the old sculpture's condition and improves the look of the NE 13th Street business corridor. The roundabout is at the western end of the address walk above, but money approved for corridor appearance is a signal of where the city is focusing.

Proposed: the lane study. The feasibility study is earlier in the process. Staff estimated it at about $100,000, called that a conservative estimate that could go up or down in negotiations, and mentioned a possible fiscal year 2027 request. Staff described the approach as phased. The study would come first, and the city would only move on to design and construction if the data supports it.

Staff said the questions on the table include:

• Whether to drop a lane, and what a continued bicycle lane would look like
• Effects on traffic, congestion and parking
• Whether curves near the storage facility need tightening, where staff pointed to a large swath of pavement
• Whether simple pavement markings are enough, or whether moving curb and gutter, which would raise costs considerably, can be justified

Staff also told the board that Brightline would be working in its own right-of-way at the tracks over the following several months, adding markings and reinforcing safety there. That was said in May, so check current conditions at the crossing rather than assuming the work is finished.

As of this fall, none of this has been built east of the tracks. The study has been proposed and priced, nothing more.

What this means at the bottom of your block

For a homeowner on the western streets of Poinsettia Heights, the stretch between NE 12th and NE 15th Avenues is the one to follow. That's where a decision would land if the study goes ahead and its findings support extending the lane changes. The meeting record describes a restriping-only extension as the simplest version, with heavier construction only if the study finds a reason for it. Either way, the study is set up to weigh traffic and parking alongside bike and pedestrian use, which are the factors most noticeable to people who drive onto 13th Street from the neighborhood's side streets every day.

The next public steps are a budget request and a study scope. The Central City Redevelopment Advisory Board and the CRA board are where both would come up. The city posts commission vote summaries on its Legistar calendar and meeting video on its YouTube channel. The May 6 advisory board session where the lane study came up is posted there as a full recording. The September 15 sculpture vote showed up in the city's LauderBriefs recap within days, so that page is a quick way to keep track of the corridor between meetings.

If you own a home near the NE 15th Avenue corner and want to talk about what the 13th Street plans could mean for your block over the next few years, Trent Sells Fort Lauderdale follows these corridor decisions closely and can walk you through them. Schedule a free consultation and home valuation, and we'll start with what's been approved and what's still only proposed for your end of the street.