The Seahorse Bath and Tennis Club, a $90 million oceanfront condominium project swamped by the housing downturn, is being resuscitated by the Kolter Group LLC.
The West Palm Beach-based developer is in the process of taking title to the property, Kolter Residential President Bob Vail said.
“Once that happens,” he said, “we will begin a completely new design process in earnest, with the intention of creating a property that’s respectful of the location and surrounding communities.” The Seahorse, with 42 proposed residential units on a 3.5-acre plot of unincorporated county property between Gulf Stream and Briny Breezes, was scrapped in 2008. A foreclosure suit filed in 2009 resulted in a $21 million judgment for Bank of America Corp. The beach property that straddled A1A was put up for bid at foreclosure auction in Palm Beach County Feb. 25, with a minimum required bid of $15.5 million. But the offers didn’t come close, with the highest just more than $1.6 million. Evidence of the project’s revival appeared recently when the site was cleaned up. A Jan. 7 letter from John MacGillis, Palm Beach County zoning director, responding to Seahorse’s inquiry, confirmed that the site could be developed at a density of 12 units per acre for a total of 42 units, noting that minor redesign modifications to the plan wouldn’t necessitate a public hearing.
Vail didn’t detail what the new design will include yet, but said, “The quality of the site, in terms of both location and ocean frontage, will dictate a very high caliber approach. We are greatly looking forward to bringing another exceptional Kolter property to the marketplace, at the appropriate time.” Gulf Stream commissioners briefly addressed changes at the Seahorse during their February meeting. The town has an interest in the property as a neighbor and also has an agreement with Boynton Beach that it won’t oppose annexations as long as restrictions such as a height limit of 35 feet and a density of 6 units per acre were heeded, according to the Florida Coalition for Preservation newsletter.
The newsletter also says that a new developer of Seahorse, which it doesn’t name, may try to gain approval of a seven-story building, twice the height of the initial design, and has talked with Boynton Beach about possible annexation.
“The developer has told a few people that he can design a building that maintains the density that’s approved by the county and give a considerable more land space than was the case with the Seahorse that was approved several years ago,” said Bob Ganger of the Coalition.
“You could argue that it is not more than a mathematical exercise. Whether or not he has a design or a specific building that’s seven stories, we don’t know.”
But Ganger made clear the Coalition’s position. “We’ve told him we’re not particularly pleased with the concept of a seven-story building, because we worked pretty hard with the previous builder to maintain the 35 feet.”
The developer “is trying to think through what’s the best use of the land he bought, and I’m sure he’s exploring a number of options,” Ganger said.
The Seahorse was first developed decades ago, in the 1950s or ’60s as Ganger recalls, as a 32-unit property with pool and restaurant. “It wasn’t pretty by today’s standards, but it was funky nice,” he said.
The property was cleared after Cincinnati developer JFP Development Group proposed the new Seahorse condos in 2007, but reportedly presold fewer than a dozen units before the project was scrapped.
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