Davie truck oasis plans killed.

Byline: Roberto Santiago

Dec. 19--Eight years of planning for a fancy 33-acre truck stop at Florida's Turnpike and Interstate 595 comes to a halt today after a developer switched plans. "We talked about the truck stop and spent a lot of money looking into the project," said Steve Fielden, project manager for the New York-based Brauser Group, which bought the 33-acre site south of I-595 between U. S. 441 and the turnpike early last year.

"Given the fact that the 441 area is being developed, we felt that having a truck stop would bring down the neighborhood," he said.

This morning, the Brauser Group will turn in plans to the town of Davie that it will construct a complex consisting of office buildings, residential apartments and small businesses. Called Grand Plaza at Davie, the project is anticipated to break ground sometime within the next three to five years, Fielden said. And it is also a better business vision, "given what property values are today," Fielden said.

The decision to go from rest stop to residential happened in the last few months, Fielden said. The Brauser Group had purchased the Davie site from Jolmy Enterprises for about $17.6 million. The town gave the developer permission to build the truck stop, which was viewed as a haven for truckers and ...