This property at 1960 S. Ocean Blvd. in Manalapan was purchased by Stewart A. Satter of Carnegie Hill Development, who called it ‘a one-of-a-kind.’ But he said the house is dated and that he may have it torn down and replaced with two spec homes. Photo provided

By Christine Davis

Former Manalapan Mayor Stewart A. Satter, head of Carnegie Hill Development, recently bought the ocean-to-Intracoastal estate at 1960 S. Ocean Blvd. for $27.5 million. The 12,221-square-foot home was sold by 1960 South Ocean LLC, managed by West Palm Beach attorney Maura Ziska, and was purchased for $20.45 million in 2021.

Built on the 3.92-acre site in 1989 and featuring 350 feet of frontage on both the ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway, the home has nine bedrooms, a movie room, 30-car garage, office, greenhouse, wet bar, summer kitchen, putting green, a dock, oceanfront cabana and tunnel to the beach.

Nick Malinosky and Gary Pohrer of Douglas Elliman brokered the deal. 

“It’s a one-of-a-kind,” Satter said, adding that he’s considering building two spec houses on the lot. “It’s a very large lot, the nicest piece of land in Manalapan and abuts Larry Ellison’s property. The house has no value; it’s dated and does not have the characteristics and features people want today.”

The property had also been owned by another former Manalapan mayor, Tom Gerrard, in the early 2000s. He kept part of his extensive car collection there.

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A trust in the name of Andrea Jane Acker sold an oceanfront estate at 3719 S. Ocean Blvd. in Highland Beach for $20.8 million. It was purchased by the 3719 S. Ocean Blvd. Land Trust, with Mark R. Brown as trustee.

Senada Adzem of Douglas Elliman represented the seller, while Sarah Galperin of Compass represented the buyer.  

Built on the 0.46-acre site in 2016 and called “Casa Blanca,” the 9,193-square-foot, eight-bedroom home features a gym, office, elevator, balcony, summer kitchen, a built-in aquarium and a bar.  

Acker was a co-owner and an executive at Northeastern mattress retailer Sleepy’s from 1980 until it was sold to Mattress Firm in 2015. She served as a director/board member of BurgerFi.

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MDM 217 FL LLC, managed by Meghan Berndt, a family office manager at Shannon Berndt Advisors in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, sold the five-bedroom, 7,342-square-foot townhouse at 4513 S. Ocean Blvd. in Highland Beach to Gary B. Patrick and Ellen B. Patrick.

The selling price was $18.76 million.

Gary Patrick is the senior vice president and global advertising director at Skechers and Ellen Patrick is a yoga entrepreneur.

Gary Pohrer and Nick Malinosky of Douglas Elliman represented the seller in the deal, while Nancy Ghen of Coldwell Banker Realty represented the buyers. The home last traded for $13.5 million in 2021. 

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Leslie and Janet O’Hare recently sold a new 9,577-square-foot estate on the Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club’s golf course at 272 Thatch Palm Dr., Boca Raton, to a trust in the name of Kapil Dilawri, for $16.39 million.

Dilawri heads Dilawri Group of Companies in Ontario and runs a large auto dealership group. David W. Roberts of Royal Palm Properties brokered the deal. The new estate was built by SRD Building Corp. and designed by architect Jack Conway with interiors by P&H Interiors. The O’Hares, who bought the property in December 2021 for $4.995 million, listed it for sale in November 2022 for $22.75 million.

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YoAtrium LLC, Icug LLC and Heywood LLC, all managed by Alan Rutner in Boca Raton, sold 4.27 acres at 2607, 2617, 2703 and 2755 S. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach, to Fed27 LLC, part of Fort Lauderdale-based Affiliated Development, for $12.03 million.

The deal included $6 million in seller financing. Rutner assembled the properties in 2016 and 2017 for a combined $3.9 million. Affiliated Development obtained approval through an administrative process in Boynton Beach, citing the Live Local Act. Its project, the Dunes, proposes to have 336 apartments and 2,600 square feet of ground-floor commercial space in eight stories, with at least 60% of the units to be for workforce housing.

Affiliated Development will seek building permits for the Dunes and plans to start construction in four to six months.

***

Tideline Palm Beach Ocean Resort and Spa, 2842 S. Ocean Blvd. in Palm Beach, is now booking reservations after its $20 million renovation, which commenced in August 2023.

“My vision was to go beyond the boutique hotel concept and offer discerning guests a place that feels like home,” said owner/developer Jeff Greene. “We offer the best of everything here, from the very best wines and spirits to opulent Italian Fili D’oro bed linens to the ultimate rain shower experience in every room,”

With 134 rooms and suites, Tideline is offering a special introductory room rate of $455 per room for a limited time. The Spa at Tideline, a 6,000-square-foot retreat, is a two-time winner of Condé Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Awards as one of the best spas in the United States. The spa is offering the Oasis Spa special for $285, which includes a massage and facial. Its restaurant, Brandon’s, is newly redesigned. For reservations and information, visit www.tidelineresort.com.

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As the Seagate Hotel & Spa and Beach Club lays the groundwork for renovations, 69 employees are being laid off.

The hotel, at 1000 E. Atlantic Ave. just two blocks from the beach, and the Beach Club at 401 S. Ocean Ave. are due for major remodeling, according to Heather Hedrick, the hotel’s director of human resources.

“The Seagate will undergo planned renovations in the coming months which will result in temporary closures of specific areas,” Hedrick said.

Employee separations will begin on May 20. Among employees on the chopping block are servers, cooks, chefs, bartenders and retail workers. Hedrick said those workers will have opportunities to explore employment for additional positions as improvements are unveiled throughout the year.

The property, which opened in 2009 and has undergone previous renovations, plans to create an additional 40 jobs through the development of new food and beverage offerings and overall increases in capacities to existing footprints, Hedrick said in an email to The Coastal Star.

Hotel guests not only have exclusive access to restaurants and a private beach, but also use of a championship golf course four miles west of the property, spa and swimming pools.

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The Seagate is offering a Seagate Shotmaker package with access to the renovated golf course. As part of the deal, guests will receive 20% off of room accommodations and two complimentary cocktails when they book between April 1 and Sept. 30, and will receive 50% off a round of golf. For information, call 561-665-4800 or visit seagatedelray.com. 

Additionally, seven-time Grand Slam singles champion Venus Williams chose the Seagate Hotel’s golf club as the backdrop for her new Happy Viking photo shoot. At these ad campaign vignettes, she showcased her superfood meals while cooking healthy, working out and of course, playing tennis.

Happy Viking offers plant-based meal shakes with protein, fruits and vegetables, probiotics and prebiotics, superfoods, vitamins and minerals, ancient grains, electrolytes, DHA omega-3, fiber, and more.

After being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease in 2011, Williams became passionate about plant-based nutrition and developing better foods to improve her body and mind.

For more information, visit drinkhappyviking.com.

Also, the Seagate hired Dmitriy Kakuschke as its executive chef. He will oversee its hotel, beach club, yacht club, and golf club culinary operations teams.

Previously, Kakuschke worked at JW Marriott in Nashville, Tennessee, as executive chef at Bourbon Steak, managed by Michelin-starred chef Michael Mina. During his tenure there he helped garner distinctions that included Top 10 Fine Dining Restaurant in the Country, Top 1% of Restaurants Worldwide and Best Restaurant in Nashville.

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In February, Lifespace Communities received approval to expand its Harbour’s Edge senior living facility, 401 E. Linton Blvd., Delray Beach. The waterside facility has 266 beds for independent living and 54 beds for assisted living.

With the goal to help residents age in place, the operator plans to construct a three-story, 39,990-square-foot building with 24 beds for assisted living and 16 beds for memory care. The building will include a dining area, kitchen, lounge, activity rooms, salon and fitness center. WGI is the planner, landscape architect and civil engineer. LB/A is the architect, and FJO Group Inc is the traffic engineer.

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Morgan Clark has joined the Boca Raton-based Basis Industrial, a real estate owner and operator, as its director of investor relations. Clark oversees and manages all operational and capital management activities. Previously, he led investor relations and fund management for Foundry Commercial’s development and investment platform, where he oversaw seven investment funds with a total gross asset value exceeding $4 billion. 

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Boca Raton resident Kelly Gerber, an agent with Douglas Elliman, was named sales director for the Glass House Boca Raton development. Douglas Elliman Development

Marketing is the sales and marketing team for Glass House, 280 E. Palmetto Park Road. Sales for Glass House Boca Raton launched in February, with pricing ranging from $2.5 million to $6.9 million. Groundbreaking is slated for the first quarter of 2025, with a completion date of the fall of 2026.

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The Boynton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency and city of Boynton Beach have partnered with Circuit’s Coastal Cruiser ride-share service.

For residents and visitors, this pilot program offers transportation within two distinct zones in Boynton Beach. Zone 1 encompasses a portion of the Community Redevelopment Agency area to points like the City Hall and library municipal building, Boynton Harbor Marina, and a variety of businesses and restaurants. Zone 2 transports passengers to Oceanfront Park.

The service is available Sunday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. All rides are available on-demand, and need to be booked via the Ride Circuit app.

The Coastal Cruiser fleet features all EV vehicles — two Kia Niro sedans and two GEMs, including one ADA accessible vehicle. Fares start at $1 per rider for Zone 1, with rides in Zone 2 being $2 for the first rider and $1 for each additional rider. For more information, visit www.boyntonbeachcra.com/bbcra-projects/circuit-rideshare.

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Just in time for Mother’s Day, shoppers who spend $200 at downtown Delray Beach fashion boutiques, specialty stores, gift shops, art galleries, spas, salons and fitness studios during the week of May 6-11 can get a free Phalaenopsis orchid. The promotion is a partnership of the Delray Beach Downtown Development Authority and the Downtown Merchant & Business Association.

With valid receipts totaling $200, shoppers can pick up orchids on May 10 or 11 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Seagate Hotel, 1000 E. Atlantic Ave.; Avalon Gallery, 425 E. Atlantic Ave., or the Cornell Art Museum, 51 N. Swinton Ave.

For more information, visit https://downtowndelraybeach.com/mothersday.

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

The letterhead from the Boca Raton Army Air Field illustrates the use of radar to protect Florida from German attacks. BELOW: Peter Barrett, in a uniform his mother sewed for him, stands with his sister, Martha, near their home in Boca Raton during the war. Photos provided by the Boca Raton Historical Society & Museum

For a boy on Boca’s coast, World War II was exciting; exhibit reveals time of subs and spies

Related: Along the Coast: Delray Beach Historical Society exhibit brings boom of 1950s and ’60s back to life

By Ron Hayes

Late one night in May 1942, an 8-year-old boy was blown awake by an explosion off Boca Raton so loud and so close, for a moment he thought he’d been thrown from his bed.

This is not the sort of thing a person is likely to forget, and 82 years later, Peter Barrett has not forgotten.

“My dad said something got torpedoed offshore, so we went out and sure enough, there was this huge tanker totally on fire,” he says.

Between February and May that year, German U-boats sank 16 merchant ships off the coast of Florida and crippled even more. The “U” stood for Unterwasser, Hitler’s submarines prowling the Gulf Stream to destroy merchant vessels ferrying supplies to Allied forces.

On May 8, for example, the Ohioan, a freighter hauling ore, licorice root and wool, was hit off Boca by the U-564 and sank in 550 feet of water. Fifteen of its 37 crew members drowned.

“Yes, I suppose that might have been the one,” Barrett says. “I can’t say that for sure, but every day we’d walk the beach looking for flotsam and jetsam from the attacks. We never found a body, and we never found a lifeboat. Mostly we found the contents of ships that had been sunk.”

One day Peter’s father, Hollis Barrett, found a Maxwell House coffee can.

Today, that crushed blue can, still unopened, rests in a glass case at the Schmidt Boca Raton History Museum, a tiny souvenir from a very big war that affected both Florida and Boca Raton far more than too many Floridians realize.

The horror and heroism of that war are on display at the museum through May 17 in both “Florida in World War II,” a traveling exhibit from the Museum of Florida History in Tallahassee, and the Schmidt Museum’s permanent exhibit on Boca in the war years.

Officers prepare for an inspection on the grounds of the Boca Raton Club, which the Army leased for two years to house troops during construction of the Boca Raton Army Air Field. Photos provided by the Boca Raton Historical Society & Museum and the Museum of Florida History

What you’ll see
“What happened here changed the course of the war,” says Susan Gillis, the museum’s curator. “The war affected all of Florida, and this exhibit shows that.”

Spend an hour and count the number of times you murmur, “I didn’t know that!”

You’ll see the small lead sailor and soldier toys Peter Barrett played with as a child.

You’ll see the official pen his mother, Jessie, used to take notes when she and Peter took a Friday shift in the Aircraft Warning Service watchtower, where Red Reef Park stands today, scanning the skies for German planes.

You’ll see the model of a Mustang fighter plane that hung from the watchtower’s ceiling, one of several German and Allied model planes dangling there to help the volunteers identify what they saw.

And at the museum on May 16, you’ll see Peter Barrett, sharing his memories of the boy he was in 1942 and the war that boy saw here.

He is Dr. Peter Barrett, now 89 and retired from the UCLA school of medicine, where he was both a physician and researcher.

“We were living in Los Angeles then and had never been to Florida until my grandmother became ill in 1939,” he explains. “We sold our house, packed up a big trailer and headed for Florida.”

The population of Boca Raton was about 750 people at most.

Barrett’s grandfather had built the Boca Raton Villas, four small vacation cottages that stood just south of Palmetto Park Road on a single-lane tar road. The Barretts lived in the southernmost cottage.

A hundred yards north was Mrs. Dixon’s house and just to the south the unoccupied Sanborn house, a palatial mansion surrounded by a wall. That was all, Barrett says, for 8 miles in either direction.

About 2 a.m. one June night, the family was awakened by a knocking at the door. Hollis Barrett was away. Peter’s mother, sister and he were alone, peering out at two military men from the air base, with another half dozen standing beyond, jeeps and motorcycles and rifles greeting them.

“Have you been using any lights to signal out to sea?” a soldier asked them.

“No,” his mother replied, “but just north is Mrs. Dixon. “Maybe she was.”

“She’s the one who phoned us,” the soldier said.

And the soldiers moved on to the empty Sanborn house, where they found used towels, beds slept in, trash on the floor, a telescope in the bay window facing the ocean, and a blinking signal machine used to alert U-boats of approaching merchant ships. Today, a plaque erected by the city in 2005 graces the last remaining piece of the Sanborns’ wall, on a pedestrian right of way between the current Beresford and Excelsior condominiums.

On this spot in June 1942, spies from German U-boats landed and occupied Dr. William Sanborn’s home built on this site in 1937.

Gillis, the curator, doubts the spies came ashore from a U-boat, but vouches for Barrett’s tale of the spies next door. Barrett’s father had become friendly with the FBI agent in town, who filled him in, and his older sister also remembers the night the soldiers came to call.

“The Sanborns sold their house and went back to Detroit,” Barrett says, “so nobody in town knew about the spies next door. You’ll hear there were no spies south of Jacksonville. Well, it ain’t so.”

In 1946, the Barretts returned to Los Angeles. Peter was 11 then, and wouldn’t see Boca Raton again until December 2004, when he made a sentimental journey back to Boca while visiting cousins in Miami. He found condos where his wartime villa had been, and he found the Boca Raton Historical Society. Barrett will be 90 when he comes here again on May 16, a still spry and very articulate gentleman, with stories to tell and an old blue coffee can to revisit.

“It was fun,” he says now of those days when Boca Raton was a small town and he a small boy. “It was exciting. But no kid really knows what a war is about. Kids are excited by soldiers marching about and doing things, and I was a kid.”

LEFT: The Flying Pelican was the airfield’s mascot. The lightning emanating from its head represents radar, a new technology in which airfield personnel trained.

I didn’t know that!
“World War II was here,” says Mary Csar, executive director of the Boca Raton Historical Society & Museum. “We forget that. It was here.”
• When the U.S. entered the war in 1941, there were eight military installations in Florida. When the war ended four years later, there were 175.
• One of those bases was the Boca Raton Army Air Field, which provided the only training for a new and top-secret technology called radar, which could identify enemy aircraft at a range of 80 miles, giving early warning of German air attacks.
• Mentioning the word “radar” off-base could be a court-martial offense.
• During the war, Boca Raton had a population of about 750, but played host to between 50,000 and 100,000 servicemen and women stationed at its air base.
• For two years, Addison Mizner’s famed Boca Raton Club was used as U.S. Army barracks while the airfield was being built.
• Today, the former airfield’s 5,860 acres are occupied by Boca Raton Airport and Florida Atlantic University.
• Food and gas were rationed in Boca Raton, and no lights could be seen from windows and doors at night.
• 4,600 Floridians died in military service during the war, and thousands more were wounded or permanently disabled.
Sources: Boca Raton Historical Society & Museum and the Museum of Florida History

If You Go
What: “Florida in World War II,” a traveling exhibit from the Museum of Florida History, as well as a permanent exhibit highlighting Boca Raton in World War II.
Where: Schmidt Boca Raton History Museum, 71 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton.
When: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, through May 17.
Cost: $12 for adults; $8 for students and seniors 65 and older. Admission is free on the first Saturday of each month. For information about the exhibit and Peter Barrett’s May 16 appearance, call 561-395-6766.

LEFT: The exhibit honors the men and women who served in World War II.

The contestants for queen of the 1951 Gladioli Festival. The festival lives on as the annual Delray Affair. Photo provided by the Delray Beach Historical Society

Related: Along the Coast: A view from the home front

By Anne Geggis

The 20-year stretch that tripled Delray Beach’s population and propelled it into the modern, air-conditioned era gets the limelight at the Delray Beach Historical Society’s new exhibit.

“Land of Sunshine & Dreams!” — covering 1950 to 1969 — opened Feb. 23 and is expected to be on display at the historical society for at least two years, showing how the waves of change from the post-World War II era to the Summer of Love hit Delray Beach.

It’s when Black people’s struggle to use the city’s public beach drew the national spotlight as the civil rights movement came to the fore. It’s also when the city elected its first female mayor. And an unprecedented wave of new residents settled here — the city’s biggest leap in population since the 1920s land boom.

“I think it’s going to be really great for Delray, really great for all ages” to come to the exhibit, said Winnie Diggans Edwards, executive director of the Delray Beach Historical Society. “With all the debates going on in Delray … people are going to be able to link now … (and) how it all got started after World War II with this influx of people that hasn’t slowed down.”

The story is told with more than 100 artifacts, including the first surfboard made in Delray Beach, as well as 250 news articles, including an original Jet magazine article showing the unrest resulting from the fight to desegregate the beach.

The exhibit’s photographs include a variety of perspectives: downtown as it was back then, beach revetments installed to control erosion, and dark chapters like police stopping and frisking Black men.

It’s the first time the historical society has put on an exhibit focused exclusively on any part of the second half of the 20th century.

Growing up mid-century
The scope of Delray’s transformation is something Delray natives Sandy Simon, a 1955 Delray Beach High School graduate, and the Rev. Marcia Beam, a 1964 Carver High School graduate, definitely agree on.

Living in Delray all this time, “you get a Ph.D. in adapting — it’s gone from a small community of like-minded people to an urban city,” said Simon, who’s written three books on local history, including Remembering: A History of Florida’s South Palm Beach County 1894-1998 (Cedars Group, 1999). 

Beam, now priest-in-charge at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, also recalls a much sparser population.

“Of course there were not as many houses around and the roads were, at first, dirt,” Beam said. “And then gradually they were paved.”

Simon’s recollection is that Delray was “pretty much de facto integrated” during his youth — Carver High School (the Black high school) and Delray Beach High School (for whites) both played on the same football field, he said.

“Delray was more liberal than most cities,” Simon said.

But that’s not what Beam recalls at all, even if she didn’t think much about the prohibition against Blacks going east of Swinton Avenue at night or on East Atlantic Avenue in her youth. But she’s glad others, like Zack Straghn and George McKay, made the push for change on the beaches and in the schools.

“Black people would not give up,” she said. “They just had to make it happen. … And there was a lot of opposition to” desegregation.

Finding history
The historical society faced a challenge in putting together the exhibit because materials in its archives newer than the 1940s are not plentiful. Outreach to the community was required, Edwards said.

“To say, ‘Hey, do you have photographs in shoe boxes under your bed or in your attic?’” Edwards said. “And it’s always interesting because they don’t think we need what they have.

“Sometimes the most boring pictures to family are the most interesting to learn about what was happening here. From an educational standpoint, you see the cars, the fashion — the backdrop for what was happening. …”

Innovations like the widening use of air conditioning are covered, as are the swampland peddlers who sold worthless real estate to unsuspecting northerners.

The 1926 Bungalow on the historical society’s campus has a station for people to hear original recordings of music and political speeches. Next door, the Cason Cottage will feature a different movie from the 1960s every month.

It’s easy for recent history to get lost to time, especially in Florida, said Ginger Pedersen, who wrote a book, Pioneering Palm Beach, focused on the area’s pioneers of the early 1900s.

“It was quite a different place,” she said, recalling how that was the era when manufacturers such as IBM and RCA made their way to the Sunshine State, bringing mainstream America with them.

If You Go
What: Delray Beach Historical Society’s “Land of Sunshine & Dreams! Delray Beach: 1950s-1960s” exhibit
Where: 1926 Bungalow and Cason Cottage, at 3 and 5 NE First St., Delray Beach.
When: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. 
Cost: $5 per person; members free
Information: https://delraybeachhistory.org/visit/#exhibits

By Rich Pollack

David Matthewman had just come back from a ceramics convention in Virginia and texted his father on the Thursday before Easter to let him know it went well.

“He ended the text by telling me ‘I love you,’” William Matthewman said, adding that he returned the message right away.  “I texted him that I loved him too.”

The next morning at 5 a.m., William Matthewman discovered two Florida Highway Patrol cars parked outside his Highland Beach home and troopers telling his wife, Diane, that David, 34, had been killed instantly in a head-on crash with a wrong-way driver.

“It was just like, he was gone,” said Matthewman, a U.S. magistrate judge in the West Palm Beach federal courthouse who along with Diane are well-known in the Highland Beach community.

FHP troopers say that David was driving a 2013 Ford Fusion on Interstate 95 in the northbound express lane south of Palmetto Park Road just before 2:30 a.m. on March 29 when his car was struck by a southbound 2014 Hyundai Elantra going the wrong way in the northbound lane.

David along with the driver of the Hyundai were pronounced dead at the scene. A woman passenger, who William Matthewman said was a close friend of David’s who he had been seeing for a few months, was taken to the Delray Medical Center’s trauma unit in critical condition, where she later died.

The name of the woman, who William Matthewman said was wearing a seatbelt as was David, as well as the name of the driver of the other vehicle, has not been released.

David Matthewman, a 2013 graduate of Florida Atlantic University who majored in studio art and criminal justice, spent many of his years in Highland Beach and although he had an apartment in West Palm Beach, he continued to list his parents’ home as his official place of residence.

“He was here three or four times a week,” his father said.

A “water guy” whose favorite place was the ocean, David Matthewman had become friendly with the owner of a boat that had beached not far from his parents’ home and would help with repairs. He even made sure the owner had enough to eat, bringing pizza on several occasions.

A gifted artist who made a career out of selling his ceramics and shooting photos to help real estate agents market homes, David Matthewman also taught ceramics and other classes at the Armory Art Center in West Palm Beach.

During his time there he taught classes to military veterans and families while creating his own works that were featured in Palm Beach galleries as well as art shows.

Among his works were ceramic starfish and clamshells as well as other pieces that were designed as orchid holders.

William Matthewman says he doesn’t have much information about the woman who was with David at the time of the crash but would not be surprised if she was involved in the arts.

“Ceramics and photography were his passion,” the judge said.

A former cross-country runner at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland and later a marathon and 5K race runner, David Matthewman played hockey and was also a big hockey fan who was looking forward to watching the Florida Panthers in the playoffs again this year with his father at his parents’ home.

William Matthewman said that David became an organ donor in 2019 and that his son’s organs will be used in the future.

“That’s just who David was,” he said. “He was generous in life and generous in death. We feel fortunate that he will continue to help others.”

The family will receive friends on April 6 from 4 to 8 p.m. with a 7 p.m. Celebration of Life service at the Gary Panoch Funeral Home, 6140 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton. No formal burial will follow as David’s ashes will be placed at a later date into an environmentally friendly living reef which will be placed offshore of South Florida.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Armory Art Center, https://canvas.armoryart.org/donate.

By Anne Geggis

Ocean water testing reported Thursday gave the all clear to seven beaches from Jupiter to Boca Raton that had been closed to swimmers on Wednesday because of unacceptably high levels of bacteria found in sampling earlier in the week.

Ocean Inlet Park in Ocean Ridge, Delray Beach Municipal Beach and the adjacent Sandoway Park, and Spanish River Park in Boca Raton had been among the beaches closed because of the advisory from the Florida Department of Health Palm Beach County. But, by early Thursday afternoon, they were open again.

The Health Department does daily water tests at public beaches to ensure the levels of bacteria associated with stormwater runoff, human sewage and animal waste are at a level no greater than the standard for safe recreation in the water. The samples that found unacceptably high levels were taken during testing on Monday and follow-up water samples were taken on Wednesday.

The other beaches that had been closed due to water sampling that showed poor water quality were Carlin Park in Jupiter, Riviera Beach Municipal Beach Park, Phil Foster Park in Riviera Beach and R.G. Kreusler Park in Lake Worth Beach.

By Anne Geggis

Ocean water testing reported Tuesday found elevated levels of bacteria in water from Jupiter to Boca Raton, so a slew of South County beaches are closed to swimmers for now.

Ocean Inlet Park in Ocean Ridge, Delray Beach Municipal Beach and the adjacent Sandoway Park, and Spanish River Park in Boca Raton are among the Palm Beach County beaches where swimming is inadvisable, according to the Florida Department of Health Palm Beach County.

Sampling for enterococci bacteria found the water quality at these beaches to be “poor.” The levels of bacteria associated with stormwater runoff, human sewage and animal waste were at a level greater than the standard for safe recreation in the water. The samples were taken during testing on Monday.

Other beaches closed due to water sampling that showed poor quality are Carlin Park in Jupiter, Riviera Beach Municipal Beach Park, Phil Foster Park in Riviera Beach and R.G. Kreusler Park in Lake Worth Beach,

A round of testing will be conducted today to find out if the water quality has improved and the beaches can be reopened.

Meanwhile, the Tuesday results found the water quality acceptable at Boynton Beach Oceanfront Park in Ocean Ridge, Lantana Beach Park, and South Inlet Park in Boca Raton.

By Anne Geggis

A newcomer to the Ocean Ridge Town Commission — who happens to be a relative newcomer to the town — was the top vote-getter Tuesday in a four-person race for three seats on the dais.

Voters were asked to choose three candidates and Ainar Aijala Jr., who filled a vacancy on the commission in January, won nearly 30% of the 1,206 votes cast among four candidates. Mayor Geoffrey Pugh drew 28% support and Commissioner David Hutchins – another recent appointee to the commission and a retired airline pilot – garnered 27%. Nick Arsali, 68, a retired professional engineer, was a distant fourth with 15% of the vote.

The two top finishers will serve full three-year terms and Hutchins, 75, will serve a two-year unexpired term.

Aijala, who was sunburned from consecutive days campaigning at the polls, said he thinks his message resonated with voters.

“I’m really thrilled to continue as a commissioner for three years,” the retired Deloitte executive, 67, said.

The town is facing challenges regarding how much water-handling and sewage improvements the town of 2,000 can afford.

 Aijala said that although he’s owned a home in Ocean Ridge for just six years, and not had a role on the town’s governance committees, his executive experience was enough to win voters over.

“I think the residents looked at the challenges facing the town going forward and felt that me being here six years and not for 26 years (as some other candidates) is not relevant,” he said. “I think they felt that my background could bring a skill to the table.”

The election follows a year of turmoil in Town Hall. Two commissioners resigned in early 2023 following a split vote on making then-acting Town Manager Lynne Ladner’s position a permanent one. They were replaced by two others who resigned at the end of the year, one citing the state’s new financial disclosure requirements for elected municipal officials. The town’s police chief also resigned in 2023 to go to Gulf Stream.

Pugh, 61, who will have served 20 years on the commission by the time he ends his new term, said that he aims to keep things running steady.

“I think we have a good team and hopefully everything will be nice and quiet,” Pugh said.

Pugh, who owns a pool business, has presided over meetings as mayor the past year. It will be up to the new commission to select a mayor for the coming year at its April 1 meeting.

Hutchins said his conversations with voters as he campaigned left him with the impression that most are happy with the way the town is running. Still, replacing the town’s old water pipes is rising to the top of his priority list.

“I believe the figure to change out all the pipes would be prohibitive,” Hutchins said. “We have to work it into the budget as we can.”

Note: This article has been updated to include election comments from Commissioner David Hutchins.

Unofficial results. Source: Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office

The crowd at the Palm Trail Grill celebrated Tuesday's Delray Beach mayoral victory of Tom Carney and commission victories for Tom Markert and Juli Casale. ABOVE: (front l-r) Tony Petrolia, Phil Pepe, Kelly Barrette and Casale are jubilant along with a smiling Carney, with Mayor Shelley Petrolia (center back) celebrating with her arm on Carney's shoulder. Photos by Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Anne Geggis

Delray Beach voters spurned a real estate-backed slate of candidates Tuesday in choosing Tom Carney as their new mayor along with two new commissioners: one a first-time candidate and the other returning to the dais a year after losing a re-election bid.

The new mayor, a lawyer by trade, is expected to lead a new three-vote bloc with the commissioners elected Tuesday: Tom Markert and Juli Casale. All underdogs to their top competitors in raising money for their campaigns, the trio promoted themselves together, urging voters to choose, “Tom, Tom and Juli.” They campaigned against what they called the city’s “overdevelopment” amid warnings that the city’s motto “Village by the Sea” was at risk.

Carney, 70, a former city commissioner who briefly served as an interim mayor for two months in 2013, will replace term-limited Mayor Shelly Petrolia, who supported his candidacy.

Even though he received more than $60,000 less in campaign contributions, Carney defeated Vice Mayor Ryan Boylston, who raised more than $155,000 to lead all candidates. Totals show Carney won nearly 52% of the vote to Boylston’s 38% and former Commissioner Shirley Johnson's 10%.

At a celebration announced after the votes were tallied, Carney hailed a mandate for a change when it comes to managing the city’s growth and spending.

“I’m incredibly honored and I’m even more incredibly humbled,” said Carney, who learned of his victory when he was awakened from dozing by a phone call from his wife, now in England, telling him the news. “I plan on stopping this overdevelopment, giving money back to the taxpayers and dealing with the traffic.”

The victory gathering at Palm Trail Grill, outside the city’s bustling downtown, also drew two other newly elected commissioners. First-time political candidate and former Nielsen TV ratings executive Markert will replace term-limited Commissioner Adam Frankel and former Commissioner Casale will move into the seat that Boylston is leaving due to term limits.

Markert, 66, won nearly 39% of the vote. He defeated Jim Chard, 79, a former New York City municipal executive, and Tennille DeCoste, 47, who was recently dismissed from her job as the city of Boynton Beach’s human resources director. Chard won nearly 37% of the vote and DeCoste was a distant third, winning 24%.

“The voters spoke loud and clear that they want change,” said Markert, who campaigned on addressing the tight squeeze residents face on city streets and the need to replace the water treatment plant.

Casale, 55, a retired businesswoman who was defeated in her bid for re-election to the City Commission last year, won a seat against two candidates in the hunt for their first elected office. Casale garnered 42% of the votes to the 37% that Nick Coppola, 58, a retired electrician, won and the 21% for Anneze Barthelemy, 46, a social worker with a private consulting business.

“The message is people want good governing,” Casale said. “This is a big night.”

Mayor Petrolia, who supported the winning slate, also took part in the festivities at Palm Trail Grill, where Carney held his kickoff party and his recent 70th birthday party. She playfully pinned a button from her previous campaign emblazoned with “Shelly” on the new mayor.

“It’s a great night — unbelievable, unbelievable,” she said. “The city made a decision. I feel like everything is going to be in good hands.”

Following the city elections in March 2023, a new voting bloc led by Boylston had coalesced on the dais and Petrolia found herself on the losing end of a number of votes.

Delray Beach Vice Mayor Ryan Boylston (center), at his election night watch party at the Tin Roof, reacts to screens showing his opponent, Tom Carney, beat him in the city's mayoral race, with former Commissioner Shirley Johnson finishing third.

Over at the Tin Roof, where Boylston had his downtown watch party adjacent to Coppola’s, the first flash of results showed all of the precincts reporting. The crowd, at first, thought those results would be the early and mail-in votes.

But then reality set in.

“Look at that,” Boylston said, as he gazed up at the screens showing Carney's substantial victory.

Earlier, at the polls, Lee Cohen, 30, who works in marketing, admitted to an unfamiliarity with the issues facing the city, since he’s only lived there five months. But he checked with his cousin, who’s lived in Delray Beach much longer, about who to vote for. 

His cousin recommended, “Tom, Tom and Juli.”

“I love it,” he said of Delray Beach. “I love that there’s so much to do. It has the vibrancy of a big city but with a small-town feel.”

Referendum fails

In another issue on the ballot, nearly 59% of the city’s voters rejected a proposed amendment that would have eliminated the city’s Board of Adjustment and streamlined its functions under the city’s planning board. The board considers appeals and variances to the city’s land development rules and will continue to do so, according to the vote.

Unofficial results. Source: Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office

By Rich Pollack

It finally happened.

After 33 years and two unsuccessful attempts to rid the town of an outdated $350,000 spending limit, Highland Beach voters on Tuesday loosened the fiscal handcuffs on their elected leaders, approving a charter change that increases the cap to $900,000 per project before a referendum is required.

“The voters did the right thing,” said Highland Beach Vice Mayor David Stern, who championed the proposal to boost the cap to what the $350,000 limit passed in 1991 would be in today’s dollars and add an annual inflation adjustment. “It’s outstanding.”

In addition to approving the change to the spending limit, 60% in favor to 40% against, voters also approved spending up to $3.5 million to line sewer pipes. They also approved giving the town the option to allow the county’s supervisor of elections to oversee Highland Beach’s election canvassing board rather than requiring commissioners to serve on it.

The sewer pipe lining project received 77% approval while the canvassing board issue received 70% approval.

It is the change in the spending cap, however, that will probably have the most significant impact on the town’s ability to tackle small capital projects without having to get voter approval, which can be lengthy and costly.

“This makes the process a lot smoother,” Stern said. “We now have the ability to approve projects with a reasonable cost without having to go to referendum.”

With the town starting its own fire department in May, increasing the spending limit takes on more importance, according to Town Manager Marshall Labadie, because of the high cost of replacing equipment and apparatus.

Stern believes the success of the proposal to increase the cap was due in part to the simplicity of the ballot measure, as well as to support from the Committee to Save Highland Beach, a local political action committee that opposed raising the spending limit when it came before the voters two years ago.  

“This was presented to the voters in a clear and simple way,” he said.

Two years ago, Stern and others say, the attempt to increase the cap to about $1 million failed to get voter support in part because the proposed limit was based on a percentage of the overall town budget, which was seen as a complicated formula.

That was the second failed effort.

In 2012, it appeared that the spending limit would be increased when the Town Commission passed an ordinance raising the limit to $1 million only to discover — after a Palm Beach County Inspector General report two years later — that any change in the limit needed voter approval.

In the interim, the town had begun construction of a $850,000 town hall and police department renovation project that was permitted to proceed.

Since it was first introduced in 1991, the cap has had a significant impact on the town’s success — and failures — in moving forward on major expenditures.

In late 2021, voters overwhelming gave the town commission the green light to spend up to $10 million on a new fire department, with just shy of 90% of voters approving the proposal. That vote cleared the way for the town to build a new $8 million-plus fire station.

Nine years ago, voters also gave the commission permission to spend $2.8 million on a water main replacement project on six side streets.  

A firetruck was at the center of a 2010 referendum, when voters narrowly turned down a request from the commission for permission to go over the cap and spend $810,000 on a new firetruck. The measure failed with 1,016 residents saying no and 946 in favor of buying the new truck.

That vote left the town stuck with a truck that was 15 years old and had cost $135,433 for maintenance and repairs during the previous five years, leaving it out of service an average 11.8% of the time.

The truck continued to cost the town thousands of dollars in repairs for several years until a lease agreement with Delray Beach was signed.

In 2019, voters overwhelmingly turned down three ballot items that would have given the commission their approval to spend $45 million on three projects on improvements along State Road A1A, including drainage improvements, enhancements to the town’s Ocean Walk multi-use corridor and surrounding areas, and placing utility wires underground.

In that election, which saw one of the largest turnouts in town history, more than 90% of voters rejected the spending plan.

By Mary Thurwachter

Soon after the polls closed in Lantana, incumbent Mayor Karen Lythgoe joined friends at Lantana Pizza to celebrate her 653-385 win over newcomer George (Jorge) Velazquez.

“I’m relieved and I’m grateful that I get to keep working on what we’ve been working on,” Lythgoe, 64, said. “The five of us (council members) have got momentum going that I think is phenomenal.  I think the town needs what we’re doing, we know what we’re doing, and I’m honored to be able to continue to be a part of it.”

She said she hadn’t slept for 24 hours and would be going home soon.

“I tossed and turned all night long and got up at 3:30 a.m. to start the day even though the alarm was set for 4:15 a.m.

The day did not go without some chaos.

A handful of Democrats were turned away from voting in Lantana, as poll workers were apparently confused that registered voters of all stripes could cast a ballot in the nonpartisan mayoral election.

The exact number of Democrats the confusion affected is not known.

An official with the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office said the office knew of that happening to one voter, who called the Department of State in Tallahassee to complain. Lantana Town Clerk Kathleen Dominguez said she saw it happen to one voter, who was able to vote when Dominguez intervened. She also knew of four others who were turned away and heard of another voter who was able to clarify that he or she was able to vote before leaving the polling place.

As far as Dominguez said she knew, the confusion was confined to two town polling places — Maddock Park and Lantana Recreation Center. Nonetheless, the complaint prompted Elections Supervisor Wendy Sartory Link to send out a notification to all the Lantana precincts clarifying that although there was not a Democratic presidential primary, Democrats were eligible to vote in municipal, nonpartisan elections and should be given a nonpartisan ballot. Link also came to town to help sort things out, Lythgoe said.

“There was some confusion either with the training or the field clerk,” Lythgoe said. “I am a registered Democrat and when I went to get my ballot for the mayoral race they had to converse and figure out if I was allowed to vote.”

Lythgoe said the voters who were turned away were called and invited to come back to vote.

Lythgoe was elected to the council in 2020 and was acting mayor after Robert Hagerty resigned in 2022. During a special election last year, she ran successfully to complete the rest of Hagerty’s term, which ended with Tuesday’s election.

Velazquez handled defeat with a positive outlook.

“It is what it is, so it’s fine, I’m okay,” the 57-year-old said. “I got a lot of experience from this and I really learned a lot.”

Velazquez said he has helped friends with campaigns in the past and may do more of that in the future. A former commercial real estate agent, Velazquez worked in a federal prison in Miami from 1996 to 2009.

Of Lantana’s 7,500 registered voters, only 1,027 cast ballots in the mayoral election, under 14%.

 Staff writer Anne Geggis contributed to this report.

By Mary Hladky

 Andy Thomson easily reclaimed a Boca Raton City Council seat on election night, capturing 62.3% of the vote to defeat opponent Brian Stenberg.

Thomson, senior counsel at the Baritz & Colman law firm in Boca Raton and an adjunct professor at Florida Atlantic University teaching local and state government, resigned from the council in 2022 to pursue his unsuccessful candidacy for the Florida House District 91 seat now held by Peggy Gossett-Seidman.

After losing that race, Thomson said he would seek elected office again and ultimately decided on a run for the Boca Council Seat D to replace term-limited Deputy Mayor Monica Mayotte.

“I feel incredibly blessed to be entrusted with this,” Thomson said at his campaign party at Maggiano’s restaurant. “I have served on the City Council before, but I take the duties very seriously and I am honored that the city would have me back in that way.”

Also victorious in the March 19 election was incumbent Yvette Drucker, who claimed Seat C by winning 77% of the vote and trouncing perennial candidate Bernard Korn.

Thomson received far more campaign donations than any of the other candidates, bringing in $133,604. He blanketed the city with campaign signs and drew the longest list of endorsements of any of the candidates.

Stenberg, a partner in the Greenfield Properties medical office real estate management firm, was making his second bid to serve on the council after Mayotte defeated him in 2021.

Stenberg congratulated Thomson at his own party at Duffy’s restaurant. “I wish him the best. I wish the best to the city of Boca Raton,” he said.

He did not rule out another race for a council seat. “The citizens who voted for me, it was a very passionate vote for them. I want to honor the value of their votes.”

Stenberg said he did not seek endorsements and raised $16,709, with about a quarter of that coming from personal loans to his campaign. He relied on reaching out to voters directly and through volunteers.

Stenberg drew support in mid-March from the BocaFirst blog, which, without mentioning him by name, called him the “resident advocate candidate” in the mold of former Deputy Mayor Andrea O’Rourke who stressed being “resident friendly” and opposed to overdevelopment.

City development has long been an issue in campaigns as the number of residents has reached nearly 100,000 and construction projects have sprouted citywide.

In their campaigns, both Thomson and Stenberg offered nuanced views on development, with Thomson saying growth should be managed responsibly, and Stenberg calling for “respectful growth” that avoids overdevelopment.

Drucker, who raised $61,463 in campaign donations, is a first-generation Cuban American and the first Hispanic to serve on the council. She is a longtime volunteer with many organizations, including the Junior League of Boca Raton.

Drucker has made improving transportation and mobility her passion and promised to continue that work during her second term. She stressed “common sense” development.

Korn, a real estate broker, self-financed his campaign with $5,550. He has twice lost elections to Mayor Scott Singer and once to Drucker.

In the most recent campaign, Korn said his top priority was to end “uncontrolled development.” He also railed against what he said was political corruption in the city and among council members without offering factual evidence.

Korn repeatedly asked residents to file complaints with the state against Drucker, contending she had violated ethics rules even though there was no basis for that
allegation.

“It was a wonderful result for this campaign,” Drucker said of her victory, “but also to win by such a margin after the attacks by my opponent. The best is yet to come.”

When Mayotte, who lives in the eastern part of the city near downtown, leaves the council at the end of this month, all five council members will live west of Interstate 95.

Unofficial results

Source: Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections

Unofficial results

Source: Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections

Unofficial results

Source: Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections

Unofficial results

Source: Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections

Unofficial results

Source: Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections

Unofficial results

Source: Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections

Unofficial results

Source: Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections

By Anne Geggis

The body of a young man, reportedly wearing a T-shirt and shorts, was found on the shoreline near the Mayfair House Condominiums Sunday morning, according to South Palm Beach officials.

A beachwalker called 911 at about 7 a.m., according to a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman. The area around the Mayfair, 3590 S. Ocean Blvd., was cut off to passers-by for a time, South Palm Beach Mayor Bonnie Fischer said, but it was back open by late morning.

A wallet was also recovered from the scene, officials said.

It’s the first time Fischer said she has heard of a body coming ashore in this town of about 1,500 and she’s been around for about the last 45 years.

“We’ve had marijuana and homemade boats (come ashore), but never a body,” Fischer said.

The Sheriff's Office said the beachwalker found the body facedown near the water line. Detectives from the Violent Crimes Division investigated on scene.  There were no evident signs of foul play, officials said, and the man was pronounced dead at 7:19 a.m.

Note: This article has been updated from the original to clarify how the body was found.

Penthouse Delray undergoes balcony work, a common sight as condos face deadlines for inspections and repairs. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

Owners pay soaring prices for repairs, insurance, reserves as new demands hit coast ‘like a tsunami’

Also in the special report:

South Palm Beach — Southgate

Highland Beach — Coronado 

Boca Raton — Mayfair

By Rich Pollack

It was a storm that no one living in a beachside condo could have seen coming.

As shock waves from the June 2021 collapse of the Champlain Towers South in Miami-Dade County reverberated northward, condo owners up and down the coast became unwitting victims of the financial aftermath.

Insurance companies, fearing more billion-dollar losses, raised premiums on condos that in some cases would eat up close to half of a complex’s operating budget. State regulators and some local governments, hoping to stave off another catastrophe, implemented strict structural standards and revived a once-tempered requirement that buildings have fully funded reserves.

Now, with additional premium hikes on the horizon and with deadlines for often multimillion-dollar structural remediations and reserve studies closing in, condo boards along the southern coast of Palm Beach County are finding themselves forced to require special assessments and raise monthly or quarterly maintenance fees to levels that are driving longtime unit owners to consider fleeing their homes.

“People are starting to have to decide whether to fill their prescriptions or pay their HOA fees,” says Rob Marzigliano, president of Seagate of Highland in Highland Beach, where a small exodus of unit owners has already begun. “The people on fixed incomes are struggling.”

At the 316-unit Seagate, where four buildings planted on the west side of State Road A1A have stood for more than 50 years, the monthly maintenance fee jumped from $880 last year to just under $1,000. Added to that is a $60,000 assessment to cover repairs identified during a state-mandated inspection.

“We’re getting hit with a lot of repairs in order to make our condo safe,” said Marzigliano, who sees more increases coming.
At Seagate, where about a dozen units are on the market, the cost of those repairs is spread out over all the 316 unit owners, helping to minimize the impact. In some of the

smaller buildings with fewer than 50 units, assessments are coming in at more than $200,000 per unit.

While some are struggling to meet the suddenly high cost of condo living, many others on the coast can afford to foot the bills, even if they’d prefer not to.

Still, the cumulative impact of having to deal with what some call a triple whammy is leaving many wondering how condos will deal with a huge impact all at once.

“We understand insurance increases, we understand the importance of recertification and we understand the need for reserves, but everything is coming at us all at one time, like a tsunami,” says Emily Gentile, president of the Beach Condo Association of Boca Raton, Highland Beach and Delray Beach. “People don’t understand the impact of this on those of us on the beach. It’s devastating.”

Gentile says one group that is feeling the impact a little harder than most is seniors.

“It’s hard when you’re almost 80 years old and you’re getting hit with all this stuff and there’s nothing you can do but move,” she said. “It’s overwhelming.”

Another challenge facing condo boards is the increasing number of requests for improved amenities and services coming from new and often younger residents. Those improvements can also drive an increase in assessments.

Marilyn Blitz says high quarterly fees forced her to sell at the Yacht and Racquet Club of Boca Raton. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

“There were more assessments than I have shoes — and I have lots of shoes,” said Marilyn Blitz, who in September sold her high-rise two-bedroom unit at the Yacht and Racquet

Club of Boca Raton and moved to a beachside rental apartment. “It just became price-prohibitive to stay there.”

Blitz says that just before she sold her condo, the quarterly condo fee came in at just over $7,700 and included a special assessment and a $2,000 special bill for reserve funds.

On top of that, Blitz said, are rising property taxes, which this year were about $5,400.

Selling the condo where she had lived for about 15 years was not an easy decision for Blitz, who says she misses some of her friends and the amenities she took advantage of.

“I wish I hadn’t had to leave, but I’m happy where I am,” she said. “I figured if I sold my condo and put whatever proceeds I had in the bank, it would give me the leverage to do the things I want to do.”

Gentile and others say that assistance from state or local governments in the form of low-interest loans would help ease the burden shouldered by condo boards and condo owners, but that does not appear to be happening anytime soon.

Scrambling for insurance
Skyrocketing property insurance premiums are a problem across the state for single-family homeowners as well as businesses. For condominium complexes, however, the challenges that come with finding affordable insurance — if they can find insurance at all — has been magnified.

The beachside Clarendon condominium in Highland Beach is one of dozens of condos that discovered their insurance company had dropped them, forcing the board to race to find coverage.

“We had to scramble,” said President John Shoemaker, adding that many of the companies they hoped would help had pulled out of the state. In the end, Clarendon was able to get coverage from Citizens Property Insurance Corp., Florida’s insurance company of last resort.

At Clarendon, insurance costs increased 56% with the premium now about $400,000 a year. A special assessment averaging about $7,000 per unit was implemented in order to pay the premium.

“It’s absolutely killing us and we’re looking at a 20% increase coming this year,” Shoemaker said.

Insurance accounts for about 42% of the Clarendon board’s overall operating budget, and Shoemaker believes that just about all condos up and down the coast are in the same boat, with insurance being between 40% and 70% of budgets.

That can lead to other problems, according to Shoemaker.

“When you have to spend so much on insurance, there’s only so much left for mandatory maintenance,” he said.
In many cases, spending money on preventive maintenance is just not possible.

Paying for years of neglect
For many condos that focused on regular maintenance as well as preventive maintenance, the costs of making mandatory structural repairs can be affordable.

Yet for other buildings where maintenance has been put off, the cost of having to do several now-required repairs — replacing a roof or air-conditioning system, for example — is causing pain in the pockets of residents.

“A lot of problems come from kicking the can down the road,” Shoemaker says.

He says that in many cases condo boards faced with having to do repairs had options to “repair, replace or ignore,” and too often ignoring the problem was the chosen path.

At Seagate, for example, Highland Beach town officials say that inspections revealed emergency generators were not properly functioning for years, leading to the condo board’s having to pay for temporary emergency generators until new ones can be installed.

Mandatory inspections required as part of the state recertification process have revealed widespread structural issues due to concrete deterioration. In some cases, cracks and other signs that concrete has weakened have been painted over or otherwise ignored.

“Because of the age of many buildings, maintenance should be done annually,” said Kevin DuBrey, director of project management for Hillman Engineering, one of many firms that conduct the mandatory milestone inspections required for recertification.

DuBrey says that most of the time when his team does an inspection it finds signs of corrosion, including chunks of concrete missing or cracks.

“It’s rare that we don’t see minor structural damage,” he said. “It’s not significant but it should be addressed right away.”

Without proper treatment, corrosion could spread and further weaken rebar, bringing a danger of large pieces of concrete falling from the building, he said.

DuBrey said that a lot of issues engineers see come as a result of boards not knowing how important it is to address issues.

“It’s not with bad intentions, it’s not with malice,” he said. “It’s often a lack of understanding of the repairs.”

While acknowledging the possible burden of state requirements that buildings three stories or higher and 25 years or older be inspected before the end of the year — unless municipalities set earlier deadlines — some see a silver lining.

Shoemaker and others say recertification is a positive because it prevents condos from delaying needed work and it can take pressure off condo boards.

“Certification is good,” Shoemaker said. “It tells you just how far everything was left in a state of disrepair.”

In many instances in the past, condo boards would suggest repairs but could not get a majority of unit owners to approve moving forward.
Now with the state mandate, the decision on whether to make repairs that routinely cost millions of dollars no longer falls on the condo board.

Making reserves mandatory
Until recent changes in the law, condominium boards could waive any requirement to have reserve funds available if the majority of unit owners agreed. That changed after the Champlain Towers collapse; now condo boards must ensure reserves are available to cover the cost of major structural projects and of items with a value of more than $10,000.

For buildings that have been setting aside money for major repairs or renovations, the impact of the new law could be manageable. For those that haven’t, the new law will mean going back to residents once again, asking for more money.

“It’s going to be a financial burden people don’t yet understand,” Shoemaker said.

Most condos probably will have to ask for additional funds from residents, even those that set aside reserves but have had to use some of them for repairs to meet recertification requirements.

“It’s rare that there are associations that have fully funded reserves,” said condo law attorney Elaine Gatsos.

Under the new law, condos are required to complete a Structural Integrity Reserve Study by the end of this year conducted by an engineer, architect or other professional certified to do a state-required inspection.

That study mandates an evaluation of roofs, major structural items, electrical systems and just about anything else with a replacement cost of over $10,000 to determine the life expectancy of that item and the price of replacing it.

The study, which must be done every 10 years, also must provide a reserve funding schedule with a recommended amount that needs to be set aside each year so that the full amount needed to replace the item will be available when it reaches the end of its useful life.

If a condo’s internal wiring system, for example, will cost $100,000 to replace when its estimated useful life ends in 10 years, the board will be required to incorporate a portion of the cost into its annual budget each of those 10 years so it will have the full $100,000 when it comes time for a new system.

Gatsos, who has been representing condos for more than four decades, says that until the study is completed, uncertainty hangs over the heads of board members, who have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure funding is available.

“All the condo boards are shaking in their boots wondering what the reserve studies are going to come back with as far as the dollar amounts that they’re going to have to include in their budgets,” she said.

Impact on real estate
What does all this mean for the price of real estate?

Some say if too many residents sell or if an abundance of foreclosures occurs, it could result in values decreasing and could mean smaller buildings would have to sell to developers to be torn down and replaced with more luxurious condos.

Shoemaker is among those who say the improvements will make buildings more attractive to buyers.

“The property will look good and be certified as safe,” he said. “Prices will go up because the building will be better.”

Real estate agent Mark Hansen, who specializes in luxury condos, agrees that building improvements can enhance the value of units, especially east of the Intracoastal Waterway where demand remains high.

“When buyers know that things have been updated, it can certainly be helpful in maximizing value,” he said.

Hansen said that the beach area may have an advantage over condos in more western communities because demand for property remains strong.

“People want to live here,” he said. “It’s still a very desirable location.”

Possible solutions
Gentile, from the Beach Condo Association, is lobbying to have the state help condos and condo owners with low-interest loans. On her wish list are long-term low-interest loans for repairs, a low-interest loan fund for insurance and a revision of reserve requirements to make them manageable.

Gentile would also like to see regulations to ensure construction prices stay in check even during high demand.

State Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman, whose district includes Boca Raton and Highland Beach, is sympathetic but doesn’t see a solution anytime soon.

“The legislature has to address this but it’s not a quick fix,” she said. “Everyone wants a quick fix, but it’s just not quick-fixable because it has to be done correctly with everyone involved.”

She said she would work with some of her colleagues to discuss possible solutions and hopes the reserve issue can be brought back to the legislature next year.

Until fixes come from Tallahassee, condo boards and presidents will do their best to meet mandates while keeping unit owners’ challenges in mind.

Marzigliano at the Seagate condo says it’s been a challenge to get a good night’s sleep since he became president of the board — a full-time volunteer job — in April.

“I wake up worrying about how to restore Seagate and how to keep residents happy,” he said.