Singer Island residents and visitors packed a Black church in Riviera Beach on Thursday to confront a developer about plans to build high-rise condominiums on the island’s Intracoastal waterfront.
The vast majority opposed the 25-story building planned on the eastern edge of the Blue Heron Boulevard bridge. They are alarmed by the scale of the Singer Island Gateway project and the damage it could do to the nearby internationally known snorkeling and diving site near Phil Foster Park.
For two hours, they questioned the project’s impact on the environment, the island’s traffic, its water system, its stormwater drainage and the shadow the 300-foot-tall building would cast on its surroundings.
And they chafed under the prospect that if this project isn’t built, the property owner will pursue something even taller under the state’s Live Local Act.
Early plans submitted to the city show the project at 2525 Lake Drive would have 304 condominiums and townhouses, restaurant and commercial space, open space and resort-style amenities, including a marina.
William Wallace IV, senior acquisition officer at The Continuum Co., the New York-based developer, told Stet News that he chose St. James Missionary Baptist Church for the community meeting because he wanted to make some news there.
Wallace announced that Continuum intends to build 25 workforce housing units on a church property in the city. The workforce project would entitle the developer under city rules to build three stories higher at the Singer Island property, from a 22-story limit to 25 stories.
Wallace said Continuum would donate the rent generated by the workforce project after operating expenses to a consortium of Riviera Beach churches and not-for-profits.
He expects that to total $300,000 to $400,000 a year.
“So, imagine after three years, we will have funded clergy and not-for-profits on the mainland to the tune of over a million dollars,” Wallace said.
The provision would funnel a share of the economic benefit of the waterfront development across the city. Because Singer Island Gateway would rise in the Riviera Beach Community Redevelopment Agency district, all city and county tax revenue generated by the condos over a base amount would be reinvested within the CRA boundary.
Wallace estimated that if the Gateway is built, the city would receive $4 million to $5 million each year in property taxes from the project alone.
While high-rises often draw criticism, they provide a huge boost to a city’s tax base. Lake Park just learned that the 24-story twin tower Nautilus 220 condo buildings were valued at $400 million and could pay $2 million in taxes to the town next year.
'Consider what is good'
The most vocal residents at Thursday’s meeting were unmoved.
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“You think we all want your money. I don’t,” said Riviera Beach resident Gary Heiser, who said he has snorkeled in the subtropical waters near Phil Foster Park since he was a boy.
“I’m asking you to consider what is good,” he said. “What is good is when we’re coming from the west to the east and we’re going over the bridge and we see the ocean and it’s not blocked by a building. That is good. This is the best bridge on the east coast of America with the amount of inspiration it gives people as they cross from the west to the east. And I ask you, when you’re not thinking about profits, just pause for a second and think about what is good.”
Behind Arquitectonica's design
The developers said they have taken care to protect the waterway’s coral, seagrass and marine life.
Arquitectonica Vice President Sherri Gutierrez told the audience that the project exceeds the city’s open space requirement with 25,000 square feet along Blue Heron Boulevard facing the dive site. Planners envision it as a community plaza.
The building is designed to resemble three separate towers and to mimic the ripple of waves. Gutierrez said the feature makes it appear more vertical than horizontal and provides expansive views and sweeping balconies for residents.
The tallest parts of the building are planned on the southeast corner of the property to minimize the shadow that will be cast on the Intracoastal.
That was cold comfort to Palm Beach Shores residents at the meeting who live in the low-rise town just south of the project and said they don’t want to look at a skyscraper in their backyard.
City and county records show the property owner bought six parcels south of Blue Heron and west of Lake Drive in 2019 and 2021 for $20.3 million. The developer plans to buy a seventh property for a total of about 3 acres.
The identity behind the owner is not clear in Florida corporate records because it is linked to a limited partnership out of Nassau, Bahamas, called Golden Acres Investment LP.
The Live Local hammer
The property owner’s representative, Alvaro Kraizel of Toronto, told residents he wanted to dispel a rumor that a smaller-scale project is being considered.
“I want to make very, very clear that an eight-story or 10-story project, as I’ve been hearing about as an alternative, will never happen on this site,” Kraizel said. “The economics just won’t work.”
He urged the audience to accept the proposal or deal with something larger.
“I think what they delivered here with Arquitectonica is just spectacular. But if we have to, we will consider all of our options, and Live Local was the strongest contender, and it will be the most viable contender going forward.”
The Live Local Act allows more density and height. It allows projects to bypass public review if at least 40% of the units are affordable rental housing. These projects can be as tall as any building within a 1-mile radius of the property, under the state law.
“Live Local should not be used as a threat,” said Palm Beach Shores Commissioner Anastasia Karloutsos. “Let’s do the numbers, and let’s see if it’s really not possible to come down to a reasonable height. I personally want development. I want this to go through. I just think it’s unreasonable.”
Wallace said he was told that 35 residential buildings on Singer Island rise to 25 stories or more.
“This is America,” he said. “It’s fair market capitalism.”
On Saturday, Stet News counted about 35 multistory buildings along the island’s North Ocean Drive, but several are fewer than 25 stories. The Tiara condos built in 1977 are the tallest, at 43 stories.
The property owners were “prepared to go with Live Local,” Williams said. ”So, we’ve come here to do this, as opposed to that. But he (Kraizel) made it clear this evening that if you can’t do that, that’s what he’s going back to.”
Questions about the project's impact
Residents disputed a favorable environmental study touted by the developer on its 2525LakeDrive.com website.
Williams defended the study but said the city is planning to commission its own environmental study and that Continuum will pay for it.
If the project receives city approval, multifamily units will range from one bedroom to four bedrooms. As proposed, a parking garage on levels two through five would be lined with townhouses.
The developer’s website contains renderings, economic impact and traffic reports and its study of the shadow the building would cast on the Intracoastal Waterway.
William Contole and other residents opposed to the project have created a website of their own called responsiblegrowthrb.org. There is also an Instagram account and a fundraising page.
The Singer Island Gateway proposal is undergoing city staff review and would require approval by the Planning and Zoning Board, the Community Redevelopment Agency and the City Council.
This story was originally published by Stet News Palm Beach, a WLRN News partner.
