Three developers with a mix of local and national experience are vying to rebuild the Riviera Beach waterfront with proposals ranging from the moderate to the sublime.
Two of the proposers, Forest Development and Sonnenblick Development, are thinking big. The third, Related Urban, a part of Miami’s Related Group, offered a more subdued approach.
The 12 acres at the city’s Marina Village offer prime waterfront dining and shopping opportunities as well as space for housing. Already moving forward as part of the village are two projects awarded to Related Urban: a 149-unit subsidized apartment complex and a 418-unit apartment building.
READ MORE: Riviera Beach marina expansion underway as city seeks development partners
The bidders, charged with expanding public access to the Intracoastal waterfront on the south end of Broadway just north of the Port of Palm Beach, pitched unique additions to the anticipated mix of stores, hotel rooms, restaurants and housing.
- Sonnenblick proposed an aquarium in a neighboring park and a FlowRider wave simulator.
- Forest said it would tear down the 10-year-old event center and build a 326,000-square-foot convention center, which is nearly the size of the Palm Beach County Convention Center.
- Related Urban proposes topping off a parking garage roof with a soccer field and tennis and pickleball courts and suggests a temporary event area and space for food trucks.
Forest put its project value at $716 million. Sonnenblick suggests its first phase would be worth $300 million but provided no estimate for the entire project. Related Urban doesn’t suggest a value for its project.
They all want to build a hotel. Related proposed 120 rooms, Forest proposed 270 rooms and Sonnenblick suggested two hotels, one a Margaritaville brand, totaling 300 rooms.
Related’s hotel also would house 224 condo units to go with 10 three-bedroom townhomes along Broadway. Forest proposed a 164-unit condo tower while Sonnenblick is seeking 270 residential units in two buildings.
The amount of retail, which includes restaurants and bars, also points to the distinctions among the developers’ approaches.
Related seeks the least retail, at 33,800 square feet. Forest proposes 83,080 square feet and Sonnenblick sees a need for 100,000 square feet, including five restaurants.
The differences in approach also come through in parking. Forest wants 1,869 spaces with a 10-story garage. Sonnenblick seeks 1,300 spaces. Related Urban wants 578.
All pledge at least 25% small-business involvement, as sought by the city, with Sonnenblick suggesting 30%.
All propose 99-year leases, although Sonnenblick would accept 50 years with a 49-year option to extend.
Forest would pay $1.4 million in rent, plus a share of revenues that could grow to $2.7 million a year.
Related would make an initial $3.75 million payment and give the city 12.5% of net cash flow in exchange for a 10-year exemption from city property taxes. Its proposal suggests the improvements and revenue-sharing would be worth $96 million to the city.
Related’s initial phase — 10 for-sale townhomes and a 578-space parking garage with stores and a small-business accelerator — would be entirely financed by the CRA.
Sonnenblick would pay $250,000 a year for the first five years, $312,500 for the next five years and then 25% more every 10 years. The city would receive 2% of the gross income from the Margaritaville hotel but rental calculations also would take into consideration the money-losing city event center.
Long time coming
The city has been trying to redo the waterfront since 2005, when it chose Viking to be master developer of a $375 million project, a plan that died in 2015.
In 2014, the city closed the popular Tiki Waterfront Sea Grill so the 111-slip marina directly west of Peanut Island could be redeveloped.
The $27 million first phase opened in 2016 featuring a two-story Marina Event Center, where the City Council holds its meetings, and a pavilion at a revamped Bicentennial Park with a children’s splash fountain and a waterfront promenade, The Palm Beach Post reported.
In 2019, the city selected a joint venture of APD Solutions Real Estate Group and Tezral Partners, to bring a hotel, stores, restaurants and housing to the rest of the Marina Village. Tezral, which included former CRA Director Tony Brown, is a member of Related Urban’s bid.
Talks in 2023 to bring a Margaritaville Compass brand hotel to a parcel immediately north of the port didn’t pan out. But the deal to bring two Related Urban apartment buildings moved forward, with one, the Residences at Marina Village, rising now on the site of the former Spanish Courts motel.
Last year, city leaders moved on from APD-Tezral and issued a Request for Qualifications to review developers interested in building out the village’s commercial center. Four development teams including Related Urban, Sonnenblick and Forest submitted qualifications before a June 27 deadline but the city dumped all four after all but Related failed to meet paperwork requirements.
Responses to a newly issued Request for Proposals, which unlike an RFQ asks respondents to spell out their vision for the area, arrived Nov. 17.
The city didn’t provide copies of the submissions in response to a Nov. 18 Stet public records request until Feb. 4. Hours later, the responses were posted on the city website as part of the agenda for Wednesday’s CRA meeting.
On Tuesday, a committee of staff and community representatives will hear from the developers and rank the proposals.
On Wednesday, their rankings will go before the City Council sitting as the CRA board. It is not clear from the agenda whether the developers will be making presentations Wednesday and the agenda does not indicate whether the CRA will be making its final selection.
What have they done locally?
All three developers in this latest round of proposals are partners in various developments with the city.
Forest Development
Forest Development won the OK in November for a $325 million project to build up to 450 apartments and 17,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space on 2.2 acres owned by the city at 1851 Broadway south of Blue Heron Boulevard.
Forest has a multimillion-dollar deal with Lake Park to rebuild the town’s underperforming waterfront but the deal is in question after Forest sued Lake Park in late December alleging that the town slow-walked a critical element of the plan.
Forest is also the developer of the recently opened Nautilus 220 condominium high-rise in Lake Park and has proposed the twin 25-story Oculina residential towers next door on the Riviera Beach side of Silver Beach Road. Another stalled project is the 16-story, 595-unit 10th & Park Avenue apartments proposed for Lake Park.
Related Urban
Related Urban broke ground in October on the $80 million, 149-unit Residences at Marina Village. All but 37 units will go to people who earn less than 80% of area median income.
The developer’s Gallery at Marina Village, 20-story twin towers with 418 apartments, is expected to rise next door on city property at 1300 Broadway.
Adding to the influx of new housing along the city’s southernmost reaches is a plan from developer Jeffrey Sobel to build 508 condos in a vacant block between 11th and 12th streets west of Marina Village.
The city’s affordable housing project, the 54-unit Villa L’Onz, is under construction on 11th Street and Avenue E, west of Sobel’s project.
Sonnenblick Development
The Riviera Beach City Council selected Los Angeles-based Sonnenblick, which had been involved in the effort to land the Margaritaville-branded hotel, in November over Forest for the right to undertake the city’s largest redevelopment project.
The estimated $481 million project would deliver a new City Hall, library and sports complex as part of private development on 80 acres of city property straddling Blue Heron Boulevard and on one-square block of Broadway.
Breakdown of the bids
Here is a thumbnail sketch of each proposal:
Forest Development
Based in North Palm Beach; headed by Peter Baytarian; pursuing high-rise residential developments in Riviera Beach and Lake Park; recently completed Nautilus 220 condos in Lake Park; selected by Riviera Beach to build apartments at 1851 Broadway.
Residential units: 164
Hotel rooms: 270
Retail, including restaurants: 83,080 square feet
Parking spaces: 1,869
Extras: Convention center
Team: Adache Group Architects, Dwell, Insite Studio, Simmons & White, WGI, Brian Seymour, Wayne Richards, Moss Construction, Gilbane, Articulare, SA Nelson and Willcaro Communications. They’ve also signed several local contractors.
Related Urban
Based in Miami, headed by Jorge Perez, an original developer in CityPlace; building two apartment buildings next to Marina Village in Riviera Beach.
Residential units: 234
Hotel rooms: 120
Retail, including restaurants: 33,800 square feet
Parking spaces: 578
Extras: Topping off a parking garage roof with a soccer field and tennis and pickleball courts and creating a temporary event area and space for food trucks
Team: BH Group, PEBB Enterprises, Arquitectonica, Tezral Partners and Related Urban Construction.
Sonnenblick Development
Based in Los Angeles; headed by Bob Sonnenblick; recently selected by Riviera Beach to develop Blue Heron Boulevard/City Hall area.
Residential units: 270
Hotel rooms: 300
Retail, including restaurants: at least 100,000 square feet
Parking spaces: 1,300
Extras: Aquarium and FlowRider wave simulator
Team: Kaufman Lynn Construction, TRC Engineers, Leo A Daly, Island Hospitality, Kimley Horn, CBRE and MCO Construction.
This story was originally published by Stet News Palm Beach, a WLRN News partner.
