By Thomas B. Collins
DELRAY BEACH — Aaah, the sights, the sounds, the smells. The chatting coffee-sippers at an outside table. A delicious Asian fusion scent tempting you from a fine restaurant. Rollicking music coaxing you from a bar and grill.
On Federal Highway at Atlantic Avenue, the good times always seem to roll. A few blocks up the road, though, you might as well be in another city. Aging strip malls sulk behind mostly empty parking lots, with auto shops, car dealerships and pawnshops interspersed. Planners up and down Florida’s east coast have struggled with re-doing U.S. 1, the former highway in chief that was relegated to second class when I-95 was built.
In Delray Beach, planners are preparing for what they hope will be a transformation that will turn Federal Highway, frequently traveled by both coastal residents and mainlanders alike, into a close cousin of Atlantic Avenue. But the economy has stalled the progress, leaving many approved projects unbuilt and a string of vacant lots to advertise hard times.
“Once the economy turns around, we’ll see what happens,” said Ron Hoggard, a senior planner with the city.
Some activity now
For now, the list of approved projects that aren’t built include Parc Place North at Delray Beach, a development of residences, shops and offices on Federal just south of Gulfstream Boulevard; Village Parc, another mixed-use project that would replace a swap shop near the north edge of town; and Atlantic Plaza II, an ambitious collection of 197 dwelling units, and about 100,000 square feet each of office and retail space.
Among projects in the works but not yet approved is the redevelopment of the old library site just south of Atlantic, which would be replaced by a hotel, a garage, and retail and office space. Planners are hopeful that they will all get off the ground.
There is some activity now, though.
The five-story 5th Avenue at Delray — with 47 residential units along with retail and office space — is under construction just north of Atlantic Avenue.
So is Latitude Delray, planned as a 114-residential-unit project with 23,000 square feet of commercial space. Latitude is 60 percent built. And Isack Merenfeld, a principal of the project owner, Delray-based Savion Companies, said it will “absolutely” be completed as planned.
Fifteen units are already being rented, Merenfeld said. “Those ones we’re renting help with the cash flow to keep the project afloat.” He was optimistic about a turnaround, saying that sales of foreclosures and short sales are a sign that the bottom has been reached.
“That takes units off the market and creates pressure upward,” Merenfeld said, though he added it will be a year or more before the economy will actually have rebounded.
Eager for end of downturn
The optimism along Federal is not there for the seeing, especially north of downtown. There, any given lot is just as likely to be an active business or residential development as it is to be empty, sandy and week-choked.
Planners have been poised for a transformation on North Federal for years. In 1999, city commissioners approved a master plan calling for pedestrian-friendly development. It would bring an end to the parking lots that separate the road from the businesses and bring shops, restaurants and residences to the sidewalk near the roadside. It would mean more landscaping.
Planners are also encouraging more interesting architecture, similar to the 5th Avenue at Delray project, Hoggard said. “There’s a lot of variation of the building,” he said. “It isn’t as straight up along the road line.”
Existing business owners and entrepreneurs are hoping the turnaround does eventually arrive.
Merenfeld said that with the decline of the auto industry, the car dealerships along Federal — and there are many — might present even more redevelopment opportunities.
Amber Ortoll said more activity is bound to help her brand-new business, a vintage clothing store on Federal north of downtown called Frugal Fashionista (“A Thrifty But Chic Resale Boutique”). She said she’s all in favor of new development, as long as it’s pedestrian-friendly and calls for shops along the sidewalk. “Five hundred people living in a condo next door — your traffic would definitely increase,” Ortoll said.
Hoggard, the city planner, acknowledged that some of the projects — such as Parc Place North and Village Parc, with their tens of thousands of square feet — are ambitious, especially given the economic times, though he said he couldn’t say whether they’re too ambitious to get built.
“I haven’t looked at their pro formas, but they’re pretty large,” he said. He said that the downturn at least gives planners time to step back and make sure the plans they’re laying are the right ones for the future of Federal, but he’d rather not wait too much longer. “The sooner we come out of it,” he said, “the better for everybody.”
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