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POMPANO BEACH — Broward Health has marked a construction milestone in Lighthouse Point with the “topping out” of its freestanding emergency room facility ("topping out" means a building's structural work is complete with the focus shifting to completing a building's interior.)

The two-story, 14,000-square-foot facility on North Federal Highway is expected to open in spring 2026 and treat about 18,000 patients annually.

Freestanding emergency departments (sometimes referred to as FSEDs or FSERs) are not attached to hospitals but provide the same level of critical care. Unlike urgent-care clinics, freestanding ERs are equipped to handle heart attacks, strokes, broken bones, major bleeding, and other life-threatening medical incidents.

Three Competing Freestanding ERs

Three freestanding ERs are currently proposed or under construction along a 4.5-mile stretch of US-1/Federal Highway, between Pompano Beach and Deerfield Beach:

Zoning Changes May Enable Freestanding ER in Pompano

The proposed Pompano Beach freestanding ER remains in the planning stage. Earlier this year, HCA Florida’s initial application was rejected under current zoning codes, which classify such facilities as “specialty hospitals.” That designation requires a minimum of three acres of land.

Planning and zoning board documents indicate that a proposed ordinance change will come before the Pompano Beach City Commission on Oct. 14. If approved, the change would allow “hospital-based off-campus emergency departments” to be built on parcels similar to those allowed for urgent-care clinics and other special medical facilities.

Holy Cross Adds Deerfield Beach Freestanding ER

Holy Cross Health is also expanding its footprint with a freestanding ER now under construction at 340 S. Federal Highway in Deerfield Beach. The two-story facility will include advanced diagnostic imaging, an on-site lab, an ambulance bay, and private treatment rooms. Officials expect the project to help reduce wait times and improve emergency care outcomes when it opens in 2026.

Concerns Raised About Freestanding ERs

While supporters point to faster service and expanded access to care, freestanding emergency departments have also drawn scrutiny from healthcare advocates.

Common concerns include:

Growing Healthcare Option

With new facilities planned in Pompano Beach, Lighthouse Point, and Deerfield Beach, freestanding ERs are becoming a key part of the region’s healthcare landscape.

POMPANO BEACH — City leaders cut the ribbon Saturday morning on “The Hive” - the community's latest new cultural venue - but festivities are taking place at the theater all day through 9pm Saturday night.

What exactly is “The Hive”?

The venue - a few blocks off Dixie Highway at 353 Martin Luther King Boulevard, and next door to the Ali Cultural Arts campus - is commonly known as a “black box theater.”

As Pompano's cultural affairs director Ty Tabing will tell you, the term “black box” means the venue is small (max capacity around 70 people), but the performing space is very flexible. It's designed to accommodate many different theatrical and performance endeavors.

“We don’t have a theater this size,” Tabing said. “This just allows smaller groups to have access. They don’t have to necessarily be professional theater groups. They can come to us… and we just want this to be our most accessible space where young people, elderly folks, everyone, feels like they’re invited in. It’s a welcoming space, and that’s really what it’s intended to be."

City organizers noted that Saturday's events at The Hive's inauguration showcase the venue's flexibility. The performance space will host everything from a local church choir a hip-hop dance troupe, musical theatrical previews, choreography sessions, a documentarian lecture, and a documentary premiere produced by The Roundtable Project.

Prayer, history and community pride

Commissioner Beverly Perkins, who represents the district, called the project an investment in the community’s cultural heart.

“I remember when this building was just open, it was like a shell, and it was just dirt at the bottom of it for the longest,” Perkins said. “This is an awesome building. I admire the colors, they’re so beautiful and bright. This is a plus for District 4, and we’re so happy to have this facility here.”

“This will allow The Hive to keep Pompano Beach buzzing with creativity, opportunity and a source of pride for the city,” Mayor Rex Hardin told attendees. “Bottom line, this is a facility that is here to serve the entire city, and what a great location with our future downtown coming — this is really going to just be the icing on the cake.”

Preserving the legacy of Ali Cultural Arts

Built on the legacy of the Ali family, who once operated a beauty school, salon, barbershop and an upstairs boarding house at the site, the cultural arts building has long been a symbol of entrepreneurship and culture in Pompano Beach’s Black community.

“This is very important because Mr. Ali, he was a great person, he cuts hair, his wife was a hairdresser, and he’s part of our history,” said Ms. Octavia Glover, a longtime resident. “This building means a whole lot to the community — not to be torn down and to be presented in the city.”

Former Pompano mayor and current County Commissioner Lamar Fisher likewise recalled the effort to save the original building, once nearly lost to demolition:

“It was in deplorable shape… and I will never forget, it was one of the last times that the city was able to use eminent domain,” Fisher said. “At the end of the day it was the best thing that the city was able to do — to save the Ali building.”

Art, funding and vision for the future

The Hive project cost $1.2 million, funded through a state grant and city capital improvement funds. Inside, the flexible 2,000-square-foot black box theater can seat up to 70 people and host everything from spoken word and dance to film screenings and experimental performances.

The building's exterior also features a striking mural, Rhythms of Legacy, by artist Nate Dee, who drew inspiration from community workshops.

“I like to create work that’s relevant to the community and the people who live in it,” Dee said. “In this piece specifically… we wanted to really pay tribute to that, make sure that’s important. Preservation, legacy, passing the torch. If we don’t make these things important, and we don’t hold space for them, they disappear.”