Carolyn DiPaoloCity land would be transformed by Riviera Gateway, promising apartments and stores at Blue Heron Boulevard and Broadway.
Riviera Beach and its partners are developing two mixed-use buildings designed to turn a nondescript corner in the heart of the city into a destination.
Riviera Gateway is envisioned as a residential community on two pieces of public land on the north side of Blue Heron Boulevard at Broadway, a gateway to and from Singer Island.
One building would be a 192-unit apartment complex that rises 18 stories on the east side of Broadway. It would have one‑ and two‑bedroom units of market-rate housing. Ten percent of the apartments would be set aside for workforce housing.
On the west side of Broadway, a 92-unit affordable housing complex for seniors would offer independent and assisted living. Tenants who make up to 60% of the area median income, or earn about $65,000 today, would be eligible to live there. That building would be eight stories.
Shops and restaurants would welcome residents and the public at the street level of both buildings.
“It’s not only about housing,” architect Rick Gonzalez said last month. “This is about bringing activity to what I like to call Main and Main. That’s really what Broadway and Blue Heron are: Main Street and Main Street, right? Every town has that. This has been an intersection that’s been underutilized for many, many years, and we want to change that.”
The Riviera Beach Housing Authority is working with Exact Capital on this public-private project.
The city owns the land and would sell some of it and give away the rest to the New York City-based firm the city selected from three applicants to develop the property.
The Riviera Gateway team includes the New York City-based Penta Group, REG Architects of West Palm Beach, Boynton Beach-based RDG Development Group and Randolph Construction Group with offices in Delray Beach. Exact Capital specializes in affordable housing.
Last month, Exact’s managing partner, Craig Livingston, hosted the first of three meetings at the city Marina Event Center to let the public know about the project.
“I’m very pleasantly surprised by the amount of support and participation tonight,” Livingston told the crowd, which filled the meeting room.
”We want to create inclusive economic development opportunities for minority-owned businesses in Riviera Beach, and to make sure that they experience the financial benefits that this project is intended to bring,” he said after the July 20 meeting.
Here’s how the deal with the city breaks down:
- The partners agreed to pay $2 million for nearly 1 acre of public land, the eastern parcel at 2600 Broadway. The city is donating the half-acre on the west side, at 2601 Broadway. Storefronts along Broadway will be demolished.
- The developers agreed to make a $250,000 contribution for vocational education. Details are being worked out, Livingston said last week.
- The City Council, acting as the CRA board, granted 30 years of property tax breaks for both buildings.
- The Riviera Beach Housing Authority would manage the senior housing complex.
The CRA paid about $2.3 million for the eastern land in 2018, according to property records. It paid $1.25 million for the western parcels in 2013.
The agreement passed the City Council in November 4-1 with KaShamba Miller-Anderson voting no. She said she had been caught off guard by the way the project evolved to set aside senior housing.
But Council Member Glen Spiritis, himself a developer of workforce housing, praised the approach.
“I don’t think many other communities in this state or even in this country are providing the amount of affordable housing that the city of Riviera Beach is about to do,” Spiritis said.
To Livingston, he said, “My hat is off to you.”
If Riviera Gateway is completed, the city would have nearly 500 new affordable housing units in its redevelopment area. They include 175 workforce apartments at Marina Village Annex three blocks west of the city marina village, 63 units at Villa L’Onz under construction just east of the Marina Annex site and 149 units at Residences at Marina Village under construction on Broadway.
Livingston’s next steps are to secure financing and obtain site plan approval from the City Planning Board.
