A passive park has replaced the old dive shop at the Boynton Beach Marina.
Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
By Jane Smith
The last piece of the Boynton Harbor Marina will soon be finished, and a ribbon cutting is set for March 31.
The latest completed portion of the boardwalk project includes seat walls, Adirondack chairs, landscaping, roadway realignment and lighting. It is part of an overall $20 million marina redo by the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency.
“We’re at the punch list stage now,” Michael Simon, interim executive director, told CRA board members.
The project came in under budget at $892,357, Simon said at the Feb. 14 CRA meeting. The agency had set aside $820,612 plus a 15 percent contingency fee for a total of $943,704, he said.
“Hats off for a job well done,” said CRA Vice Chairman Mack McCray.
But the project did not finish on time because of unforeseen problems the contractor found and CRA staff-initiated changes during the construction, according to Simon.
Six signs, costing $358, were installed in late December to say: “Boynton Harbor Marina. Businesses open while improvements are being made.”
The boardwalk sits next to deep-sea fishing and scuba diving charters, and personal watercraft and boat rentals. At the eastern end are two waterfront restaurants: Banana Boat and Two Georges.
“I’m glad they are finished. It looks absolutely beautiful and is absolutely useless,” said Lynn Simmons, who rented space in the old dive shop that was demolished to make way for the walkway.
She has since moved her scuba diving operation, Splashdown Divers, and opened a sandwich shop, Marina Bites, next to each other in Marina Village at the Boynton Harbor Marina.
CRA board member Joe Casello voted against the walkway project last summer because he wanted to see the dive shop building reused. But in mid-February, he said, “It really came out nice.”
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