AT LAST: MIDTOWN DELRAY CONSTRUCTION BEGINS NEAR THE END OF THE YEAR

AT LAST: MIDTOWN DELRAY COMPLEX WILL SOON BE UNDER CONSTRUCTION  

The Real Deal confirms that construction of the mixed-use development called Midtown Delray Beach will start near the end of the year.  Included will be a mix of apartments, retail stores, office space and an underground parking garage.

Location is on Swinton Avenue south of Atlantic Avenue, covering two blocks in the Old Scool Square Historic District which recently got a listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

2ND OLDEST HOME IN PALM BEACH BEING CONSIDERED BY LANDMARK COMMISSION FOR CHANGES

The second oldest home in Palm Beach, Duck’s Nest, has a proposal to demolish and rebuild it which is now postponed another month by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.  Location is 305 Maddock Way.  In February the commission ordered an independent review of the home by an engineer but none was done. Today an engineer will examine the property.

The proposal includes demolishing the 2-story home, enlarging the floor plan and adding a pool and 2-story garage. The decision has now been postponed for another month while the owners of the property, the Maddock Family, incur more expenses.

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.

Courtesy of The Shiny Sheet

An Art Moderne architectural style Palm Beach apartment building, the first co-operative apartment building in Florida, was unanimously recommended by the Landmarks Preservation Commission to the Town Council for landmark protection.  This style was also called Streamline Moderne. Modern construction techniques and materials were used.  

It created a clear-cut distinction between old and new Palm Beach.

The four-story Lake Drive Apartments building was designed by midcentury architect Howard Chilton, a native Floridian, and is said to be his best and most effective building, and was completed in 1949. He built 15+ buildings and 700 single family houses in Palm Beach County. 

The style is a late type of Art Deco architecture sometimes emphasizing curving forms, long horizontal lines, low-relief stylized graphics, and nautical elements.  Nautical elements are featured in the balcony railings, porthole windows and sundeck design of this apartment building.  The building’s west façade directly overlooks the Lake Worth Lagoon and Town Docks. It is located at the corner of Lake Drive and Australian Avenue.

Constructed of concrete block surfaced with smooth stucco, it was built with two dozen apartments on three upper floors and a lobby, storage space and parking on the ground floor.

This style flourished in the 1930’s and 1940’s and was highlighted at the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago. Technology that arose after World War I was influential in this style developing.  Simple geometric forms and decorative details created a “less is more” standard.  A zoning law change in 1947 allowed hotels and apartments to be built in the Royal Park and Floral Park subdivisions. Previously only single family homes had been allowed.

One Commissioner said, “It just has a sort of rightness of place and time that I think is very appealing… a great deal of architectural integrity.  Another said, “To me, it’s perfection.”

One Royal Palm Way Condominiums was also built by Chilton and is pictured below.  His 300 South Ocean Boulevard apartment building is landmarked.  He participated in building the Palm Beach County Courthouse.

     Courtesy of newyorksocialdiary.com

HISTORIC AREA CHANGES ARE CHALLENGING!

We are watching these issues, with the knowledge that you cannot stop progress, though you can amend and change it somewhat.

Have you driven by the area and wished for changes?  Once a proposal to redevelop and build out the area has been confirmed, this will be the start of a renaissance in the area just east of I-95 and the areas to the west.  Delray Beach’s under-developed West Atlantic Avenue will see, sooner or later, many new projects. 

For the past four years, Hudson Holdings has proposed to redevelop and build out this important corner in Delray Beach that has aged.  The sixth revision to keep the residents who focus on historic preservation happy, has been proposed, was rejected by the Delray Beach city commission, and is under appeal.

The proposal prepares the way for some historic structures being demolished and rehabilitated, a few being relocated but remaining on the same block, and condominiums, stores, and an underground garage being created.  The city’s Historic Preservation Board does support a resurgence but says the proposal is too grandiose for the subtle historic district. Some of the city’s oldest structures are tucked behind lush landscaping.  One board member stated that “It’s losing that whole ambiance of a historic neighborhood”.  Others are pushing for a “moderning up” [editor’s words] of the area.  Nearby are the Public Library and Tennis Center stadium.

City leaders say that this redevelopment could bring “the most important renaissance of the next ten years in Delray Beach”. Everyone agrees that changes are due.  Many refer to the area as “blighted”.

Big changes are hard to come by and sometimes it is not possible to please everyone 100%, but Hudson Holdings has made many changes to please the objectors.