{"id":119,"date":"2026-05-12T05:04:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T05:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=119"},"modified":"2026-05-12T05:04:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T05:04:23","slug":"residents-say-theyre-trapped-in-construction-zone-as-memorial-regional-expansion-grows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=119","title":{"rendered":"Residents say they\u2019re trapped in construction zone as Memorial Regional expansion grows"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<p>HOLLYWOOD, Fla.  \u2014 For longtime homeowners living east of Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, the sound of progress has become impossible to ignore.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=117\">Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick plans to run in November for same district seat she resigned from<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been hell,\u201d said resident Michele Swan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a disaster,\u201d added William Swan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s noise, the house shakes,\u201d said homeowner Mark Gilden.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought my house was going to cave in,\u201d said 83-year-old Sara Albornoz.<\/p>\n<p>The residents, many retired and in their 70s and 80s, live just east of Memorial Regional Hospital along Grant, Hayes and Garfield streets. For years, the South Broward Hospital District has been buying homes in the neighborhood as part of Memorial Regional Hospital\u2019s massive expansion plans. Many of those homes have already been demolished.<\/p>\n<p>Residents who remain say vacant lots around them are now being used for parking, construction staging, equipment storage and temporary offices tied to the hospital\u2019s expansion project. Only a handful of homeowners remain.<\/p>\n<p>Some residents thought they would spend the rest of their lives there.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, they say their neighborhood has slowly disappeared around them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m dealing with my husband that is very ill,\u201d Albornoz said.<\/p>\n<p>Alexandra Grada said construction activity has changed daily life for her family.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI now have a toddler and a fresh newborn and we now have not even been able to walk in our own neighborhood,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs it fair to pull out of the bottom of us what we work all our life for?\u201d Michele Swan asked.<\/p>\n<p>Despite their frustrations, residents insist they are not trying to stop the hospital\u2019s expansion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe hospital has to expand. I understand that,\u201d Gilden said.<\/p>\n<p>Still, residents say the process of buying them out has become unfair.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re gonna lose this house,\u201d William Swan said.<\/p>\n<p>Residents told Local 10 offers were made years ago, but they claim negotiations later stalled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, I haven\u2019t heard anything else &#8212; not from the hospital district or from the city,\u201d Gilden said.<\/p>\n<p>Seven homeowners have now hired attorney Kyle Teal, who specializes in property rights and eminent domain issues.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re living in the middle of a construction zone,\u201d Teal said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s been some negotiating, but it\u2019s not what I consider to be in good faith,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Teal said residents want the hospital district to formally begin eminent domain proceedings rather than continue what he describes as piecemeal voluntary negotiations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt ensures a fair process. Property owners are protected,\u201d Teal said.<\/p>\n<p>Teal claims the hospital district has refused to begin that process and instead has attempted to negotiate directly with homeowners individually.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not capable of negotiating with the hospital district on my own,\u201d Gilden said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey don\u2019t want this to be a story about taking people\u2019s property, but the reality is that\u2019s what\u2019s happening,\u201d Teal said.<\/p>\n<p>Residents also say they cannot afford to relocate using the offers they have received.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe got an offer that was market value at the time, but now we can\u2019t even buy an equivalent home with that amount of money,\u201d Grada said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI couldn\u2019t afford the taxes or the cost of living someplace else,\u201d William Swan said.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=115\">State Attorney rules MDSO deputy\u2019s fatal shooting justified<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re taking our property and you don\u2019t want to compensate for the expansion of where we have to go,\u201d Michele Swan said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe only have our self security,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is paid off so we can live, we can survive on our two checks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven if we got the house, we can\u2019t afford the taxes today according to people that are telling us how much they\u2019re paying in taxes,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>Residents are also questioning how and why the City of Hollywood has allowed construction staging and parking areas in a neighborhood zoned single-family residential while people are still living there.<\/p>\n<p>The City of Hollywood told Local 10 the use was permitted because the land is owned by Memorial and located close to the construction area.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey said we are looking to do this enabling, parking, equipment storage, and we permitted it,\u201d said Joann Hussey, a spokesperson for the City of Hollywood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe thought this would be the least amount of impact,\u201d Hussey said.<\/p>\n<p>Residents living there disagree.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had to ask a dump truck to move out so I could get out of my driveway,\u201d William Swan said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe noise woke her up twice at 7 a.m.,\u201d Grada said of her newborn child.<\/p>\n<p>Russell Long, the city\u2019s chief building official, acknowledged some complaints were legitimate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome of them are justified,\u201d Long said.<\/p>\n<p>Teal believes the current conditions surrounding the remaining homes are influencing residents\u2019 decisions about whether to stay or sell.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrankly, they\u2019re trying to wear them down,\u201d Teal said.<\/p>\n<p>A November 2025 letter obtained by Local 10 informed homeowners of disruptions tied to the expansion project and offered independent appraisals for residents interested in selling.<\/p>\n<p>In a written statement to Local 10, the South Broward Hospital District said all home purchases in the neighborhood are voluntary and that homeowners who wish to sell are offered fair market value supported by independent appraisals.<\/p>\n<p>The district also said it remains open to negotiations with homeowners and their attorneys and remains committed to being \u201ca responsive and transparent neighbor\u201d during the hospital\u2019s expansion.<\/p>\n<p>The district said Memorial Regional Hospital\u2019s expansion project represents one of the largest healthcare investments in the region in years and will expand healthcare access for South Florida residents.<\/p>\n<p>Local 10 News also asked Memorial Healthcare System why eminent domain proceedings have not been initiated involving the remaining homes.<\/p>\n<p>The hospital district says it is intentionally choosing not to pursue eminent domain, arguing voluntary negotiations give homeowners more flexibility, more control over timing and the ability to decide whether and when to sell.<\/p>\n<p>Memorial says eminent domain could ultimately force homeowners into lengthy court proceedings and remove their choice altogether.<\/p>\n<p>Teal argues the current voluntary process leaves residents at a disadvantage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTheir only potential buyer holds all the leverage and they hold none,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Teal said he is weighing additional legal options for his clients.<\/p>\n<p>Residents say what they ultimately want is simple.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s all we want is honesty and fairness,\u201d Michele Swan said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just want a fair deal negotiated by a professional in my best interest and I\u2019m ready to go,\u201d Gilden said.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=113\">2 in custody after attempted robbery, shooting in Deerfield Beach<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For longtime homeowners living east of Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, the sound of progress has become impossible to ignore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Residents say they\u2019re trapped in construction zone as Memorial Regional expansion grows - South Florida Moving Guides<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southfloridamovingguides.com\/?p=119\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" 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