Broward County Value Adjustment Board — Reviews Classification Challenge
A vacant downtown Fort Lauderdale lot once used as a blacktop parking area for courthouse visitors is now covered in roughly 1,000 banana plants, and the property’s owner wants Broward County to tax it like farmland instead of prime real estate. Broward County’s property appraiser has said no, setting up a legal fight over whether a $33 million development site can also count as a working farm.
From Parking Lot to Banana Grove
The Benjamin Companies purchased the two-acre lot at Southeast 8th Street and Southwest 2nd Avenue for $33 million in 2022, according to CBS News Miami. At the time, the site functioned as a blacktop parking lot frequently used by courthouse visitors. The Fort Lauderdale City Commission approved plans in 2023 for two 30-story towers on the property, but by 2025 the developer had put the land back up for sale.
Rather than let the lot sit empty, the Benjamin Companies began renting it to a banana farmer in November 2025, per the same CBS News Miami report. The grower, who operates similar banana farms in Davie, planted about 1,000 banana plants across the site and has other locations throughout Broward County where bananas are grown. According to the report, the farmer said demand for the crop currently outstrips supply.
Leaves, Not Fruit, Drive the Business
Unlike a typical banana operation, the primary crop here is the leaves, not the fruit. The farmer sells banana leaves to decorators, party planners, hotels and zoos, with each leaf fetching $5 — a business the grower says could generate $50,000, the station’s report notes. Fred Segal, president of the Broward Farm Bureau, told CBS News Miami that developers have used empty lots to plant crops or graze cattle on a small scale for tax breaks before, and he views the downtown banana operation as a legitimate commercial business. Segal added that the plantation could even become a positive tourist draw in downtown Fort Lauderdale…