Once upon a time, it was just another desolate stretch of Federal Highway, ignored by drivers as they whizzed by on their way to somewhere else.
But now that forlorn stretch has turned into a Hallandale Beach gathering place filled with slices of life: Martini glasses clinking at night, neighbors chatting over coffee during the day, fitness buffs sweating it out at the kickboxing studio upstairs.
The arrival of Atlantic Village, a sprawling “lifestyle plaza” that spans three blocks just east of the Big Easy Casino, has some predicting a spike in development along Federal Highway.
“It’s the start of a renaissance,” said Bob Shapiro, a developer for the mammoth Dania Pointe shopping and entertainment complex on the rise in Dania Beach to the north.