Stet NewsGreetings, Stetters! For you today, a church faces the wrecking ball, a revolving door at Riviera Beach’s water plant, massive construction at Palm Beach’s Four Arts campus, a call to action for nonprofit donors and a chance to play scientist.
🏗️ Development comes knocking
The Crossroads Baptist Church is at a crossroads.
After surviving the ups and downs of more than 50 years at 45th Street and Haverhill Road, the church is being sold — for housing.
- Kolter Group is proposing 318 apartments in three buildings six stories tall on the eight-acre site. The builder is asking West Palm Beach to annex the property and approve the development plan.
Yes, but: That leaves the congregation homeless, except for a promise from the church’s landlord, the Palm Lake Baptist Association, to help financially for five years.
Why it matters: The deal illustrates the reach of Palm Beach County’s housing boom, which isn’t confined to waterfront high-rises but extends to forlorn pockets where builders struggle to find available land. It also promises a financial windfall for the Baptist association at the expense of a single congregation.
What they’re saying: The mostly Black and Caribbean congregants in the Gramercy Park neighborhood are worried. Beulah Blane, a 92-year-old church regular, said finding another home just doesn’t make sense. Losing the church, she said, “would be just like a death in the family.”
Catch up quick: Palm Lake Baptist has owned the property since 1990. But the cost of maintaining two church buildings — one built in 1964, the other 1974 — is too great, Palm Lake President Steve Thomas told Stet News.
- “I know this is emotional, but we don’t have the money to fix the property,” Thomas said. “We’ve done our best to be faithful to them.”
Proceeds from the real estate deal, which has not yet closed, will be spent on fixing existing churches and developing new ones in the association’s South Florida territory, Thomas said.
What’s next: The first public hearing on the Alton West Palm Beach plan is today before the city Planning Board. The next stop is the City Commission.
Read more about the church and the plans for the land at StetNews.org.
— Joel Engelhardt
🚰 Riviera Beach utility chief is out
Riviera Beach’s utility director, Joshua Niemann, is no longer on the job he held for less than a year.
Why it matters: Niemann, who was hired as executive utility director in June 2025, stepped in a year after the city fired the previous utility director amid concerns about water quality and as the city embarked on a $400 million water system rebuild.
The latest: Niemann’s last day in the office was May 8, but the city has not answered questions about his employment status.
- Water plant manager Garry Baker, hired by Niemann in July, is also gone.
What he’s saying: When reached last week by Stet News about his departure, Niemann said: “I am hoping that will change. The residents deserve better.”
Context: Since May 6, when the City Council bought out Jonathan Evans’ contract as city manager, the city has been under the control of interim City Manager Bill Wilkins, who came out of retirement to take the job.
What’s next: An agenda for Wednesday’s utility district meeting lists Assistant Director Richard Gallant as the interim utility director.
What we’re watching: Will Niemann be reinstated?
— Carolyn DiPaolo
🌟 A $250 million glow-up
After two years of applications, presentations, zoning changes and revisions, a $250 million renovation of the Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach got underway this month.
Driving the news: The 18-month redo of two major buildings on the Four Arts 10-acre campus includes the expansion and upgrade of the administrative building and renovation of the gallery building and its auditorium. Both are along Royal Palm Way on the south side of the Four Arts property, just east of the Royal Park Bridge.
Why it matters: The Society of the Four Arts reaches beyond its elite origins with many programs open to everyone. In 2025, the campus hosted more than 500 events.
Under the renovation plan, the footprint of the O’Keeffe Gallery Building – currently about 20,000 square feet – will grow to nearly 31,000 square feet. The art gallery will be expanded and modernized to allow for bigger exhibitions.
- Upgrades to the Gubelmann Auditorium will begin with improved acoustics. The plan calls for them to sacrifice some seating, going from 700 to 650 seats, to increase the size of the stage and space backstage for performers.
The improved Rovensky Administrative Building will feature a 10,356-square-foot, three-story addition. The popular Children’s Library will have a larger presence on the first floor with a dedicated entrance.
- New staff offices and an office for the Garden Club of Palm Beach also are planned.
Plans required rerouting the popular Lake Trail, closing the portion that runs through the Four Arts campus to divert pedestrian traffic away from the construction site.
What’s next: During renovations, concerts and the O’Keeffe Speakers series will move to the Royal Poinciana Chapel, 60 Cocoanut Row; and film screenings and recorded-live performances like the Met Opera will take place at Palm Beach Day Academy on Seaview Avenue.
Construction is planned to be complete in time for the 2027-28 season.
Keep reading to see the Four Arts’ summer events at StetNews.org.
— Janis Fontaine
🍊 County’s nonprofits feel the squeeze
Palm Beach County is home to more than 2,500 nonprofit organizations, second only to Miami-Dade in the state. But by nearly every financial measure, those organizations are under-resourced for the work they do and the communities they serve.
That was the central message Thursday when Leah McDermott, program director at the Florida Nonprofit Alliance, presented a survey of 1,000 Florida nonprofits to a packed room at the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties in West Palm Beach.
Why it matters: The survey found Florida nonprofits are strained by financial volatility, human resources gaps and rising community expectations. Those challenges limit the ability to deliver services and plan confidently for the future.
Zoom out: The regional picture is stark. Across Southeast Florida, the eight counties stretching from Indian River to Monroe, 73% of nonprofits raised the same or less money in 2025 than in 2024. That’s 17% lower than the state average. A third have no reserve funds.
For the first time since the pandemic, staff burnout is rising statewide.
What they’re saying: “Fundraising is really hard to do.” McDermott said. “I can prove that to you. It doesn’t just have to feel hard. It actually is hard.”
Zoom in: Palm Beach County’s nonprofits employ more than 26,000 people, the sixth-highest in the state, and generate $6 billion in annual revenue, the eighth-largest in Florida. Wages have risen 13% since 2024, and the annual nonprofit salary is now about $60,000.
Yes, but: That average ranks 16th in the state, behind counties with far lower living costs. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s living wage estimate for a single adult with one child in Palm Beach County is $44.29 an hour or about $92,000 a year.
The big picture: Federal uncertainty is adding to the pressure. More than one-third of nonprofits in the Southeast region said recent federal changes impeded their ability to deliver services. Organizations described funding cuts, increased demand and staff burnout as the primary effects.
McDermott’s call to action for nonprofit funders: Provide flexible funding for operations, offer multiyear commitments, reduce the administrative burden on grantees and support the nonprofit workforce.
Go deeper: The Florida Nonprofit Alliance conducts its survey annually. The full report and a new interactive economic impact dashboard are available at flnonprofits.org.
Editor’s note: Stet News is a nonprofit, proudly serving this community since 2024.
— Liz Capozzi
🍊 The Juice
🤖 The AI-generated staff of the South Florida Standard, complete with fake headshots and made-up biographies, is part of a loose nationwide network of similar news sites that republish stories lifted from actual news outlets. The search for the site’s backer took reporters from the Florida Trib and the tech podcast “Question Everything” to Drew Chapin, who pleaded guilty to defrauding investors in an unrelated matter in 2021, and set out to find ways to help felons bury unwanted search results. (Florida Trib)
🛒 An Aldi store has been proposed for the Winn-Dixie-anchored shopping center, the Shops at Palm Coast, on Dixie Highway on West Palm Beach’s south end. Palm Coast Invest LLC, led by Edmund Beebe of Johnstone Capital Partners, owns the 21.3-acre shopping center. Aldi does not own the South Dixie Winn-Dixie store. (South Florida Business Journal $$$)
📸 Palm Beach County considered installing cameras to fine speeders in school zones but slammed on the brakes after a recent Broward County court decision declared the use of such cameras unconstitutional because violators are presumed guilty and must prove their innocence. (The Town Crier)
🛋️ Pebb Capital has submitted plans for the land behind the office building housing The Palm Beach Post on South Dixie Highway, seeking 350 apartments, an eight-story, 855-space parking garage and 11,270 square feet of retail. (South Florida Business Journal $$$)
🏨 Related Ross dropped plans for 300 apartments and proposed a 180-room hotel, 320,000 square feet of stores and restaurants and 90,000 square feet of offices at Village Landing, its new name for the so-called K-Park site south of the Mall at Wellington Green on State Road 7. (The Palm Beach Post $$$)
💰 A partnership between Elmsford, New York-based DLC and Principal Asset Management bought Legacy Place in Palm Beach Gardens for an undisclosed amount. The 43-acre center last sold for $101 million in 2021. (South Florida Business Journal $$$)
💵 Related Ross paid $55 million for the block between Fern and Gardenia streets west of Dixie Highway in downtown West Palm Beach. A 100- to 130-unit condo project is proposed where developers had planned a 25-story, 372-unit building. (Commercial Observer $$$)
📜 The Historical Society of Lake Worth will ask the City Commission today to let it erect an open-air structure in Bryant Park to memorialize the city’s first home, the 1885 homestead of pioneers Fannie and Samuel James. (Lake Worth Beach Independent $$$)
⚓️️ After the revelation of an FBI probe halted selection of a developer for the Riviera Beach Marina Village, the City Council heard presentations Wednesday with two members absent and promised to make the selection at a special meeting Thursday. (Stet detailed the competing bids here)
❄️ “Lord of the Rinks” examines the monopolization of junior ice hockey and rink ownership under one private-equity executive who owns many youth leagues and 47 ice-rink facilities in 11 states. (USA Today)
🎙️ “Top of Mind Florida,” the podcast by Michael Williams and Brian Crowley, delves into a budding community journalism program with Inlet Grove Community High School teacher CB Hanif and one of his students in the Stet-sponsored Community Voices program, Mikala Graham. (Listen now; watch after 4 pm today)
561NSIDER: 🫡 Citizen scientists
Purple cards floating on the Lake Worth Lagoon and other area waterways are helping to track marine trash and raise awareness.
Catch up quick: The 15th Lake Worth Lagoon Drift Card Study kicked off May 1 when volunteers deployed 320 bright purple cards made of thin biodegradable wood at eight different sites in Palm Beach County — from Burt Reynolds Park in Jupiter to Silver Palms Park in Boca Raton.
- Another 240 cards, yellow and white, were tossed into the Indian River Lagoon from six sites on the Treasure Coast.
Why it matters: It’s a research mission involving citizen scientists and a study of how debris moves through inland waterways and accumulates on the coastline. The ANGARI Foundation has been doing it since 2017.
- Cards have been found as far north as New Smyrna Beach, as far south as the Hillsboro Inlet in Pompano Beach and in unusual spots like residential backyards near seawalls.
What they’re saying: “Lagoon Drift is important because it provides people with knowledge of where they live and it gives them an opportunity to look after and protect the environment that they reside in and recreate in,” the ANGARI Foundation’s Laura Jessop said. “It’s super important for us to look after the waterways.”
The cards are biodegradable. If you find one, follow the instructions on the card:
- Note the day, time and location of where you found the card.
- Take photos of both sides of the card.
- Email it to lagoondrift@angari.org.
Read more about the drift cards at StetNews.org.
— Joe Capozzi
🤝🏾 Generations connect
Joel, Carolyn and Liz thoroughly enjoyed Inlet Grove Community High School’s first Next Generation Gala Saturday, headlined by the dynamic — and fun — presentation of actor, songwriter and community advocate Malik Yoba. His random and unscripted dialogue with Inlet Grove students, including hooking one up with a potential summer internship (we expect to hear how it goes, state Sen. Mack Bernard), won the night.
Organizers awarded more than $50,000 in college scholarships to Inlet Grove students. Congratulations to Stet News Community Voices members Kelvin Verhovlyak and Mikala Graham, who each won $5,000!
