Customers Connor Wordelman and her son Brooks (left) and Kristi Lesnik and son Gabriel
take some time to get to know each other during the Feb. 11 grand opening
of the Fresh Market at the corner of Linton Boulevard and Federal Highway in Delray Beach.
Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
Waitress Brigette Roberson and Chef Lynn Dorsey stand at the Secret Garden Café
in Boynton Beach, where Dorsey has been cooking vegetarian and vegan fare.
Photo provided
INSET PHOTOS BELOW: John Bradway; Jean Drummond; Frank Maguire
By Christine Davis
Five stars? Five diamonds? How are hotels, restaurants and spas classified? Let’s count the ways. In January, Forbes and AAA announced their 2014 winners. Forbes Travel Guide uses stars (professional inspectors evaluate based on 500-plus criteria). AAA uses diamonds (32,000 hotels rated based on professional evaluators and member feedback). If you need more information, you can check out tripadvisor.com or yelp.com; and let’s not forget Michelin.
Five-star hotels: Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach
Four-star spas: Spa Palazzo at the Boca Raton Resort & Club
Five-diamond hotels: Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach
Four-diamond hotels: Boca Raton Resort & Club, Delray Beach Marriott, Sabal Palm House, The Omphoy Ocean Resort & Spa
Four-diamond restaurants: Arturo’s Ristorante, Kathy’s Gazebo Café, Paradiso Ristorante, Angle in Manalapan.
John D. Bradway (shown at left) has recently been appointed director of marketing at Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, Manalapan. In his new role, Bradway is responsible for launching the Eau Palm Beach brand and directing all marketing efforts of the 309-room luxury resort.
The boutique Swell has recently been renovated and enlarged. Located at the Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach, it offers a high-style shopping environment combining vintage Palm Beach elegance with modern-day fashion sensibilities. The resort is at 2800 S. Ocean Blvd., Palm Beach.
Jeannie’s Ocean Boutique has expanded an additional 1,200 square feet, making room for new formal and special-occasion-wear sections. Proprietor Jeannie Drummond (shown at right), who owned six stores in Boca Raton before retiring after 35 years in fashion, returned to retail, opening her new boutique at 232 S. Ocean Blvd. in Plaza del Mar in Manalapan.
An event sponsor, Frank Maguire (shown below) of Quigley Maguire Collections, 301 Pineapple Grove Way, Delray Beach, adds his design expertise for the eighth time to this year’s American Red Cross Designers’ Show House, which runs through March 22. This year, he has decorated the second-floor bathroom and hallway at Villa Delle Palme, 124 Churchill Road, West Palm Beach.
He’s joined by more than 14 designers who worked on the home — which was also featured as a show house 20 years ago — to offer visitors plenty of design inspiration, as well as an opportunity to support the Red Cross.
“In the hallway, I liked the design the artist created the first time around,” Maguire said. “So I asked my faux artist, (Boynton Beach resident) Maria Ranieri, to freshen it up. But I did gut the bathroom, giving it new life by installing some new fixtures and painting it white.”
The home is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. In addition to tours of the home, guests may also shop an on-site boutique. General admission is $35 per person.
On Feb. 7, 2014, Office Depot’s new chief executive, Roland Smith, and his wife, Sandra Lynne, bought a house at 1356 Sabal Palm Drive, in the Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club, Boca Raton, for $3.65 million.
The listing agent for the six- bedroom, six-bath, two-half-bath home with 7,420 square feet, was David Roberts of Royal Palm Properties. Hap Pomerantz of the Keyes Company represented the buyer. The property, registered to Antipodean Properties Land Trust, was previously listed for $4.2 million.
Smith, 59, was appointed CEO of Office Depot, effective Nov. 12, 2013. The CEO’s starting salary is $1.4 million. If he meets certain undisclosed performance targets by March 14, Smith is eligible for a $2 million award, according to an SEC filing.
Office Depot completed its $1.2 billion merger with Illinois-based OfficeMax on Nov. 5, 2013. On Dec. 10, 2013, Office Depot announced that it chose Boca Raton for its global headquarters.
The penthouse at Toscana condominiums in Highland Beach is officially off the market for a record-breaking $3.125 million. The two-floor, three-bedroom, 3½-bath penthouse, with interiors and furnishings by Susan LaChance, offers views of both the ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway. Listing agent Senada Adzem made the sale, which is the highest at the Toscana Tower in more than five years, and one of only three Toscana properties that sold over the $3 million mark.
Since the Nutrition Cottage has closed its Delray Beach store, executive chef Lynn Dorsey has been selling more of her organic and vegan food at the Secret Garden Cafe’s deli/market. While she specializes in organic and vegan fare, she sometimes cooks up a fabulous New Orleans gumbo. Other specialties include her organic chicken salad wraps and BBQ tofu.
Dorsey is at the Secret Garden on Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for lunch and until 6 p.m. in the deli for take-out. She’s also the Secret Garden’s Saturday brunch chef from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The café is at 410 E. Boynton Beach Blvd., Boynton Beach.
The Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency has announced a request for qualifications to secure an operator for the management and operation of the Arts Warehouse in the Pineapple Grove Arts District. The CRA plans to convert the vacant 15,000-square-foot warehouse, at 313 NE Third St. into a public-arts and business-incubator facility. Plans include creating studio space for local artists, galleries, classrooms for educational programming, and workspace for creative businesses by 2016. The CRA encourages both private and nonprofit organizations to apply. The deadline for proposals is 2 p.m. March 4. Information is available at www.delraycra.org.
Also, the CRA is hosting workshops to educate potential applicants about a number of grant opportunities for local businesses, developers and commercial property owners in the CRA district. Free 90-minute workshops are generally held on the second and fourth Monday of each month at the Delray Beach Public Library. Seating is limited and advance registration is required. For information, visit the “How to Apply” page under the Grants section of the CRA website. For more information about the CRA’s business incentives, email Elizabeth Burrows at burrows@mydelraybeach.com.
Construction of the new Fairfield Inn hotel on West Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach is officially underway. The hotel is expected to be open for business in late 2014. The 95-room hotel will create more than 30 full-time jobs. Prime Investors & Developers are hiring local businesses and subcontractors throughout the construction.
In addition to making the land available to the developer through a long-term lease, the CRA is contributing a $1.5 million construction loan, and a $332,348 development infrastructure assistance grant to the project. For hotel contracting and employment opportunities, visit www.fairfieldinndelray.com.
Bethesda Health Inc., comprised of nonprofit hospitals Bethesda Hospital East and Bethesda Hospital West, recently hosted a celebration honoring its nurses and support staff after receiving the Pathway to Excellence® designation by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. This distinction makes Bethesda the 106th hospital organization in the nation, and the only hospital in Palm Beach County, to receive this award.
This designation confirms to the public that nurses working at Bethesda Health know their efforts are supported.
To mark its second anniversary, the Plaza Theatre will host a three-act celebration on March 12. Act I will take place at 5:30 p.m. at the Eau Palm Beach, 100. S. Ocean Blvd, where guests can enjoy cocktails and light bites. Act II will start at 7:15 pm at the Plaza Theatre with short performances of its upcoming production of Rags and Mia Matthews’ tribute to Karen Carpenter. Act III will offer a preview of Club Plaza, the theater’s new space for its cabaret shows, open mic comedy nights, a jazz series and an interactive piano bar.
Tickets for the event are $100, with proceeds supporting the Plaza Theatre’s Performing Arts Conservatory program for school-aged children and the theatre’s capital campaign. For more information on this event, call (818) 384-8101. The Plaza Theatre is at 262 S. Ocean Blvd., Manalapan.
The Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce announced that it is renovating its offices, has redesigned its logo and launched a new website. Go take a look at www.bocaratonchamber.com and keep an eye on the renovations, which will continue through the next several months.
The Greater Boynton Beach Chamber of Commerce is now an education partner with Lynn University. The partnership allows the chamber’s members a 20-percent discount toward graduate degrees and evening- or online bachelor-degree programs. A 10-percent discount will also be extended to the immediate families of chamber members.
Lewis, Longman & Walker celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. The firm opened with Tallahassee and West Palm Beach offices, adding offices in Jacksonville in 1996 and Tampa Bay in 2004. The firm focuses on an environmental practice that includes ports, airports and infrastructure, and water resources. Other services provided to its public and private clients include legislative and government affairs, intellectual property and business, public pension, labor and employment.
Christine Davis is a freelance writer. Send business news to her at cdavis9797@comcast.net.
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