By Joe Capozzi
South Palm Beach is basking in South Florida’s “extremely hot” real estate market, with robust condominium sales last year promising a significant boost in tax revenue in the coming budget year, Town Manager Robert Kellogg said.
A “whopping” 309 units, about one-sixth of the town’s condo inventory, were sold in 2021, with a combined sale value of $124 million, or more than $400,000 per unit, he told the Town Council on Feb. 8.
Kellogg’s figures were based on all sales in town, not just “qualified sales.” The Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office uses qualified sales, which are sales between willing buyers and sellers, in its mass appraisals that determine market value.
In 2020, 194 condo units in town were sold for a combined sales total of about $43.3 million. Sales that contributed to a $78 million jump in the town’s taxable value that year included the just-completed $70 million luxury condo, 3550 South Ocean.
“As you know the real estate market in South Florida has been extremely hot for the past 12 months,’’ Kellogg said. “It’s going to continue to stay hot.’’
Early this year, one condo sold for more than $1 million, he said.
“The real question is what is this going to equate to in additional revenue when we get our new valuation in taxable value in June? I’m pretty optimistic you’re going to be happy with what you see,’’ he said.
Last year, property values in South Palm Beach jumped 4.4% to $458.5 million from $439 million in 2020. That allowed the Town Council to lower the tax rate to $3.50 per $1,000 of assessed value from the previous year’s rate of $3.54.
Preparations for the 2022-23 budget are expected to begin in May.
In other business:
• The town attorney plans to meet with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office to review options for protecting pedestrians on sidewalks along State Road A1A.
Councilman Bill LeRoy broached the issue because of concerns about pedestrians wandering onto the shoulder of the road when sidewalks are crowded with pedestrians and bicyclists or blocked by commercial vehicles.
Among options mentioned at the Feb. 8 meeting were requiring commercial vehicle owners to provide flagmen and cones or to hire off-duty law enforcement to direct pedestrians, and posting signage in condo buildings reminding people to stay off the road.
At the suggestion of Councilman Mark Weissman, town attorney Aleksandr Boksner (who works with longtime town attorney Glen Torcivia) will discuss options with PBSO’s legal counsel.
In January 2019, a 75-year-old man was killed when he was struck by a car while walking north on the shoulder of State Road A1A between the Lantana Municipal Beach parking lot and the Imperial House condominium.
“We’ve got to do everything we can to protect everybody. We’ve got to get them off the road,’’ LeRoy said Feb. 8. “I don’t want anybody to get hurt or killed out there.’’
• Architects designing options for a new or renovated Town Hall are expected to present their renderings to the Town Council in March. Kellogg said the presentation will probably be given at a workshop a week or two after the March 8 election.
• At a special meeting Feb. 17, the Town Council directed the town manager to apply for a Florida Department of Transportation permit for the installation of up to 45 solar light posts along A1A and around Town Hall. The posts, technically called bollards, will cost the town $67,000 and complement existing street lights, Kellogg said.
• An ice cream party celebrating the life of the late Lenny Cohen will be held at 2 p.m. March 20 outside Town Hall, 3577 S. Ocean Blvd. Treats for “Lenny Cohen’s A Life Well-Lived Ice Cream Social” will be supplied by the Ice Cream Club. Cohen died Dec. 7. A tribute scheduled for Jan. 2 was postponed because of the pandemic.
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