Stet NewsHappy Tuesday! For you today, the county goes to court, the power class focuses on children, a roadblock for hyperscale AI data storage, progress on a foundation passion project and the final chapter for a notable house. Plus, Soledad speaks.
🥊 Fight is on over flight rules
Palm Beach County filed a petition in federal appellate court last week to challenge the “arbitrary” and “capricious” decision to redirect all Palm Beach International Airport flights north over historic neighborhoods even when President Donald Trump is not at his Palm Beach home.
Why it matters: On a recent Sunday, 384 jets flew over the 11,000 homes and 21,000 residents to the north, a sharp departure from flight rules that used to send planes east, affecting 2,200 homes with 5,000 residents.
Catch up quick: The change came in October at the request of the Secret Service, which is charged with protecting Trump, whose Mar-a-Lago home and private club is due east of PBIA.
Palm Beach County Commissioner Gregg Weiss, a Democrat who lives under the new flight path in Flamingo Park and represents the district most affected, urged county commissioners to support the lawsuit before a Friday deadline to challenge the decision.
What they’re saying: “We’re mostly hopeful that it brings everyone together to the table and we can have a discussion and find out why they’re doing this, why they made the changes while President Trump is not in residence,” he told a citizens’ airport advisory committee Thursday. “That’s the bottom line. We want to get to that, understand what that is and then understand what mitigations might be available to use.”
Zoom in: Commissioners voted 4-3 along party lines to file the lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration. Lawyers from the county and town of Palm Beach filed separate “petitions for review” on Friday in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington. West Palm Beach joined Palm Beach’s petition.
Of note: The county’s Citizens’ Committee on Airport Noise urged residents to file complaints, write letters to the FAA and Congress and call the airport’s noise complaint line at 561-244-9510.
Read the county’s petition here.
Read the rest of the story at StetNews.org.
— Jane Musgrave
🛟 Protecting children in the DOGE era
Officials from four powerful Palm Beach County organizations financed by taxpayersmet last week to talk about the health and welfare of the county’s children.
They expressed concern about whether their legislative priorities, such as full-day prekindergarten, were realistic, given scrutiny by Florida DOGE and a push to eliminate property taxes.
County Administrator Joe Abruzzo shared how he’s been questioned about the county’s need for its youth and community services departments. He spoke at the gathering Dec. 9 at the South County Civic Center of about 30 officials from the County Commission, School District, Health Care District and Children’s Services Council.
Why it matters: The four groups play a role in dealing with issues affecting children from infancy to age 22. The county’s Youth Services Department, for example, works with homeless families and provides adoption assistance. The Health Care District was included in the meeting because of its role in mental health.
Among the problems all four are working on:
- Chronic absenteeism from schools has nearly doubled since the pandemic.
- One-quarter of middle and high school students report clinical depression.
- Children under age 12 committed involuntarily for mental health treatment under the Baker Act are bused out of the county for treatment. HCA Florida JFK North Hospital quit treating them a year ago. A hospital linked with St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach is expected to start taking them in March or April, said Health Care District CEO Darcy Davis. The district will take over when its crisis stabilization center opens in 2029.
What they’re saying: “It’s our responsibility to fight for what we want, not wake up and start asking for less,” said County Commissioner and former legislator Bobby Powell after school board member Edwin Ferguson said full-day pre-K should be taken off a list of proposed legislative priorities because of DOGE.
Yes, but: County Mayor Sara Baxter had the last word. She suggested local governments back one of the Legislature’s tax-cutting options instead of fighting them all. “Then we might have some say in what we would like to see going forward,” she said.
Click here to watch the Dec. 9 meeting.
Read more about how child health and welfare are safeguarded in the county at StetNews.org.
— Holly Baltz
💾 Data storage center knocked off track
The massive data storage center on a fast track to be built in an industrial area on Southern Boulevard at 20-Mile Bend has been knocked off the fast track because it’s too close to a neighborhood.
Catch up quick: Residents of the neighboring 2,300-home Arden community turned out in force Wednesday at a County Commission zoning meeting, prompting the developers to seek a four-month postponement.
Why it matters: It would be the first hyperscale artificial intelligence data center in Palm Beach County. While offering greater connectivity to support rising local demand for computing power, the advantages of having one nearby are hard to pinpoint against a litany of ills: the potential for extensive power and water consumption and excessive, unremitting noise.
- The proposal has a code name, Project Tango, and the backing of the county’s chief economic recruiter, the Business Development Board, but is not in line for subsidies, BDB President and CEO Kelly Smallridge told Stet News.
Zoom in: While the property owners seek approval for nearly 1.8 million square feet of data storage in at least 11 buildings, plus 1.9 million square feet of warehouse space, they are not identifying what company would be the main tenant.
- Among tech companies racing to meet the demand for artificial intelligence computing nationwide are Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Google.
The proposal from longtime landowner PBA Holdings and Atlanta-based TPA Group could not overcome vast neighborhood opposition. The developers opted to postpone until April 23 to conduct noise studies, see if the Florida Legislature passes any laws that may affect their proposal and work with neighbors on solutions.
Of note: The site next to a Florida Power & Light power plant and a rock-mining operation once also included the 1,210-acre Arden, which is about 1,150-feet away. A PBA affiliate sold the vacant Arden land for $77 million to a home-builder in 2014.
Watch the zoning meeting here (starting at 29:00).
Read more about the project at StetNews.org here and here.
— Joel Engelhardt
🔨 African American museum’s big backer
Two significant donations are catapulting the African American Museum and Research Library in West Palm Beach forward as it enters Phase 2 in 2026.
Driving the news: The Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties announced a $500,000 grant last month from Bank of America, and, this month, praised the Palm Beach County Commission for its second $1 million grant.
Why it matters: But that’s not all. Collections worth millions that could turn the museum into an international destination are in the works, the foundation’s president and CEO, Danita DeHaney, told Stet News.
Catch up quick: The museum is being built on a historic site for the Black community, the former Roosevelt High School. The school, at Tamarind Avenue and 15th Street, is owned by the Palm Beach County School District. The 37,000-square-foot research center and museum is expected to breathe new life into the neighborhood.
Phase 1 broke ground in January 2024 and is nearly complete. It included demolition, the renovation of the original gym and shop buildings and construction of a vocational education building. The museum’s projected opening date is late 2028.
The Community Foundation joined the effort in June 2024 after county commissioners approved an initial $1 million grant.
What she’s saying: “It was a natural fit for us,” said DeHaney, who chairs the museum board. “It was like there was a piece missing before that the Community Foundation filled, and it just meshed so nicely with the goals of the School Board and the community to create the museum.”
The project has been decades in the making.
“If you think of what we’ve achieved, it is through grace in many ways,” DeHaney said. “We appointed two boards, a governing board, which is a legal requirement, and we also appointed an advisory council, which serves as a vehicle to keep us completely connected to the community.”
What’s next: Phase 2, with a budget of $60 million, will include restoration of the research library and construction of a two-story, 20,000-square-foot museum, which will have exhibit space and areas to host community lectures, educational programs, oral histories and youth initiatives.
- Phase 3 will complete the interior museum and library finishes, construct gardens and green space adjacent to the museum, and install plenty of storage. It is in the planning/fundraising stage and is expected to cost another $30 million.
Keep reading for more about the leadership of the museum project and about the foundation’s record-breaking year at StetNews.org.
– Janis Fontaine
🍊 The Juice
🔎 The DeSantis administration diverted more than $35 million in taxpayer money to defeat ballot amendments last fall easing abortion limits and allowing recreational marijuana. Much of the state money was intended to assist needy Floridians, including children. Instead, it paid for political consultants, lawyers and thousands of advertisements that helped DeSantis and his supporters win at the ballot box. (Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times $$$)
🛒 The downtown West Palm Beach Florida Public Utilities property, the gas company’s vacated 2.9-acre downtown onetime headquarters, has sold for $7.5 million to an affiliate of developer Stephen Ross’ Related Ross. It gives Ross the entire block north of Banyan Boulevard between Rosemary and Sapodilla avenues, where his company has submitted plans to build a 47,000-square-foot Publix. (South Florida Business Journal $$$)
- Stet first reported on Ross’ efforts to assemble the block in 2023. (Stet News)
🪧 A deeper conversation about ICE immigration raids in Lake Worth Beach came after immigration advocates rallied Dec. 11 and placed signs around the city reading “ICE kidnapped a community member here.” City commissioners said they see both sides. (Lake Worth Beach Independent)
🚨 Boxing promoter Don King lost his long-vacant Mangonia Park jai alai fronton to foreclosure in November. It’s set for auction on May 18. King’s companies owed $32 million in principal on the 52-acre property on 45th Street east of Interstate 95. Redevelopment of the site next to the northernmost Tri-Rail station could transform the town of Mangonia Park north of West Palm Beach. (South Florida Business Journal $$$)
🛋️ A proposal for apartments on nearly 60 acres northeast of Interstate 95 and Indiantown Road in Jupiter is advancing to the Town Council in January. (The Palm Beach Post $$$)
🤝 Kolter Group and Perko Development bought 11 of the 12 condos at the Beach Sound Condominium at 19930 Beach Road near Jupiter to tear down and rebuild. They paid a combined $25 million. (South Florida Business Journal $$$)
🏆 Congratulations to West Palm Beach’s Cardinal Newman High School football team! The Crusaders won their first state championship title on Thursday. (WPTV)
🎄 The 10th annual Christmas on Clematis Block Party is from 10 am to 2 pm Saturday in the 500 block. Organizers are seeking fun-loving volunteersto staff the pre-party and event. Sign up here.
- Or you can drop off unwrapped gifts at any Subculture Restaurant/coffee shop.
- More info here.
🎙️ “Top of Mind Florida,” the podcast by Michael Williams and Brian Crowley, explores who to trust for news, an important question in the 2025 world of spin and secrecy. (Listen now; watch now.)
561NSIDER: 🦮 Sign of the times: ‘Marley and Me’ home to be demolished
The West Palm Beach redevelopment tidal wave has reached the midcentury bungalow that was the setting for the bestselling memoir “Marley and Me,” about the life-changing bond between a man and his dog.
Driving the news: A Boca Raton-based developer bought the three-bedroom, two-bath home at 345 Churchill Road in August.
- Mizner Development has relisted the address on Realtor.com as a new 5,000-square-foot, five-bedroom estate.
- Asking price: $4.8 million.
Why it matters: The house once owned by “Marley and Me” author John Grogan and his wife, Jenny Vogt, is a snapshot of 35 years of bust and boom in West Palm Beach’s white-hot south end neighborhood.
Flashback: The couple bought the home in 1990 for $105,000, according to property records.
They soon adopted a Labrador puppy, Marley, whose boundless energy and destructive tendencies inspired Grogan’s book.
The 2005 release spent 23 weeks at No. 1 on The New York Times Best Seller list and was made into a movie starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston.
(A similar house in Hollywood, Florida, was used as a location in the movie.)
After brushes with crime on Churchill Road detailed in Grogan’s memoir, the couple sold their house in 1995 for $111,000 and moved to Boca Raton.
The house went into foreclosure during the subprime mortgage crisis of 2008-10, and the bank purchased it back at auction for $168,000 in 2015.
- A handful of owners came and went before Mizner Development bought the property this year for nearly $1.4 million.
What they’re saying: “We were interested to hear the news about 345,” Grogan, who now lives in Pennsylvania, wrote in an email to Stet this month. “We’ve watched as bungalows keep falling to new development in all the eastern neighborhoods. I guess it was our old house’s turn.”
There was no answer last week or this week at the phone number listed on the Mizner Development website.
Context: 345 is one of three properties Mizner Development is reshaping in the 300 block of Churchill Road.
- One sold for $3.85 million, and the other is on the market for nearly $4 million.
“We loved that little house,” Grogan wrote. “I try not to be sentimental about these things, but I’m sad to see it go.”
Of note: Carolyn has a front-row seat to the real estate changes on Churchill Road, where she has lived for 23 years.
— Carolyn DiPaolo
🦉 A parting word
Joel had the opportunity to hear part-time West Palm Beach resident Soledad O’Brien interviewed Monday at the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches luncheon by WPTV morning anchor Hollani Davis. To capture just one moment from O’Brien’s nearly hourlong talk: She told of departing New Orleans at the Baton Rouge airport in 2005 after covering Hurricane Katrina for CNN, still dirty from weeks without showers.
“So I had my CNN cap on as I’m walking through the airport, and we got a standing ovation. Like, that would not happen today for a news organization. It just wouldn’t happen,” O’Brien said. “And we got a standing ovation because I think people felt like we were serving them. They had questions, they were confused, there was a lot happening, and someone was helping them navigate that. And so, for me, that was a story that felt like, ‘Oh, this is what I’m supposed to be doing.’ So that’s always been a very important story for me.”
— Joel Engelhardt
