Midtown Delray Beach historic development close to approval with a few more changes

Version six of the plan for redeveloping two blocks of Swinton Avenue is close to fruition. Included in the plan are building an underground parking garage, offices, stores, restaurants, and apartments around the historic homes on the Swinton Avenue corridor.

Developer Hudson Holdings has redesigned and resubmitted the project multiple times over the course of two-and-a-half years based on feedback from residents, city leaders and historic preservationists — some of whom continue to fight the project. In six months developments will be reviewed.

Changes to the plan will include a maximum of four floors, aesthetics improved, and widths meeting city code. “I think there are a lot of elements of this plan that strike a balance between preservation and redevelopment,” Mayor Cary Glickstein said. Still some members of the city’s Historic Preservation Board want to reject the development, saying it is incompatible with the quaint historic corridor. Hudson Holdings will be hiring mostly local workers.

The Old School Square Historic District is under consideration for a position on the National Register of Historic Places. All homes on the southwest block of Atlantic and Swinton avenues will temporarily move while the underground parking garage is being constructed. The corridor will lose some of its mature trees and lush shrubbery, but many trees will be replanted in decorative pots above the concrete roof of the underground garage.

Progress does take time but improvements will make downtown Delray more attractive and updated.

This information was printed in the Palm Beach Post.