Three years after barricades went up on Tamarind Avenue, West Palm Beach officials quietly disclosed that residents of the long-ignored, historically Black neighborhood will be cut off from their main road for at least another year.
The $22 million project, set to be finished in May, is only 40% complete and won’t be wrapped up until June 2025, city officials said.
Leaders at the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, the downtown taxing agency that is bankrolling the “Tamarind Avenue Streetscape,” didn’t respond to emails for comment about the 14-month delay and yearslong shutdown.
A city spokesperson, who responded to an email Stet sent to district Commissioner Christy Fox, attributed the setback to a water line break that occurred in February 2021 — a month before construction began.
Those who live or own businesses in the neighborhood that for years has been plagued by shootings, drug deals and decay welcomed the long overdue improvements, which include redesigning and repaving the road, burying utility lines and replacing a 100-year-old water line.
But, they said, the delay is emblematic of the city’s treatment of the mostly Black neighborhood.
“I am concerned because it’s holding the neighborhood hostage,” said Darren Studstill, a former NFL safety who owns Cityside Suites Smart Office and Business Cafe on Rosemary Avenue. “One year is one thing, but you’re talking about possibly five years.”
“It would never happen in El Cid,” said the Riviera Beach native, referring to the upscale, largely white neighborhood along the Intracoastal Waterway south of downtown.
Studstill and his longtime friend, lawyer Bryan Boysaw, have given a lot of thought to the future of the neighborhood. But, they said they aren’t sure others see what’s coming.
During the ground-breaking for the project, Mayor Keith James said it showed the city’s “commitment to the revitalization of the historic Northwest neighborhood.”
CRA Director Christopher Roog agreed. “This is a really intentional step toward the mayor’s vision and the CRA’s vision of creating a community of opportunity for all,” he said.
But, Boyway and Studstill said, they worry the improvements aren’t being done for the folks who live there. They are being done for those who will replace them.
“It’s prospective,” said Boysaw, who has his law office in the neighborhood.
“It’s sad that the people who live here are not going to benefit,” Studstill agreed.
They pointed across the street from their businesses at Rosemary Avenue and Fourth Street where work is beginning on the 325-unit Soleste Palm Station. Its Miami developer calls it a “luxury multifamily apartment community, located in the highly affluent and trendy West Palm Beach.”
It will join two other recently completed eight-story apartment complexes, The Grand and Flagler Station. Add to that the city’s $20 million renovation of the Sunset Lounge, an attempt to restore the supper club and concert venue to its former grandeur when Duke Ellington, James Brown and other Black artists performed.
Elisa Miller, who grew up in West Palm Beach and now lives in New Jersey, is following development in the Tamarind Avenue neighborhood. When the CRA posted a rendering of what Tamarind Avenue will look like when the streetscape is complete, she wrote: “It looks beautiful but this is definitely gentrification,” ending with a crying emoji.
This story was originally published by Stet Palm Beach, a WLRN News partner.
