By Patrick Sherry
Boynton Beach commissioners serving as the Community Redevelopment Agency board hit the brakes on moving forward with a $7.25 million land acquisition at the city’s downtown gateway on Boynton Beach Boulevard. They want to know if nearby property owners will hinder any of their revitalization plans.
The location of the 13 parcels at 444 W. Boynton Beach Blvd., east of Interstate 95, leads into the heart of downtown. Late last year, work crews demolished the Inn at Boynton Beach — purchased by the CRA for $8.1 million in October — that sits adjacent to the site. The CRA land acquisition in this area is part of plans to turn the east-west corridor into a major city center.
Commissioners considered acquiring the 3.30-acre site at the Jan. 20 CRA meeting. Chris Brown, the CRA’s executive director, advised the board to move quickly to approve the land buy to meet the proposed March 13 closing date.
“It’s an excellent purchase, and I think it will combine with the hotel that we bought previously,” Brown said. “This will make a great assemblage for a new development.”
To pay the seller’s asking price, city staff recommended reallocating $2.5 million set aside for a parking garage to property acquisition. While most of the board supported buying the land, there were concerns about the lack of plans to acquire surrounding properties that could be added to the assemblage — and potential opposition from nearby neighborhoods.
Commissioners Aimee Kelley and Thomas Turkin wanted more input from those homeowners to ensure that the city could move forward with any future projects on the site. They believe there should be community buy-in before they pour money into it.
“I want to make sure that we’re not going down this road, and then we have residents who don’t support what maybe this board’s vision is, or the city’s vision is, in these parcels,” Kelley said.
The board moved consideration of acquiring the land and reallocating funds towards its purchase to the Feb. 10 CRA meeting. The board directed staff to bring back feedback from residents near the site and prepare more details on purchasing other surrounding properties.
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