Carolyn DiPaoloThe Marina Annex Apartments come with a new community center named for Judge Edward Rodgers.
Developers are moving ahead with plans for 175 workforce apartments and a community center after they won a nearly $3 million concession last week from Riviera Beach.
The city’s Housing Authority is developing the $75 million Marina Annex Apartments with private partners three blocks west of Riviera Beach’s Marina Village, an area that is attracting massive redevelopment.
On Wednesday, City Council members acting as the Community Redevelopment Agency board voted 4-0 to contribute $2.8 million in water, sewer and impact fee payments for the project. KaShamba Miller-Anderson opposed the decision but did not vote because she participated in the meeting remotely.
Construction could begin by the end of this year on the six-story complex on 3.6 acres east of West Park Drive between 11th and 13th streets.
The apartments represent half of about 350 affordable/workforce units planned in the south end of Riviera Beach. They include 63 units at Villa L’Onz under construction just east of the Marina Annex site, and more than 100 units at Residences at Marina Village on Broadway.
Marina Annex has a $53 million loan from the federal government and $15 million in financing from Palm Beach County.
Honoring a trailblazer
It will have a new $4 million, three-story community center that will be named for Judge Edward Rodgers.
Rodgers is known as a legendary teacher, civil rights pioneer and civic leader. Among his many achievements, he became Palm Beach County’s first Black prosecutor and judge. After he retired, he served on the Riviera Beach City Council and as the first chair of the Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics. He died in 2018.
The Marina Annex Apartments will rise on land at 251 W. 11th St. once used by the Riviera Beach Maritime Academy. After the school closed, Rodgers and other members of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity secured the property from the Palm Beach County School District to open a community center.
The fraternity will continue to offer services in the 15,000-square-foot community center. Plans filed with the city show meeting space, a kitchen, classrooms and office space for local nonprofit organizations.
The center will be just south of the Boys and Girls Club of Riviera Beach at 221 W. 13th St.
“We located it here very intentionally to really have that connection between what’s currently happening at the Boys and Girls Club and then the youth activities that’ll be happening here at the community center,” project representative Jerrell Harris told the city’s Planning Board in September.
Leasing of Marina Annex’s one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments may not begin until February 2028, Urban Farmers President Terry Booty told Stet News. Preference will be given to renters employed in such critical roles as teaching, health care and law enforcement. Income will be capped at 120% of the area median income, he said. The AMI in Palm Beach County is $107,600 for a family of four.
The development partners are New York-based O’Connor Capital Partners and Hallandale Beach-based Urban Farmers.
Other team members are Architecture Design Collaborative, WGI landscape architects and Neucor Construction.
Four thousand square feet of stores are planned along West 13th Street, about three blocks west of Broadway. Planners envision a cafe or bakery there.
Residents will have access to 218 surface parking spots, which meets the city code, and 29 additional spots nearby.
‘Where does it stop?’
Wednesday’s decision to contribute the fees came after a back-and-forth about whether the city could afford it.
Miller-Anderson was the lone vote against the project when it came before the council in December. During last week’s meeting, she said the city is facing a budget crunch and questioned whether the developer would be back to ask for more.
“When does it stop?” she asked.
Chair Bruce Guyton urged the council to support the contribution especially with the substantial investments from the federal government and the county.
“Everybody else is ready to dump millions into Riviera Beach. They’re putting their trust in our city, all these government entities,” he said. “At some point, we have to understand that if we’re going to attract projects like this, we’ve got to step up to the table.”
Vice Chair Glen Spiritis agreed. “Everything that we’re giving is coming back to us,” he said. “It’s going to come back to us in taxes. It’s going to come back to us in services and housing. This is everything that we were formed to do.”
