A rendering of Delray Villas by the Sea shows one and two-story cottages.
By Christine Davis
Most new homes developed on the ocean are mammoth, fashioned to please buyers looking for ultra luxury estates with umpteen square feet, multiple master suites, dens, libraries, media rooms, what have you.
But that’s nothing like commercial real estate entrepreneur Patrick Lynch had in mind for the new home he’s building for himself at 2225 S. Ocean Blvd., Delray Beach. He had his eye on an oceanfront parcel with 16 units — single-story vacation homes, called Cote d’Azure, built in 1945. “It was so overgrown, nobody knew they were there,” he said. “But I didn’t want a mansion. I thought I’d renovate them, live in one of the units, keep an adjoining cottage for family and friends, rent the rest and create a village atmosphere.”
Neighbor Marc Musa had bought the property in 2002 for $9 million and in June of 2009 his proposal to build an 11-unit primarily glass condominium on the 1.7 acres of oceanfront property was approved by the city. That approved site plan expired in 2010, according to Delray Beach senior planner Candi Jefferson.
“He kept it as rentals, and at one time had wanted to build a big mansion on it,” Lynch said.
Instead, Musa put it up for sale, and when “the price came down to where it made sense,” Lynch bought it. Last November, he paid $4.1 million for it, and he immediately started to realize his dream, Delray Village by the Sea.
“Patrick called me up and asked me if I would drop over and meet him at his new property,” said Delray Beach architect Roger Cope. “I said, ‘Give me 30 seconds.’
“I was ultra excited when he told me where he wanted to take it.”
Most potential buyers would have knocked everything down and started from scratch, noted Cope, but not Lynch, who had hired Cope previously to renovate and expand his current home, a 1930s-era cottage on Nassau Street in Delray Beach.
“Vintage homes have more character,” Lynch said. “We need to remember the past. With the mansions that have been built, the face of Delray Beach has changed.”
Cope, who also feels deeply about preservation, added, “We would rather take the bones and the history and the conception that somebody else had for the property in 1945, embrace it and improve on it.
“There’s a very famous city in the Panhandle, Seaside, and we will be a slice of Seaside.”
At first, he and Lynch envisioned two rows of one-story cottages, but the project has evolved, Cope said. Now they plan to alternate between two-story, 1,600-square-foo,t two-bedroom and two-bathroom units and one-story, 760-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bath units — 14 units in all — with lots packed into them.
“They are cute,” Cope said. “We didn’t want homogenous. We’ll have a multitude of architectural styles, color schemes and materials.”
“Nantucket architecture,” said Lynch. “Anglo Caribbean, British Colonial and Key West styles.
“It was cottage-y before and it will still be cottage-y — tongue-and-groove volume ceilings, balconies, Hardee-Plank siding.
“Mine will be the Nantucket style and will have marble and wood floors, board-and-batten paneling, wainscoting, portholes, five-tab shingles on my roof. It’s going to be almost mauve — the same color as my house on Nassau Street.”
The buildings will keep to the original footprint, and because the land slopes, second-floor units will capture views of the ocean.
Cope listed other architectural features and details: decorative aluminum shutters, solid mahogany entry doors, ipe-wood decking, along with a sprinkling of sleeping porches, dormers, copulas and fireplaces. The community will have a pool and Lynch will have a pool. “We’ll have white-picket custom fences with pineapple cutouts,” envisioned Cope. “Each cottage will have a miniature private courtyard and we’ll have three different landscape concepts to go with each unique architectural style and we’ve retained a dune specialist to consult with us on dune vegetation and landscaping.”
So, stay tuned! “We think it will take a good solid twelve months, so they will be ready spring 2013,” Cope said.
Original cottages are gutted prior to renovation. Kurtis Boggs/The Coastal Star
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