News

By Mary Thurwachter

    The site plan for Water Tower Commons has yet to come before the Lantana Town Council but one resident is already taking issue with the development’s name.
    Arthur C. Brooks wrote a letter to the Lantana Chamber of Commerce on the subject after the group had seen preliminary plans for the new development at the former A.G. Holley site and vocalized his concerns again at the Oct. 26 Town Council meeting.
    “It is inconceivable to me that the developer would spend roughly $16 million to purchase the site, with plans to spend tens of millions more to develop it, and make the centerpiece a 60-year-old eyesore of a water tower that I believe most residents would like to see torn down,” Brooks wrote. Brooks, who also is a member of Lantana’s zoning board, told the council that he “liked water towers as much as the next guy,” but that this tower had no distinguishing characteristics.
    “Lake Worth’s water tower looks like a balloon and you can see it from the water, but you can’t see this (127-foot) tower from the water or from I-95,” he said. “It’s not iconic or a historic landmark. This water tower only served A.G. Holley Hospital.”
    Brooks said he and some friends attended a Dolphins game, the first with the new coach (Dan Campbell), and brainstormed to come up with a better name for the 73-acre development.
    “Why not have the biggest flagpole in the state of Florida?” he suggested. “The biggest one now is 170 feet tall and was built in 2008 at Uptown Station in Fort Walton Beach and it’s been a huge success.”
    Instead of Water Tower Commons it could be called Old Glory Square, Brooks said.
    “I wanted to float that idea out there,” Brooks said. “The council and mayor could inspire the developer like the coach inspired the Dolphins.”
    Council members made no comment about the proposal, waiting for the site plan presentation from the developer, Southeast Legacy Investments. That could be as soon as Nov 9. The town is awaiting a letter from the county accepting the traffic study.
    The A.G. Holley tuberculosis hospital, owned by the state, closed in 2012. Southeast Legacy and Wexford Capital purchased the land from the state a year ago.