News

By Dan Moffett

    South Palm Beach council members have approved paying another $15,000 to architects for a conceptual rendering of what a new Town Hall might look like and for estimates of how much it might cost.
    But they are a long way from signing off on a new building.
    “We’ll have something to look at,” Mayor Bonnie Fischer said. “But that doesn’t mean we’re going to do it.”
    Said Vice Mayor Robert Gottlieb, “It may be that nothing happens at all.”
    Architect Steven Knight of Alexis Knight Architects in West Palm Beach completed a three-month study of the town’s only public building and told the council that the cost of constructing a new Town Hall is roughly the same as trying to repair and improve the current one. That conclusion led council members to give Knight the go-ahead to develop possible design options for a new structure — something that might serve the town’s needs for decades to come.
    “I see the new building as being vastly different than the one you have now,” Knight said during the April 26 town meeting.
    The new design could be a two-story building, with a community room on the second floor and parking underneath. Knight told the council the existing structure — which was built in 1976 and remodeled twice — has problems and limitations that would be difficult to correct. Among them:
    • Inadequate parking. Town Hall should have about 80 parking spaces but the parcel isn’t large enough to easily accommodate them.
    • Hurricane and disability code compliance. The roof, doors and windows won’t stand up to high storm winds, and the entrances and restrooms don’t pass federal access standards.
    • An overall lack of storage and workspace. Knight said the new building should be about 10,000 square feet larger.
    The council voted 3-1 to approve the design work, with Elvadianne Culbertson opposing. The town paid Knight about $34,000 for the study, so the additional $15,000 brings his total under the $50,000 the council set aside for the exploratory project.
    In other business:
    • Developers of the 3550 project on the former site of the old Hawaiian hotel delivered a check for about $250,000 to the town’s building department last month, roughly half the permit fees required.
    “This is huge news — great news for the town financially,” said Town Manager Bob Vitas. “This is big money.”
    The check means that developers Gary Cohen of Paragon Acquisition Group and Manhattan-based DDG are forging ahead with plans to build a 30-unit luxury condo building. Vitas said construction should begin in July and take about 18 months, at a cost of between $30 million and $35 million. Once completed, the building could increase the town’s tax revenues by 30 percent.
    “This is really going to go forward, and we’re thrilled,” Vitas said. “It’s been a long road with that property, getting something to happen.”
    • The council unanimously approved Gottlieb to take over as vice mayor for Joe Flagello, who died suddenly in March. “I would rather that Joe were still here,” Gottlieb said. “We miss him greatly.”
    The town is looking for a replacement for Cmdr. Robert Rizzotto, the second-ranking officer in the Police Department. Rizzotto is moving to North Carolina. “It’s another hard loss for this town,” Fischer said. “He’ll be hard to replace.”