Carolyn DiPaoloCouncil could decide this week who will help reimagine the city.
Editor’s note: On Wednesday, Riviera Beach City Council members voted to hear pitches from the two developers vying for the project before making a decision. Read the Stet News update here.
Riviera Beach leaders are poised to approve a private partner for a sweeping redevelopment they envision to reshape their city.
City Council members will consider a staff recommendation Wednesday to negotiate with a team assembled by Los Angeles-based Sonnenblick Development to build:
- A new city hall complex.
- Residential and retail space on the old Blue Heron Boulevard city hall site and on a city-owned block on Broadway.
- An athletic center with money from a voter-approved bond issue.
The developments would all be on about 80 acres of public property, including the Wells Recreation Center athletic fields south of Blue Heron, and financed by Riviera Beach and the developer.
Sonnenblick’s 244-page proposal is dated June 2024 and would likely evolve if the council decides to negotiate with the team. The pitch, valuing the city hall portion of the project at $100 million, is included with the city’s meeting agenda and draws broad outlines of projects it would guide at two locations.
Sonnenblick in 2023 pledged to help the city finance a hotel at Marina Village, a deal that has not moved forward.
The competing pitch comes from Peter Baytarian’s Forest Development, developer of the Nautilus high-rise under construction in Lake Park and the twin 25-story Oculina towers proposed next door on the Riviera Beach side of Silver Beach Road. Forest also is behind the 16-story, 595-unit 10th & Park Avenue apartments proposed in Lake Park.
Forest values this project at $635 million.
The Flats @ Blue Heron
Sonnenblick would include a new city hall complex, an athletic center, a new Riviera Beach high school planned by the Palm Beach County school district, workforce housing and retail on public property straddling Blue Heron Boulevard east of the FEC Railway tracks.
The Clearwater-based Sports Facilities Cos. would develop and operate the athletic center. The proposal outlines potential for the center to be expanded into a tourist attraction for tournament play.
The city has set aside $45 million from a voter-approved bond for the athletic center.
The property on the gateway to Singer Island is now home to the aging city hall, Inlet Grove high and middle schools and the Wells Recreation Center.
As part of the city’s redevelopment plan, Inlet Grove will move to the Lincoln Elementary School campus, next to Dan Calloway Park on 10th Street, west of Australian Avenue.
The year-old proposal also floats an idea to build the city hall complex at the Riviera Beach City Marina, a plan it calls Option A.
The Commons @ Broadway & West 23rd Street
Sonnenblick is proposing to build a housing complex and a retail/office center on city-owned property between 22nd and 23rd streets west of Broadway. That’s where the city had suggested a new city hall be built.
A third bidder, the nonprofit developer Provident Resources Group, did not meet the city’s criteria and was rejected by a city review panel. Provident is a partner in two student housing projects at Lynn University in Boca Raton.
The review committee ranked Sonnenblick over Forest Development last month.
Of the four criteria, Sonnenblick edged out Forest Development on experience, financial plan and its vision for the city hall complex. Forest earned a higher ranking for project development and design.
The scores were close, with Sonnenblick earning an average of 116.6 points to Forest’s 112.6.
In addition to Sports Facilities Cos., Sonnenblick’s partners include design and engineering consultants Kimley Horn and Gilbane, the real estate development company that is leading a 25-story Palm Beach Atlantic University residence hall that broke ground last week in West Palm Beach.
Forest’s partners include the WGI engineering firm; attorney and Port of Palm Beach board member Wayne Richards; and Kast Construction.
City staff serving on the committee were LaTonya Ammons, director of procurement; Solomon Burgess, safety officer; Clarence Sirmons, director of development services; Bernard Buxton-Tetteh, director of public works; Annetta Jenkins, CRA director of neighborhood services; and Nydia Reynolds, assistant director of finance.
What’s next: Council members take up the issue at 6:30 pm Wednesday at the Marina Event Center, 190 E. 13th St. You can watch the meeting on the city’s YouTube channel.
I am a co-founder, writer and editor for Stet News. I am also a former senior editor at The Palm Beach Post. For 20 years, I oversaw some of the most consequential stories published by the paper, including the “Corruption County” reporting project that led to multiple arrests of elected officials. I am a member of the Leadership Palm Beach County Class of 2013. I live in West Palm Beach with my husband, Bill DiPaolo.
