By Noreen Marcus

    A developer sued The Coastal Star alleging libel and then abruptly dropped the lawsuit a month later.
    The suit filed Aug. 30 in Palm Beach Circuit Court by Hudson Holdings and its principal Steven Michael claimed the newspaper defamed both of them through a false connection to criminal activity. Editor Mary Kate Leming and reporter Jane Smith were named as individual defendants.
    The suit seeking $40 million in actual damages and $20 million in punitive damages was assigned to Judge David French.
    Developer Michael wants to build a 4.4-acre, mixed-use project at Swinton and Atlantic avenues, at the south end of the Old School Square Historic Arts District in Delray Beach.
    The project, known as Midtown Delray Beach, is on hold. The city’s Historic Preservation Board rejected the developer’s site plan and Hudson submitted a revised plan on Sept. 6.
    On Sept. 28, Michael’s lawyer Scott Weires filed a two-paragraph “notice of voluntary dismissal” that doesn’t give a reason for dropping the lawsuit.
    Reached the next day, Michael said, “We just wanted to have accurate reporting and we’re not interested in being in any litigation with the newspaper or anybody. We just wanted honest reporting and we hope in the future that’s what will happen.”
    Robert Rivas, attorney for The Coastal Star, denied that his client published false information. He had planned to file a complaint that Michael’s lawsuit violated Florida’s anti-SLAPP law. An illegal “strategic lawsuit against public participation” — or SLAPP suit — is one that aims to silence critics engaged in a democratic process.
    “Hudson Holdings is trying to intimidate and frighten the opposition,” said Rivas, of Sachs Sax Caplan in Tallahassee, before the suit was withdrawn. “The Coastal Star story was accurate and did not link Hudson Holdings to any criminal activity.”
    The crux of the dispute was an August Coastal Star story about Michael’s proposed Midtown project. In addition to reporting on the project’s status, the story included background on Midtown and another Michael project, the Gulfstream Hotel in Lake Worth.
    Under the sub-headline “Midtown ensnared in sober home action,” the story stated that “Midtown became entangled with the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office’s Sober Homes Task Force” last fall. It says that brothers Bryan and Patrick Norquist “were arrested on patient-brokering charges” and states that two addresses were listed on the arrest document — “20 S. Swinton Ave., the headquarters for Hudson Holdings, and 48 SE First Ave.”
    The story also had Michael’s response: “Michael said he knew about the sober home on Southeast First Avenue, but denied that any recovery operation was run out of the Hudson Holdings headquarters. He also said he’s losing rental income since the sober home on Southeast First Avenue was forced to close.”
    Michael’s attorney Weires, of Murdoch Weires & Neuman in Boca Raton, disputed Rivas’s SLAPP suit characterization.
    “The main claim is about the association of a developer of a project in Delray Beach and criminal activity in the area,” he said days before dropping the lawsuit. “I can’t imagine why they would be reporting on criminal activity within the same story about a developer’s efforts to gain approval for a beneficial project.”
    The complaint stated that the Delray Beach Preservation Trust is trying to block the Midtown project by winning a National Register of Historic Places designation for the district that includes the project site. The “frustrated” trust enlisted the media “to influence public opinion against Hudson and its Midtown project,” according to the complaint.
    Rivas said Michael couldn’t sue the trust directly so he sued the newspaper, apparently thinking, “Here’s somebody we can SLAPP and the existence of this lawsuit will intimidate everybody.”
    JoAnn Peart, president of the trust, said she doesn’t know enough about the law to comment on whether Michael filed a SLAPP suit. “But I hope that they are not just trying to intimidate preservation groups and the media from covering our point of view because they have certainly used local media almost as advertising for their project.
    “I think The Coastal Star was acting responsibly in printing all the information about the history of Hudson Holdings because it’s asking for waivers and variances and being allowed to do things you’re not normally allowed to do in historic districts,” Peart said. “It’s important that the public be aware of this.”

By Jane Smith

    The Community Redevelopment Agency board members agreed in late September to purchase the 91-year-old Boynton Woman’s Club building even after hearing the inspection results: The building has termites and needs a new roof.
    The $110,000 sales price is a good deal for the agency, whose board members also sit as Boynton Beach city commissioners. The agency staff had the historic building appraised in May, when it was valued at $2.4 million.
    “There are no major surprises,” said Michael Simon, executive director of the agency. The board agreed to purchase the building in an “as is” condition, with $200,000 for the needed maintenance available in the current financial year budget.
    The club will use the money to continue its 40-year-old scholarship program for high school seniors.
    The building was designed by famed architect Addison Mizner.
    In 1925, Boynton Woman’s Club members had used $35,000 from Maj. Nathan Boynton’s heirs to construct the two-story building with hardwood floors, French windows and doors and curved arches. The next year, the structure opened and serves as an example of the Mediterranean Revival style of architecture with original wrought iron work.
    The 16,262-square-foot building is on the National Register of Historic Places and the city’s register of historic places.

By Jane Smith
    
    Medical marijuana dispensaries are banned from opening in the city limits, Delray Beach city commissioners decided at the end of September.
    Acknowledging Florida voters who overwhelmingly approved the state ballot question on medical marijuana last November, Commissioner Mitch Katz persuaded his fellow commissioners to revisit the decision in one year. They unanimously agreed.
    A majority of Delray Beach voters also voted in favor of medical marijuana sales.
    State legislators tied the city’s hands when they said local governments could regulate the dispensaries with only the same rules placed on pharmacies, City Attorney Max Lohman said. That means no limits on the number or where they can operate.
    Marijuana sales are still illegal on the federal level, making all dispensary sales cash-based, he said. “They can’t accept credit or debit cards,” he said. Lohman also pointed out issues with the unregulated dosage strength of medical marijuana.
    The city’s two public safety chiefs spoke out against the dispensaries when asked their opinion by the mayor.
    “They harden the buildings to avoid robberies, which makes it harder for us to enter,” Police Chief Jeff Goldman said. “It adds another issue to our being able to protect the public.”
    Acting Fire Chief Keith Tomey said the dispensaries would likely lead to an increase in calls for fire-rescue staff.
    “We are the poster child for irresponsible prescribing of opioids,” Mayor Cary Glickstein said. “Will there be irresponsible prescribing of medical marijuana?”
    Delray Beach staff will watch to see how nearby cities of Boynton Beach and Lake Worth handle the dispensaries, along with the county.
    Boynton Beach tried to regulate the location of the dispensaries before the state Legislature determined its rules in June. Then, in August, the City Commission on a 3-2 vote decided not to ban the dispensaries.
    Lake Worth did not try to regulate the dispensaries, and two have plans to open there along Dixie Highway.
    Boca Raton in late September tentatively passed an ordinance that permanently bans medical marijuana dispensaries from operating in the city.         

    The tentative ban passed just weeks before a yearlong moratorium on medical marijuana treatment centers and dispensing organizations expires in November. The moratorium was instituted in November 2016 for the second time in two years so City Council members could review related land development regulations.
    The county waited for the state to issue its rules and is working on an ordinance that would allow the dispensaries to operate in the areas outside city limits.
    Delray Beach is taking a watch-and-wait approach.
    “The commission can always adopt it at a later point when it sees the problems with it,” Glickstein said. Ú

    Sallie James contributed to this story.

By Jane Smith

    Marine Way residents in Delray Beach are bracing for more seasonal flooding from the autumn king tides. Water can be knee-deep in some areas.
    The Delray Beach streets prone to flooding sit next to the Intracoastal Waterway. The king tides are predicted for 10 a.m. Oct. 7 and 10:50 a.m. Oct. 8, according to the Tides & Currents section of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website.
    King tides is the nonscientific term for the highest tides of the year, according to the NOAA website. The king tides will occur again at 8:41 a.m. Nov. 5 and 9:32 a.m. Nov. 6.
    The public marina, south of Marine Way, also is prone to flooding, along with low spots on the barrier island, near Casuarina Road and the Intracoastal.  In Veterans Park, on the north side of Atlantic Avenue from Marine Way, Delray Beach is upgrading sea walls and replacing docks.
    The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency is paying for the work, which  includes raising the sea walls to 20 inches and making them level for the 400-foot length of public sea wall to the Atlantic Avenue bridge. That work should wrap up by the end of the year.
    Design work for the bridge’s south side will begin next year.
    Separately, a citywide study assessing the vulnerability of sea walls along the Intracoastal will start soon. Delray Beach has 19 miles of sea walls along the Intracoastal, and a small fraction are public, according to Jeffrey Needle, the city’s stormwater engineer.

By Steve Plunkett

    Interstate 95’s new northbound exit ramp to Spanish River Boulevard is open.
    The ramp, which begins after vehicles have passed under Spanish River Boulevard and then loops south, brings drivers to new signals at the entrance of Florida Atlantic University.
    Motorists began using the ramp Sept. 26, said Andi Pacini, spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Transportation’s $69 million interchange project, and more ramps will open this month.
     “We are targeting an October open for the new southbound ramp movements, weather permitting,” Pacini said. Construction crews have been working on the interchange since January 2014. The Spanish River connection will be Boca Raton’s fifth entrance/exit on I-95.
    Inclement weather added seven weeks to the construction schedule before Hurricane Irma hit.
    Farther north, improvements to the interchange at Woolbright Road in Boynton Beach also lag. Although the southbound exit ramp at Woolbright Road from I-95 reopened fully Sept. 21, on Sept. 20, Florida Department of Transportation workers noticed erosion from Irma’s rains and closed the westbound exit lane.
    The Woolbright Road project is one of five interchange projects that are ongoing. Work there was supposed to be finished in December, but the bad weather from Irma likely will delay the deadline.
    “Current contract time runs through November of this year, but we expect that date will be extended due to holidays and weather days,” Pacini said.
    — Jane Smith contributed to this story

By Dan Moffett

    Manalapan commissioners hope to voice their objections to the South Palm Beach groin project during a scheduled meeting with county officials on Oct. 24.
    The commissioners expect the project’s managers to attend the town’s regularly scheduled 9:30 a.m. meeting and participate in a question-and-answer session about the $5 million plan to install a network of seven concrete groins north of the town to stabilize South Palm’s beaches.
    There is near unanimous opposition to the idea in Manalapan.
    Mayor Keith Waters has pledged to fight it “tooth and nail,” the commissioners have unanimously agreed with the mayor, and finding a resident who thinks groins are a good idea is as unlikely as finding support for a refinery on A1A.
    Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa has lawyered up and is threatening to go to court to block the project, and Waters and the commissioners are next in line.
    Their unifying fear is that the groins will interrupt the natural southward flow of sand and divert it from nourishing Manalapan’s beaches.
    County project managers are expected to try to persuade the commission that the groins in South Palm Beach would be nothing like those installed in Deerfield Beach in the 1960s. Deerfield’s southern neighbor, Hillsboro Beach, has blamed those 56 concrete structures for destroying its coastline and stealing untold tons of sand over the past five decades. Hillsboro is suing Deerfield, seeking to recover millions in damages.
    The county’s beach stabilization project, roughly 10 years in the making, is a joint venture, with South Palm Beach paying about 20 percent of the construction cost, the county 30 percent through tourism taxes, and the state and federal governments covering another 50 percent.
    County managers are applying for the necessary permits to get the project going by the November 2018 target date.
    In other business, members of the Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Association have voted to approve a new three-year contract with the town that includes a provision for a 3 percent pay increase retroactive to October 2016 and a retirement contribution plan. Going forward, officers are to receive annual pay hikes of 3 percent, 3.5 percent and 4 percent.
    Police Chief Carmen Mattox said the agreement — which ends a year of impasse in negotiations that wound up in arbitration — “will improve morale.”
    Town Manager Linda Stumpf said the contract “is very fair and it’s generous.”  
    Waters said the agreement has already improved relations between the commission and department.
    “I can tell you I’ve been stopped by every policeman, from the chief all the way down to the people on the street, saying thanks to the commission,” the mayor said during a budget workshop. “They are very much aware   that we’re trying to work with them.”

Gulf Stream resident Charles Carlino styled Sole Surfer on a friend and fellow Marine with post-traumatic stress disorder. The play will be staged on Veterans Day. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Mary Thurwachter

    Charles Carlino met Joseph Gianni as neighbors in East Hampton in the mid-1990s. The former Marines shared a passion for surfing and got to know each other well over the next two decades.
    Carlino, who lives in Gulf Stream, was a weapons trainer in Camp Lejeune, N.C., during the Vietnam War and never served overseas.
    Gianni’s military journey was much more harrowing.
    “He is a decorated war hero,” Carlino said of his friend, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his tour of duty in Vietnam.
    “He’s such an extraordinary, peaceful human being to have seen what he saw, the amount of deaths,” Carlino said of Gianni, a former defense attorney.
    Gianni’s story became the subject of Carlino’s book Camp Hero and is told through the main character in his play Sole Surfer, which will be staged Nov. 11, Veterans Day, at the Kravis Center’s Rinker Playhouse.
    “Vietnam veterans are very humble,” Carlino said. “They are peace-oriented, not war-oriented. That’s the kind of character Joseph A. Gianni is.”
    Carlino said he captured his friend’s stories in his mind and in his soul.
    “There wasn’t a pad or a laptop,” he explained. “It was just his soul merging with mine, how he processed all of this and how gentle he is considering all he has been through. He lives with PTSD.”
    With the play, Carlino said, he’s accomplished in a light, comical delivery a way of engaging audience members that gives them an emotional experience relatable to all people who have suffered any kind of abuse. The one-hour play received high praise from the audience when it debuted in 2014 at the Stonzek Theatre at the Lake Worth Playhouse.
    “You’re engaged in laughter and, all of a sudden, you’re off on a ride that takes the story in a very unique direction,” Carlino said. “You’re onboard with it because you’re him.
    “Most people feel for the veterans and love them but want to do it from a distance,” said Carlino, 70. “They don’t want to get near these people because it’s really dark. With this play, it’s almost like a boot camp story where as you enter the theater you’re engaged. The play starts very gentle. I think I’ve created an emotional experience that only special stories can engage.”
    Carlino advanced his career in computer technology and built a boutique systems firm but always had an interest in writing and the theater.
    “Having lived in New York City for over 55 years, I viewed an abundant amount of theater,” he said. “The Broadway scene was great for taking clients, but I lived for off-Broadway, black box theater.”
    Today, he has his own theater company, Roadshow Productions (www.roadshow productions.net), dedicated to the presentation of original works for the stage.
    “As a producer/playwright, with my talented, professional staff, we self-produce and promote plays and musicals where originality, experimentation and traditional theater coexist,” Carlino said.
    “We welcome all who wish to play in our sandbox and live by the simple credo: Art matters.”

— Mary Thurwachter

Q. Where did you grow up and go to school? How do you think that has influenced you?
A. Rosedale in Queens, N.Y.  I spent my childhood stuck in that medieval place, cut off from civilization. I felt I was a worthless young individual — a disappointment to my family, my teachers, my church and assured by all I was destined to fail. Raised on a steady diet of ridicule and limitation, I learned at a young age how to nourish myself. I was bullied. My right to life was the fight to exist.

Q. What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A.  I had to give up my first meaningful job at Dean Witter brokerage house in New York as a trainee in the data processing department, to join the United States Marines in 1967 at the height of the Vietnam War.  When I returned home, I was able to secure a job in the computer technology field, moving my way up to systems manager at the age of 25.
    During the summer of 1975, I was in a bad motorcycle accident which almost took my life. Instead, it changed my life for the better. I left the computer field and went on a life’s journey, experiencing personal and artistic growth, creating my future. I was able to develop natural talents in areas such as interior and space design, restaurant and cabaret, black box theater, brownstone renovation and author of the Guide for Safe Surgery. I wrote it with two other associates, one an orthopedic surgeon, to assist patients to be proactive about their surgery.
    There were times when I drove a taxi and bartended to make ends meet. Ultimately, I returned to the computer technology field where I made my ultimate success, building a small boutique systems firm, Lorin Technology.
    After 50 years in New York City, I settled in Florida.
    I am most proud of the production of my play, Sole Surfer.

Q. What advice do you have for a young person selecting a career today?
A. Never place money before excellence of performance. Find your passion, then search out a career that can teach you and lead you to that passion. Perseverance is the true master to success. Never give up. Stay the path. Let no one tell you you can’t succeed. Create realistic goals and approach them in a superhuman manner. Remember, the tougher things become, the closer you are to your success. Competition is not the enemy, it’s God testing your will to rise above. Celebrate each success and failure, as they are all part of your ultimate destiny.

Q. How did you choose to make your home in Gulf Stream?
A. Having lived in West Palm Beach previously, I became acquainted with the small town of Gulf Stream. This tiny enclave captured my eye from the first instant. With its small, private streets and mix of cozy-styled homes, I was drawn in by its beauty.

Q. What is your favorite part about living in Gulf Stream?
A. The residents are made up of many different backgrounds,  yet all share a neighborly quest for good clean living. It’s a relaxed, safe and natural style of living, rich in the quality of contemporary neighborhood life. People here are friendly, helpful and most of all respectful of one another.

Q. What music do you listen to when you need inspiration? When you want to relax?
A. My father being a true jazz musician, I was brought up on the sounds of all the jazz greats. I guess you might call me a jazz buff and I even owned a speakeasy back in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
    My wife, Anna, and I share a passion in Latin music, and have danced our way through the many fine venues of our community. However, if you visit our home, you will be embraced by the soothing sounds of Zen and other inspirational music. This same music is background to my play.

Q. Do you have a favorite quote that inspires your decisions?
A. “Behind every successful man is a great woman.” I am married to a great woman, rich in heart and soul. I believe that two is better than one — if it is a healthy two. Anna has brought a balance to my life, supporting and even applauding my work.

Q. Have you had mentors in your life?
A. I have been blessed with many great mentors, people that possess a healthy balance to life and have made great impact on my successes and taught me how to grow and embrace my failures. A name that stands out is the pastor Joel Osteen. Others, such as Joyce Meyer, Don Miguel Ruiz and Deepak Chopra, stand out as beacons to spiritual enlightenment.

Q. If your life story were made into a movie, whom would you want to play you?
A. One of my favorite actors, Gerard Butler, who starred in the movie Chasing Mavericks. I admire the real-life manner he brings to his roles.

Q. Who/what makes you laugh?
A. Jackie Gleason. I can still recall many lines from The Honeymooners.  It just feels like home, the way we grew up, our parents, the times.  I find myself writing pieces today that sound just as those from over 50 years ago, with that special delivery that only Gleason can deliver, totally relatable and a bit ridiculous, but so funny.

If You Go
What: Sole Surfer, written by Charles Carlino. The one-act, two-actor drama with narration is directed by Selma Hazouri. The lead character is played by Bryan Wohlust and the narrator is Richard Forbes.
Where: Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach
When: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 11
Tickets: $32
Info: 832-7469; www.kravis.org

By Mary Thurwachter

    The Lantana Police Department has moved to new headquarters at 901 N. Eighth St., off Lantana Road next to the new sports complex.
    The new digs are in a state-owned building once home to the Department of Juvenile Justice and used for training police officers and sheriff’s deputies for the past several years. The town has a lease on the 10,000-square-foot building through 2048, and put aside $95,000 last April for repairs to the DJJ building. The state Legislature awarded Lantana another $500,000 for repairs.
    “The town’s $95,000 turned into $500,000,” Mayor Dave Stewart told Town Council members at their Sept. 25 meeting, when Town Manager Deborah Manzo announced news of the move. An official opening celebration will be held later. The new location put police near Water Tower Commons, a retail and residential complex being developed on the former A.G. Holley property on Lantana Road east of Interstate 95.
    Manzo said the previous police buildings at 500 Greynolds Circle weren’t large enough and will house other town departments.
    In other news, the council:
    • Voted for a tax rate of $3.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value, a 15 percent increase over the rollback rate of 3.03. Only three residents attended the public hearing for the budget on Sept. 25, and no one voiced opposition. Lantana had kept the tax rate at $3.24 for the past 10 years.
    Stewart cast the lone dissenting vote for the tax increase, saying he didn’t feel it was necessary with property tax revenues up $182,866, plus income from the penny sales tax increase ($560,000) and new development at Aura Seaside and Water Tower Commons on the horizon. But other council members argued that the town looked shabby and needed more money for code enforcement.
    • Honored Finance Director Stephen Kaplan and his staff after the town received a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for the 20th consecutive year.

By Jane Smith
    
    Commissioners in late September selected three candidates to interview to become their next city manager. One dropped out the next day.
    A public reception will be held on Oct. 9 where community members can meet the two candidates in an informal setting, said W.D. Higginbotham Jr., senior vice president of The Mercer Group, hired to do the candidate search.
    Meeting the community is important for any city manager, Higginbotham said. “A lot can be seen by the way the candidates interact with the community and commissioners in an informal setting,” he said. The public reception will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Delray Beach Municipal Golf Course clubhouse, 2200 Highland Ave.
    The commission interviews will take place at 5 p.m. Oct. 10, when the Delray Beach City Commission will meet to pick a city manager.
    No one from a Florida city applied.
    Commissioners were not pleased with the overall quality of the candidates. They said they wanted a larger pool of candidates. Delray Beach Mayor Cary Glickstein insisted they need only one person — one who has a strong financial background and people skills.
    The prospective candidates watched several commission meetings, Higginbotham said. They saw micromanaging by the commission, bickering between commissioners and other negative issues, he said.
    “I told them it’s not going to be a walk in the park,” he said, even though the salary of at least $200,000 is tantalizing. Delray Beach has an estimated population of 68,676.
    The mayor also said, “We have an election in the town in March where three seats are up.”
    Some prospective candidates might feel uneasy about the possibility of the bosses changing in a few months, he said.
    The two candidates are:
    Edward Collins — The chief operating officer at Civil Service Inc., a private engineering firm in Lehi, Utah. Lehi has an estimated population of 63,999.
    Mark Lauzier — An assistant city manager in Tacoma, Wash. Tacoma has a population estimated at 210,381.
    The candidate who declined to be considered was David Niemeyer, village manager of Tinley Park, Ill. He was added to the interview list on the suggestion of Vice Mayor Jim Chard.

By Jane Smith

    The iPic luxury theater owner took on a joint venture developer partner back in May but never announced it. Some city leaders say the partnership makes sense because iPic is a theater owner and not a mixed-use developer. Others see it as part of the secrecy that has dogged the project since December 2013.
    “As this project will be logistically difficult for an experienced developer, I was pleased to learn iPic had partnered with an experienced urban, infill developer to execute the approved plan,” said Delray Beach Mayor Cary Glickstein.
    “Those that are surprised by this either don’t understand the construction and development business or the complexities of this project,” he said.         

    When complete in 2019, the iPic complex will have 497 luxury seats in eight screening rooms with a total of 44,979 square feet and a 42,446-square-foot office building where iPic has agreed to move its corporate headquarters and occupy 20,000 square feet for five years.
    The development also will include 7,847 square feet of retail space and a multilevel garage with 326 spaces, providing a minimum of 90 public spaces. The project sits just south of Atlantic Avenue, between Southeast Fourth and Fifth avenues.
    “I can’t wait to go to the movies in my own town,” Glickstein said.
    Samuels & Associates, based in Boston, is iPic’s developer partner. Samuels’ website lists examples of its current projects, including the Van Ness complex in the Fenway neighborhood of Boston. The complex has 172 luxury apartments, 237,000 square feet of office space and 200,000 square feet of retail space, including a City Target store.
    That iPic teamed with Samuels without mentioning the plan irritated Delray Beach resident James Quillian.
    He and his wife own two units in a three-building co-op project immediately south of the new iPic. The Quillians don’t live there, but they own the units as investments.
    The Quillians along with the other co-op owners met with a Butters Construction representative and someone from iPic, just after the property was purchased from Delray’s Community Redevelopment Agency.
    “We wanted a barrier or some kind of wall to prevent construction workers from walking through our property,” Quillian said.
    The co-op owners thought they had a deal, until the demolition started. When they returned, they were told about the joint venture and a new person to contact.
    “Our feelings are hurt,” Quillian said. “They played us like they played the city and the CRA.”
    The former CRA executive director insisted that nearby property owners did not have to be notified of the deal.
    In December 2013, iPic agreed to pay $3.6 million to the CRA for 1.6 acres. The theater owner paid $2.3 million for an additional .14 acre nearby, called the Martini property. The sale was finalized in April.

Public offering planned         

    iPic plans to do an initial public offering this fall to raise $30 million to $50 million.
    The luxury theater company operates 121 screens in 10 states with five theaters under construction.
    iPic’s largest shareholders include Australia’s largest publicly traded entertainment company, Village Roadshow, and the Retirement Systems of Alabama, according to the Banq brokerage website.

By Dan Moffett

    Briny Breezes moved a step closer to hiring the first town manager in its history when the Town Council on Sept. 28 gave preliminary approval to an ordinance creating the position.
    “We’re in desperate need of administrative help,” said Alderman Bobby Jurovaty. “We can’t keep putting this off.”
    The ordinance provides a broad description of an employee who would assist council members in handling administrative duties and implementing town policies, Council President Sue Thaler said.
    “We have not advertised it yet, but we have four people already interested in the position,” Thaler said.
    Town Attorney John Skrandel said specific terms of the manager’s contract would be approved through resolutions by the council as part of the hiring process. Thaler said the council envisions the new position as a part-time job, with the manager working less than 35 hours a week and earning around $40,000 a year, without benefits. The money for the hiring is included in this year’s budget.
    Skrandel said it would be possible to hire an independent contractor to fill the position, a move that would allow the town more flexibility of scheduling and avoid overtime pay requirements. The ordinance passed on a 3-0 vote by Jurovaty, Thaler and Allen “Chick” Behringer. Christina Adams and James McCormick were absent.
    The proposed new law is scheduled to come up for a second reading and final vote on approval during the next council meeting on Oct. 26.
    In other business:
    • The council scheduled a workshop beginning at 4 p.m. Oct. 10 to consider applications for legal services and potential Local Mitigation Strategy projects for state and federal grants. LMS projects are plans by a local government that are designed to reduce or eliminate risks to people and property from natural disasters and some manmade problems. Mayor Jack Lee and resident Keith Black volunteered to develop a list of possible projects in Briny that could be eligible for grant money.        

    Council members decided in August to advertise for legal services applicants who might replace Skrandel. The deadline for applying was pushed back a week because of Hurricane Irma. Thaler said the council will review the applicants for the town attorney job during the Oct. 10 workshop.

By Dan Moffett

    Those rusted and ragged shade sails lining the parking lot at Boynton Beach Oceanfront Park are soon to give way to aluminum solar canopies as part of Florida Power & Light’s growing campaign to promote clean energy across the state.
    “The sails have been a nightmare problem for us,” Jeff Livergood, Boynton’s director of public works and engineering, told the Ocean Ridge Town Commission on Oct. 2. “The canopies will help educate people about solar power and also provide more shade.”
    The sails have cost Boynton Beach about $25,000 a year to maintain because of corrosion to poles and wind damage to fabric. The two new canopies will pay for themselves, each generating 200 kilowatts of power for FPL and $4,000 annually for Boynton Beach that the company will pay to rent the space. FPL handles all maintenance during the 20-year lease agreement.
    The Ocean Ridge commission unanimously approved the canopy plan — approval Boynton Beach and FPL needed to receive the required state permits to begin construction.
    FPL has already installed a solar tree on the lower level of the park, near the Turtle Cafe, that can charge residents’ cellphones and provide park and area information on screens. The trees cost between $22,000 and $32,000.
    FPL engineers say the canopy structures are built to withstand the 170-mph winds of a Category 5 hurricane. Livergood said the canopies can be adapted to charge electric cars, if demand warrants. The project’s canopies slant 18 feet to 14 feet tall, and cost nearly $1 million each. In all, about 22 parking spaces will be covered.
    FPL is spreading them throughout South Florida as part of its Solar Now program that asks customers to pay $9 more each month to help promote public use of solar power. More than 450 Boynton residents are enrolled in the program.
    Solar canopies are currently in use at the West Palm Beach Zoo, and at parks in Naples and Palm City, as well as the Young at Art Museum in Davie. Pompano Beach just approved several canopy projects for public buildings.
   In other business:
    • In its continuing battle against noise in neighborhoods, the commission on Sept. 26 unanimously approved an ordinance restricting the hours of construction and lawn work.
    The ordinance prohibits construction and lawn maintenance work from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. on weekdays and allows them only from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays. Construction and lawn work are not allowed on Sundays and certain federal holidays. The ordinance provides exemptions for emergency repairs — for air conditioning units, water heaters or essential services such as plumbing and electrical — and for hurricane preparation.
    The Planning & Zoning Commission recommended the changes, and Chairman Jerry Goray said the panel had no shortage of opinions on what hours should be restricted. Mayor Geoff Pugh said the ordinance is a compromise of opinions that the commissioners can always adjust later if residents find the time limits unacceptable.

Apartments and town homes would be part of a development that extends between Third Street and the railroad tracks.

SOURCE: City of Boynton Beach 

By Jane Smith
    
    The Villages at East Ocean Avenue project has finally been approved after two years of wending its way through the Boynton Beach approval process.
    “It’s been a long two years for all of us,” Bradley Miller, the project’s land planner, said after city commissioners finished several mostly unanimous votes at their Sept. 19 meeting.        

    Miller represents Boca Raton lawyer Arthur D’Almeida, who assembled the parcels over nearly 15 years. D’Almeida set up limited liability corporations to buy individual pieces, paying about $3.9 million.
    The Villages project straddles Ocean Avenue and has two parcels containing slightly more than 5 acres. The project sits next to the FEC Railway tracks, possible home to a future Tri-Rail Coastal Link station.
    Boynton Beach commissioners gave his corporations another .7 acre in abandoned alleyways as part of their approval in September.
    Miller said it would take about one year to complete the design and permitting process. His client likely would seek a developer partner with construction experience to enter into a joint venture.
    “With an approved project, you get more attention,” Miller said.
    On the north parcel, fronting Boynton Beach Boulevard, an eight-story apartment building is planned with 336 units of various sizes from 700-square-foot studios to three-bedroom, two-bath units with up to 1,530 square feet. The majority of the apartments, 181, will have two bedrooms and two baths.
    The building along Ocean Avenue will be three stories, a design feature requested by residents and approved by the commission during discussions earlier in the year. Architect Juan Caycedo said, “The whole idea is to create a village-like project, respecting the scale the residents wanted and keeping it pedestrian friendly.”
    But that design didn’t sit well with at least one resident.
    “The design looks really contemporary to me,” said Cindy Falco-Dicorrado, a member of the city’s Art Commission. “I see a large building with square lines. It seems like the stepsister to the Town Square.”
    Caycedo insisted his design would fit well with Town Square. The 16-acre project, which includes public buildings and private uses, will sit west of the Villages.
    “The design looks square to me,” Falco-Dicorrado said. “But I am an artist and I respect your design.”
    The proposed complex will have a two-story fitness center that fronts Boynton Beach Boulevard with room for spin classes and a cyber café, Miller said.
    He also said it will have a pedestrian zone along its perimeter with up to 18.5-foot-wide sidewalks, 17,000 square feet of walking space and three public plazas.
    The main entrance for the Villages will be on Northeast Third Street, Miller said. That plaza will be 4,400 square feet.
    The secondary entrance on Boynton Beach Boulevard will have a 1,350-square-foot plaza. The Ocean Avenue plaza was upgraded by 400 square feet to have 2,150 square feet.
    The Villages will have 79 trees, required by the city. Seventy-two will be shade trees, the majority cathedral live oaks. Alexander palms will be used as accents around the swimming pool on the project’s north side.
    The complex will have a 644-space parking garage on the north parcel, with three spaces of street parking available on Boynton Beach Boulevard, 11 on Northeast Third Street and five on Ocean Avenue, Miller said.
    Apartment residents won’t be allowed to park their vehicles on the first floor and part of the second floor of the garage, Miller said. But he declined to be more specific about how many spaces would be available for the public.
    D’Almeida bought the southern lots from the heirs of Bob Katz, a Boynton Beach real estate investor who died in 2006. Katz was a client of D’Almeida.
    Three pieces on the north were purchased from the heirs of Harvey Oyer Jr., a former Boynton Beach mayor.
    Resident Susan Oyer, whose family extended a mortgage to the D’Almeida corporation, asked about train station access. She also wanted to know how “green” the project would be: Would it have solar panels on the rooftops, would it use reflective paints for the exterior and would it have electric car chargers in the garage?
    A new member of the Boynton Beach Planning and Development Board, Oyer had to step down from the dais when the Villages project came before the board in August. While she couldn’t vote on the project because her family would benefit from its success, she could still ask questions about it.
    The Tri-Rail Coastal Link commuter line is in the planning stages; construction is at least five years away.
    Along the railroad tracks, the project’s eastern pedestrian path will be fenced for safety and security reasons, Miller said. The fence will prevent people from crossing over the tracks and the project won’t have apartment doors on the first floor to provide security for the residents, he said.
    “People will be able to walk up to Boynton Beach Boulevard or down to Ocean Avenue to the train station,” Miller said.
    As to the paint colors and solar panels on the roofs, they will be considered, said architect Caycedo. “The need for electric car chargers will be market driven,” he said.
When the retail space on Boynton Beach Boulevard was discussed, the vote split the commission. Vice Mayor Justin Katz and Commissioner Mack McCray wanted the property owner to stick with the plan to put in retailers there.
    But Mayor Steven Grant and commissioners Joe Casello and Christina Romelus wanted to give the land owner an option. If no one wanted to rent, then the space could be converted into live/work units with the renter having a business tax receipt from the city. Artists and designers were mentioned as likely renters, Miller said.
    For the southern parcel, about 1.8 acres fronting Ocean Avenue, the complex would contain 30 apartments and five townhomes along Southeast Third Street. Each townhome would have a two-car garage, Miller said.
    Along Ocean Avenue, the complex would have ground floor retail space and stand three stories tall, about 35 feet. Along Southeast Third, the complex would have a building that stretches to five stories. The townhouses would be in a separate, three-story building. Each unit would have three bedrooms and three baths.
    “I like this design,” Falco-Dicorrado said.

By Dan Moffett

    Brad Biggs’ 11-year relationship with South Palm Beach ended abruptly Sept. 25 when the town attorney submitted his resignation, saying he had lost the support of some council members.
    “Some council persons now do not believe that I am the person they would desire to provide legal services for the town and they are unwilling or unable to accept such counsel from me,” Biggs wrote in a resignation letter. “I believe that ultimately, the only thing an attorney really can offer is wise and considered legal counsel.”
    Biggs said he needed the “full backing of every council member” to do his job, and without it, the only choice was resignation.
    “He’s been with us through thick and thin for 11 years,” said Vice Mayor Robert Gottlieb. “That was a real shocker.”
    Actually, it wasn’t that much of a shocker.
    Biggs had been pleading with the council for two years to approve a new contract for his services, and the council repeatedly ignored the request or postponed considering it. The attorney had been working on what was little more than a month-to-month handshake agreement since 2015.
     Meanwhile, Councilwoman Stella Gaddy Jordan emerged as Biggs’ harshest critic on the council, faulting him for not advocating strongly enough for the town on the 3550 S. Ocean project at the old Palm Beach Oceanfront Inn site.
    Jordan also criticized Biggs for not being accessible enough and not ensuring council meetings were run in an orderly manner.
    “I honestly have no idea what she’s talking about,” Biggs said at one point during the dispute. He told the council:  “I very much feel kind of bullied.”
    The attorney offered to work out of Town Hall to improve accessibility and agreed to run a workshop on Robert’s Rules of Order to educate the council on meeting protocols. Neither action materialized, and instead Jordan encouraged the council to advertise for legal services and consider replacing Biggs.
    Last spring, the attorney lost his staunchest supporter on the council with the sudden death of then Vice Mayor Joe Flagello, who had described Biggs’ job performance as “outstanding.”
    Mayor Bonnie Fischer said the council will move quickly to find an interim replacement for Biggs and then fill the position permanently.
    It has been a stormy period for relations with high-level staff.
    In late 2014, the town hired Jim Pascale of Princeton, N.J., to fill the town manager opening. Six months later he resigned after philosophical disputes with the council that included whether South Palm Beach should continue to exist as an incorporated municipality.
    The town went about six months without a manager until Bob Vitas, a former Key West city manager, was hired in November 2015. Vitas, 60, has complained repeatedly in recent months that the town’s charter requires that the council review his contract and performance each year — consideration that includes possible merit raises,  benefits and perks such as car allowance. But that hasn’t happened, so Vitas is working under a contract the town may have breached.
    Vitas’ relationship with the town may be sealed at the council’s Oct. 24 meeting. On Sept. 28, council members approved a budget for 2018 — but excluded dealing with the manager’s pay issues. The council plans to take that up at the October meeting, and Jordan says she wants to settle her difference of opinions over compensation with Vitas then “once and for all.”
    Kevin Hill, a resident of Palmsea condominiums, told council members he was concerned about losing experienced employees the town needs to oversee big projects that might be coming, including the possible renovation of the Town Hall, the 3550 S. Ocean development and beach stabilization.
    “I think you guys really need to pay attention to what you’re doing,” Hill said. “If you have a mass exodus of employees, the town could be in trouble. I don’t know what’s going on, but you need to take care of these people.”

By Steve Plunkett

    Former Ocean Ridge Vice Mayor Richard Lucibella will sue the town and at least one of the officers who arrested him in an October 2016 shooting incident at his home, one of his lawyers told a Palm Beach County circuit judge.
    Lucibella believes, “among other claims,” that Officer Nubia Plesnik “used unnecessary force, that he was wrongfully arrested, that he was injured, and that as a result of his wrongful arrest he was divested of his business interests and forced to resign from his government position,” lawyer Laurie Adams says in a document filed in the civil case Plesnik brought against him.
    But Lucibella said the statement was primarily a counterclaim to Plesnik’s lawsuit.
    “To date, I have not consulted with any attorney regarding taking action against the town,” he said.
    Lucibella, who is set to go on trial this month on felony charges of resisting arrest with violence and battery on a law enforcement officer, asked that Plesnik’s lawsuit be postponed until the criminal trial is over.
    Lucibella has pleaded not guilty to both felony charges and a third, misdemeanor charge of using a firearm while under the influence of alcohol. Judge Charles Burton has blocked off four weeks for the criminal trial, which is scheduled to begin Oct. 23.
    Plesnik, fellow Officer Richard Ermeri and Sgt. William Hallahan went to Lucibella’s home last Oct. 22 after neighbors reported hearing gunshots. They confiscated a .40-caliber handgun and found five spent shell casings on the backyard patio.
    Lt. Steven Wohlfiel, their supervisor, was with Lucibella, and both men were “obviously intoxicated,” the officers said. Police later determined the confiscated handgun belonged to Wohlfiel.
    Plesnik’s lawsuit against Lucibella claims he intentionally pushed and injured her. Her lawyer said she can perform all her duties as a police officer but continues to feel pain in her shoulder.
    Lucibella has a $10 million insurance policy for personal liability protection. He resigned as vice mayor and town commissioner in December.
    The lawsuit put Lucibella in a legal Catch-22 situation, defense lawyer Adams said. If it were to proceed, Lucibella would want to use his Fifth Amendment privilege to not jeopardize the criminal case.
    But under court rules, he must file his counterclaims against Plesnik when he first responds to her lawsuit, and making a counterclaim would allow her lawyers to compel him to answer questions.
    “Essentially, the defendant is placed in the position of choosing between two constitutional rights,” Adams wrote.
    Circuit Judge Cymonie Rowe had not ruled on the postponement request prior to The Coastal Star’s deadline.
    Lucibella’s criminal defense attorney, Marc Shiner, has previously said that his client was wrongfully arrested.

By Jane Smith
    
    The contractor has begun installing a fence to block people from taking a short cut across the FEC Railway tracks in downtown Delray Beach.
    The work started on Oct. 3. It will take about two weeks for the aluminum rail fence to be finished along both sides of the tracks between Atlantic Avenue and Northeast First Street, said Joe Frantz, deputy director of public works. The fence will have pink bougainvillea planted at both ends and other native plants in between.
    The trespassing problem became a Delray Beach focus after the August 2016 death of Robin Landes, of Boca Raton. She was killed by a passing southbound freight train when she used a well-traveled path to cut across the tracks. Landes and her husband had left Johnny Brown’s on Atlantic.
    “On any given day or night, I can see multiple people, including adults with children, trespassing across the tracks between designated crossings,” said Mayor Cary Glickstein.
    “It may seem easy to cross the tracks, which is a trespass, with slower-moving freight trains using very loud horn blasts,” he said. “It’s quite another with high-speed trains that will eventually pass through Delray 32 times daily without any audible warning horns.”
    Brightline, the new name for All Aboard Florida, plans to start its express passenger rail service on the FEC tracks by the end of the year. In South Florida, Brightline will make three stops — West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami.
    The county’s Metropolitan Planning Organization paid to install quiet zones at most intersections, allowing the Brightline trains to zip without horn blasts through the southern part of the county. The quiet zones can include such items as dual gates on the travel lanes and a concrete median between the travel lanes.
    Delray Beach resident Patrick Halliday, vice chairman of Human Powered Delray, brought up pedestrian-safety concerns to the City Commission following the death of Landes.
    “I’m pleased to see this day coming,” Halliday said. “I got involved because of my concerns for pedestrian safety in my city of Delray Beach.”
    He thanked the mayor and City Commission for their efforts to push for a pedestrian barrier.
    FEC will have a worker present during the fence installation, Frantz said. The fence sits on FEC-owned land and the company wants to make sure that its signals and other electronics are not disturbed during the fence installation process, he said.
    Bill Wilsher, the city’s landscape planner, helped to select the plants.
    The bougainvillea at both ends will be the dwarf variety, he said. “The FEC people didn’t want anything growing over the top of the fence line,” Wilsher said.

    “The safety barrier is very much needed to push people down to desig-nated crossings,” Glickstein said.

The swimming pool at the Carlisle. Photo provided

By Christine Davis

    There’s been an ownership change at Carlisle Palm Beach in Lantana. The senior living community, at 450 E. Ocean Ave., sold for $77,197,300 on Sept. 15, according to property records.
    The new owner, Palm Beach FL Senior Property, LLC, is an affiliate of Bridge Investment Group, a real estate investment and property management firm based in Salt Lake City. Bridge Seniors principals have acquired, developed, managed or disposed of approximately 350 seniors housing projects. They have $1.9 billion of assets under management, and 53 communities with more than 6,200 units.
    The Carlisle has 290 units and 302 beds and is made up of independent-living, assisted-living and memory-care units, with monthly rents that start at nearly $4,000. More than $10 million has been invested in the complex during the past five years.
    Cushman & Wakefield coordinated the sale. The team included the executive managing director, Richard Swartz; executive director Jay Wagner; director Jim Dooley, and associate Caryn Miller. On behalf of the buyer, Wagner, senior director Aaron Rosenzweig and director Tim Hosmer arranged for a $55 million mortgage from Wells Fargo to finance the deal.
    “We had strong interest from a mix of private equity and public REITs as well as several offshore investors, including Asian and Middle Eastern capital,” Swartz said.
    The Carlisle was built in 1999. The previous owner, SHI Carlisle Palm Beach LLC, a joint venture between Chicago-based Senior Lifestyle and Boston-based AEW Capital Management, bought the property in April 2011 from Palm Beach Club for $53 million. Senior Lifestyle will continue to handle the community’s operations.
                                ***
    A sold-out crowd of 230-plus guests attended the Education Breakfast at the Delray Beach Golf Club.
    Originating in the 1970s, the event, hosted by the Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce, gives teachers a chance to hear from principals about challenges and successes for Delray Beach’s school system.
    Teachers and principals received backpacks, school supplies, flowers and gift cards that were sponsored by Source1 Purchasing, Office Depot, Caron Renaissance/Ocean Drive, Professional Security Consultants and Monthly Express.
    Keynote speaker Bill Bone inspired the audience with a talk titled “Grit and Gratitude.” Robert Avossa, superintendent of the School District of Palm Beach County, gave updates on the new school year.

***

Making way for Publix

Workers remove debris Sept. 21 from the former theater that had long been part of Plaza del Mar in Manalapan. Considerable clearing of old buildings at the center of the mall remains to be done before construction of the new grocery can begin. The opening of the Publix is targeted for June 2018. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star

***

                              Luminary, the Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce’s annual fundraiser and awards presentation, is scheduled for Oct. 27 at the Grand Ballroom of the Delray Beach Marriott. Tickets are $150 per person or $2,500 for eight tickets to the VIP Lounge. To RSVP, call 278-0424 or visit www.delraybeach.com/Luminary.
                                ***
    In August, the Boca Chamber and JM Lexus hosted the Chamber’s signature event, “Wine & All That Jazz,” at the Boca Raton Resort and Club. Fine wines and food from more than 20 restaurants were provided for 600 guests. A portion of the proceeds will  fund efforts of the Chamber’s Golden Bell Education Foundation, which provides money and programming support to Boca Raton public schools.
                                ***
    The International Downtown Association recognized the Delray Beach Downtown Development Authority with the Downtown Achievement Award of Excellence for Delray Fashion Week 2017, and with a Certificate of Merit award for the Inside Downtown Delray Beach Video Series. The awards were presented during the 63rd annual conference and trade show in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
    “It is the collective mix of our merchants and businesses and their collaborative spirit that enable programs such as Delray Beach Fashion Week to be successful, and the ability to showcase the beauty, diversity and uniqueness of downtown Delray through their perspective in the video series,” said Laura Simon, executive director of the Delray Beach Downtown Development Authority.
                                ***
    Congratulations to Annie Davis, president of Palm Beach Travel. She’s a winner of a 2017 Magellan Award and will be featured in the Oct. 30 issue of Travel Weekly. Her entry, “Palm Beach Travel Merges Travel + Art,” won her a silver award in the category of Travel Agent Organizations, Overall, Travel Agent Innovation. In her entry, she described Palm Beach Travel’s 2017 expansion to include the Palm Beach Art gallery, which gives her clients the opportunity to explore affordable art while making their travel plans.
                                ***
    Lang Realty supported Florida Atlantic University’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine’s seventh annual “White Coats 4-Care” event with the sponsorship of two white coats, as well as personalized welcome notes for the school’s incoming medical students. This event was created to welcome, dress and equip the college’s incoming class.
                                ***
    In July, 35 real estate firms spanning 22 states received the Quality Service Certification’s QE Award, based on service excellence for exceptional customer service satisfaction.  Among the recipients was the Keyes Company, South Florida, which was a winner in the “Top 5 Large Companies” category.
 “There is no greater honor than earning the highest ratings from our customers for the hard work of our agents touching all the bases and bringing home a fantastic service experience for every one of our clients,” said Mike Pappas, president and CEO at Keyes in South Florida. “That’s why winning a QE Award is the best award any brokerage in real estate can receive.”
                                ***
    Local real estate agents were among those named to Real Trends America’s Best Real Estate Agent list based on their excellence in real estate sales during 2016. “This group of highly successful real estate sales agents represents less than 1 percent of all real estate practitioners in the United States,” said Steve Murray, president of REAL Trends.
    To qualify, an agent must have closed at least 50 transaction sides (representing either the buyer or seller) or $20 million in sales volume in 2016. For real estate agent teams, the minimum is 75 transaction sides or $30 million in closed sales volume.
    Within the top 100 individuals by volume in Florida, local agents in the top 10 were Pascal Liguori, Premier Estate Properties, Delray Beach, with $224,767,500 in sales at No. 2, and David Roberts, Royal Palm Properties, Boca Raton, $180,642,500, at No. 4.
    Within the top 100 teams by sides listed in Florida, the top 10 local team was The Rucco Group, RE/MAX Direct, Boynton Beach. It ranked No. 7 with 338 side transactions.
    D’Angelo/Liguori, Premier Estate Properties, Boca Raton, ranked at No. 10 within the top 100 teams by volume in Florida with $115,501,000 in sales.
                                ***
    On Aug. 28, Douglas Elliman agents Randy Ely and Nicholas Malinosky listed four waterfront properties: 3232 Polo Drive, Gulf Stream, for $5.95 million; 50 Spoonbill Road, Manalapan, for $3.875 million; 13 Ocean Harbour Circle, Ocean Ridge, for $3.375 million; and 124 Marlin Drive, Ocean Ridge, for $3.25 million.
    Also, on Aug. 17, Douglas Elliman Florida agent Devin Kay listed four properties in the estate section of Seagate, Delray Beach. They are being marketed as an opportunity for a developer to build new single-family homes.
    They can also be purchased separately. The properties are a 15,069-square-foot lot at 912 S. Ocean Blvd. and a home on a 15,069-square-foot lot at 914 S. Ocean Blvd., each listed for $1.99 million; a fully renovated home on a 11,284-square-foot lot at 911 Seagate Drive for $1.8 million; and a home on a 10,731-square-foot lot at 919 Seagate Drive for $1.5 million.
                                ***
    August’s market statistics from the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches and Greater Fort Lauderdale show a 7.9 percent year-over-year decrease in closed sales of single-family homes in Palm Beach County and a 7.9 percent increase in the median sales price to $340,000. The report showed a 4.7 percent year-over-year increase in closings for condominiums and townhomes and 9.4 percent increase in the median sale price to $175,000. Cash transactions decreased 2.3 percent to 499. 
                                ***
    An educational event, “Renegades of Real Estate,” on Oct. 20 and 21, hosted by David Dweck at the Renaissance Boca Raton Hotel, will feature speakers covering real estate investing, as well as offering entertainment and networking opportunities. Cost is $199. To register, call 391-7325 or visit www.RenegadesofRealEstate.com.

    Send business news to Christine Davis at cdavis9797@gmail.com.

Alex Schulze captains the boat as Andrew Cooper scoops trash from Lake Boca. Schulze and Cooper are owners of 4Ocean, a company that removes trash from area waterways. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Sallie James

    Andrew Cooper leaned over the bow of his boat and peered intently into the brownish water lapping against the seawall. He’d spotted a huge, colorless plastic bag beneath the surface and it was time to get to work.
    “Here’s a big piece,” he shouted to co-captain Alex Schulze, who maneuvered the blue-and-white, 24-foot Carolina Skiff closer to the trash. Cooper reached for a net and began to scoop.
    Welcome to 4Ocean, a for-profit company founded by Boca Raton residents Cooper, 27, and Schulze, 26, to clean up the ocean and coastlines. Their goal is to create a sustainable future for the ocean by active cleanup.
    They’re doing it one scoop of trash at a time.
    To date, the company has removed more than 90,000 pounds of trash from local waterways. 4Ocean is supported by the sale of $20 bracelets made from recyclable plastic and glass and promoted on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
    “We wanted to sell something that was socially conscious. A bracelet is easy and every one funds the removal of 1 pound of trash from the ocean,” Schulze said.

    The bracelets —  clear beads on a blue string — can be purchased through the company’s website at www.4Ocean.com.
    “We really combined everything we love,” explained Schulze. “We’re both certified captains, we both fish, surf and dive. We essentially started a business so we could both do what we love every day.”
    The duo met during college at Florida Atlantic University and founded their company in January with four employees and one boat. Today the company has 40 employees, including seven boat captains.
    4Ocean crews work out of seven boats, seven days a week, along waterways stretching from West Palm Beach to Hollywood.
    The pair chose to focus on waterway and beach cleanup because they both love water sports and were horrified to see how much trash turns up in the ocean.
    “The craziest thing is we find trash from all over the world. It’s unbelievable to see where it all comes from and how it ends up here,” Schulze said.
    During a recent pass along the Intracoastal Waterway near Silver Palm Park, their scooping expedition yielded numerous water bottles, a Gatorade bottle, a plastic whiskey bottle, a yellow tennis ball and lots of soggy plastic bags.
    “No bodies yet,” Cooper chuckled.
    As the boat approached the dock at the Marbella condo in Boca Raton, security supervisor Gary Ramirez came out to say hi.  
Ramirez said 4Ocean does a “fantastic job.”
    “This should have been done a long time ago,” Ramirez said.
    The trash is immediately sorted into 50-gallon drums for glass, plastic and garbage. Later, the recyclables are transported to a recycling plant and the trash is disposed of at a dump. On a busy day, the work crews can collect anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 pounds of trash.
    Lots of trash means greater success.
    “It’s our impact. The more trash we get, the more seriously we’re taken,” Schulze said.
    4Ocean also holds beach cleanups about once a month, mostly in Boca Raton.
    Schulze said the endeavor has been a huge leap of faith that’s already paying off.
    “We invested our entire life savings in this. We’ve essentially been able to develop the brand and company based on what we love,” he said.

Schulze (left) and Cooper say 4Ocean has removed

more than 90,000 pounds of trash.

Marti LaTour and Michelle Klinedinst launched Viamar Health, which provides specialty services for the treatment of eating disorders, represented here by the elephant in the room. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Lona O'Connor

    When Marti LaTour decided to join Michelle Klinedinst in launching a treatment facility for eating disorders, she wanted to be sure she knew exactly what she was getting into.
    “The only thing I knew about eating disorders was Karen Carpenter,” she said, referring to the late pop singer.
    She sat in on a therapy session, a sobering experience.
    “I was the only one crying besides the person who was speaking,” said LaTour.
    Klinedinst has decades of experience working with people with eating disorders and LaTour has a business background.
    “Marti has connected on a deep level,” said Klinedinst. “It’s important to understand what we’re doing.”
    LaTour, of Gulf Stream, and Klinedinst, of Singer Island, formed Viamar Health in November 2016 in West Palm Beach. Viamar offers a variety of therapies for adults and adolescents with eating disorders — group sessions, art, yoga, relaxation and meditation and nutrition education.
    The National Institutes of Health defines eating disorders as serious and often fatal illnesses that cause severe disturbances to a person’s eating behaviors.
    “People with eating disorders are very detached from their bodies, they distract themselves from feeling what their body feels like,” said LaTour. “We want them to listen to their bodies.”
    Eating disorders, including bulimia, binge-and-purge and anorexia, have a higher mortality rate than major depressive disorders, LaTour said. Symptoms usually appear in adolescence. As eating disorders continue, they begin to damage the major organs. Patients can die of heart failure.
    “The earlier you intervene, the better the chance of recovery,” says Klinedinst.
    Clients get a meal plan from the dietitian, who monitors their consumption of food.
People with eating disorders often view circumstances around them as chaotic and seek to regain control at least over one aspect of their lives, by controlling what they eat.
    “An eating disorder is one way you can control your world,” said Klinedinst. Clients with eating disorders can also suffer from anxiety disorders and depression.
    Klinedinst worked for musician Eric Clapton, who founded the Crossroads Centre, a rehabilitation facility in Antigua. She developed the clinical program there, as well as other programs in Arizona and California.
    “People search Michelle out,” said LaTour. “People who take care of people with eating disorders.”
    People with eating disorders can be secretive, making it hard for loved ones to know what’s going on. They also tend to be high-functioning people who want to succeed.
    “It’s so insidious,” said Klinedinst. “It starts to progress and the body starts to unravel.”
    Klinedinst has treated people with body mass indexes of 8 (normal BMI is in the mid-20s) and one who weighed only 48 pounds.
    Klinedinst’s team was able to save that patient.
    “That’s why I do what I do,” she said.
    Another of Klinedinst’s patients was a man who weighed 71 pounds. After successful treatment, he has returned to work to help others with similar problems, she said.
    LaTour’s significant other is George Elmore, the founder of Hardrives Paving. They met on boards where they were both members.
    “He was a great mentor for me,” she says.
    Elmore put Klinedinst and LaTour together at a social occasion. “We hit it off right away,” says LaTour.
    Klinedinst’s background is 20 years of training and supervising clinical psychologists and building counseling programs.
    LaTour, whose expertise is finance, held a variety of executive positions in the Pepsi bottling business.
    “When this opportunity came up, I thought that it was a lot more interesting,” said LaTour.
    Viamar offers a six-hour-a-day partial hospitalization program, day and evening hours, family and group therapy sessions. Its staff includes a variety of licensed professionals and a dietitian. By mid-summer Viamar was working with 18 clients. Costs of treatment vary and are usually covered by insurance.
    Klinedinst and LaTour are now planning to open Casita del Mar, a residential program in Juno Beach, for patients who are medically compromised by their eating disorders and need more extensive treatment.
    “When they’re that compromised, they have to stay in bed, with intravenous feeding,” said Klinedinst. “They completely resist eating.”
    Others who may be starting to eat food again can be so malnourished that they are in danger of heart attack, she said.
    Two other forms of eating disorder are less obvious: exercise anorexia, when people exercise compulsively, and orthorexia, which includes people who eat only raw foods or juices or restrict calories or eat only certain healthy foods.
    Neither exercise nor careful eating is dangerous in moderation. When such practices are followed to an extreme degree, an individual can endanger his or her health.
    Klinedinst and LaTour are also making presentations to local schools, colleges and groups. They describe clients whose refrigerators are completely empty, who have to be gently led to grocery stores, which they have grown to fear, and taught by a nutritionist how to buy food.
    “Your body is such an interesting and powerful instrument,” said LaTour. “People with eating disorders have to learn that. It’s really hard work. They are very brave.”

    Lona O’Connor has a lifelong interest in health and healthy living. Send ideas to Lona13@bellsouth.net.

Delray Medical Center honors hospital volunteers with Quilts of Valor for their military service. (l-r) Ron Price, Julio Mastrovito, Russell Sultenfuss, Mel Fishman and Charles Carroll. Photo provided

By Christine Davis

    Bethesda Health, headquartered in Boynton Beach, and Baptist Health South Florida, headquartered in Coral Gables, have officially merged their organizations as of Oct. 1, following 21/2 years of due diligence. With their merger, Baptist Health expands to 10 hospitals, more than 40 physician practices and approximately 50 outpatient facilities and centers in Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Through their partnership, both organizations will achieve an expanded level of care in Palm Beach County.
    “Hospitals across the country are positioning themselves to strengthen their capabilities in patient care and enhance their resources,” said Bethesda Health Chief Executive Officer Roger Kirk. “This partnership with Baptist Health gives our community expanded access to healthcare services.”
    “Our organizations share similar values and a steadfast commitment to providing quality healthcare to our patients,” said Brian E. Keeley, president and chief executive officer of Baptist Health.

    “Together, as not-for-profit mission-driven organizations, we will enhance our capabilities and carry out our common goal of providing compassionate, patient-focused comprehensive care to our community.”
                                 
    Delray Medical Center’s local chapter of the Quilts of Valor Foundation honored five Delray Medical Center volunteer veterans with handmade quilts in patriotic colors. They were Ron Price, Navy, Vietnam War; Julio Mastrovito, Navy, Korean War; Russ Sultenfuss, Army, Vietnam War; Mel Fishman, Army, Korean War; and Charles Carroll, Army, World War II.
                                 
    Florida Atlantic University Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine students and Delray Medical Center recently collaborated on research that consisted of three projects aimed at potential treatments for trauma patients. The projects were about palliative care treatment, case studies on rib fractures, and evaluating pain management options in orthopedic trauma patients. Trauma medical director Dr. Ivan Puente, trauma director Maggie Crawford and trauma research director Alexander Fokin led the team.
                                 
    Boca Raton Regional Hospital’s Eugene M. & Christine E. Lynn Cancer Institute now has a new method to biopsy suspected prostate tumors. The method fuses MRI images with information derived through ultrasound. The procedure is more efficient and effective. “Specific lesions of the prostate, especially very small ones, cannot always be captured by ultrasound due to its poor resolution,” said David Taub, MD, MBA, FACS, a urologist at the Lynn Cancer Institute who specializes in the treatment of malignancies of the prostate, kidney and bladder.
“In the final analysis, MRI/TRUS fusion biopsy is better than conventional approaches in finding tumors we need to treat and allows us to pass on areas that we should not have to worry about,” said Dr. Taub.
                                 
    In recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Boca Raton Regional Hospital’s Christine E. Lynn Women’s Health & Wellness Institute board chair and donor Christine Lynn unveiled lighting that will illuminate the Institute’s building pink for the entire month of October.
                                 
    Toby & Leon Cooperman Sinai Residences of Boca Raton, a continuing care retirement community, hired Linda Nelson as director of nursing at its Health Center. Nelson, a registered nurse since 1983, has worked in numerous nursing management positions in both skilled nursing and rehabilitation.

    Send health news to Christine Davis at cdavis9797@gmail.com.