It is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area in South Florida, which was home to an estimated 6,012,331 people at the 2015 census.
The city, officially chartered on July 10, 1963, was master-planned and primarily developed by Coral Ridge Properties, Inc., which was acquired by Westinghouse in 1966.
Coral Springs has notably strict building codes, which are designed to maintain the city's distinctive aesthetic appeal.
Prior to its incorporation as a city in July 1963, the area which is now Coral Springs was part of 20,000 acres (81 km2) of marshy lands bought by Henry Lyons between 1911 and 1939.
[6] A post-World War II real estate boom in South Florida attracted the interest of developers.
Coral Ridge Properties, which already had several developments in Broward County, bought 3,869 acres (16 km2) of land from the Lyons family on December 14, 1961, for $1 million.
In 1965, Coral Ridge Properties bought an additional 6,000 acres (24 km2) from the Lyons family, increasing the city's land area to 16 square miles (41 km2).
The city added 19 public schools, a regional mall, shopping centers and parks between 1970 and 2000 in response to rapid population growth.
[15] Restrictions on commercial signs,[16] exterior paint colors,[17] roofing materials,[18] recreational vehicle and boat storage,[19] and landscaping specifications[20] are all strictly enforced; consequently, real estate values in the city are significantly higher than the county as a whole.
[21] The city's downtown at the intersection of Sample Road and University Drive is the focus of an extensive redevelopment plan, estimated to cost close to US$700 million.
[22] The plan to revitalize the city's core started with an open-air shopping and entertainment center—"The Walk"—and progressed with the construction of "One Charter Place," opened April 2007.
The project began construction in 2022, following the demolition of the Coral Springs Financial Plaza at the end of 2021.
Fiserv and Alliance Entertainment are the largest companies that have offices in the Corporate Park of Coral Springs.
ABB Asea Brown Boveri and Royal Plastics Group have subsidiaries headquartered in the city.
[53] The "Our Town" Festival has been continuously held since 1979, first sponsored by the Coral Springs Chamber of Commerce, and promoted by a non-profit organization since 1997.
[59] At Coral Springs' 25th Anniversary Party, the Guinness World Record for "Largest Hamburger and Milkshake" was broken on July 10, 1988.
The American Snuff Company provided two historical designs for the bridge sides, to make the structure appear aged.
Built outside the city limits, the single-room wooden structure was moved to Coral Springs and became its first administration building.
Later it was used as the first police station, and as a Jaycees clubhouse; it was moved to the city dump in 1976, where it was used as a fire department training site for smoke drills.
After it was inadvertently set on fire, public outcry prompted the building's relocation to Mullins Park for restoration.
[63] Coral Springs is the current training home of the Florida Panthers NHL team,[64] and has more than 25 amateur sports leagues.
[65] Coral Springs Youth Soccer has more than 3,000 players, playing for 284 teams in 20 separate leagues, divided by age group and sex.
The short-lived professional soccer team Coral Springs Kicks (USISL) was based in the city.
The regional Sportsplex has a jogging path, an aquatic center, tennis courts, ice rinks and a dog park.
[68] Coral Springs uses the commission-manager form of municipal government, with all governmental powers resting in a legislative body called a commission.
[74][75] Gregory Tony, who was later appointed Sheriff of Broward County, was first employed as a police officer by the department, from 2005 to 2016, ultimately becoming a sergeant.
[79] According to the 2005 American Community Survey (conducted by the US Census Bureau), 39.2% of all adults over the age of 25 in Coral Springs have obtained a bachelor's degree, as compared to a national average of 27.2% of adults over 25, and 91.7% of Coral Springs residents over the age of 25 have earned a high school diploma, as compared to the national average of 84.2%.
"[86] North Broward Preparatory School maintains a satellite campus in Coral Springs that is currently not in use.
The city is home to two local weekly newspapers, the Coral Springs Forum and Our Town News.
The only limited-access highway in Coral Springs is the Sawgrass Expressway (State Road 869), which borders the city on its northern and western edges.