Old School Square’s future goes before the Delray Beach City Commission today.
On the agenda is discussion of the agreement under which the Downtown Development Authority would operate the cultural complex at Swinton and Atlantic avenues. Though it has been nearly four months since the commission and DDA agreed on the concept, details remain unresolved.
Assistant City Manager Jeff Oris listed the issues in a memo for the commission. They include:
Marketing – City officials want approval of the DDA’s plans to advertise Old School Square. One sticking point may be the DDA’s proposal to change the name. The city also wants to retain marketing control of city-sponsored events. During a discussion in late October, DDA board members made clear that they wanted to control marketing.
Special events – The DDA wants the city to waive its fees for providing services related to DDA events. As Oris writes, Delray Beach “generally waives 50 percent of fees (excluding hard costs, such as fencing) for non-profit activities.” But a full waiver, Oris says, “would result in additional budgetary burden on city departments providing such services and thus be an additional cost to this agreement.”
In addition, the DDA wants to grant its own permits for the agency’s special events. The city wants control over all approvals. The DDA, Oris writes, “has included language that it will assist third parties with obtaining permits but not be responsible for obtaining the permits for them.” The city wants the DDA to require third parties to obtain a permit.
Insurance – The DDA wants the agreement to specify that money from any insurance claims for damages at Old School Square “be used to fix and repair said damages.” The staff believes that current law already requires it.
Revenue – City Manager Terrence Moore said this is vital because of what would be the city’s investment in the DDA.
Previously, Old School Square for the Arts operated the complex. The group received $750,000 annually from the community redevelopment agency toward programming. Otherwise, the group raised its own operating money.
Hiring the DDA would mean an immediate cost of $750,000, which Moore said Monday he has accounted for in the current budget year that ends Sept. 30. That cost will rise if the DDA goes beyond operating the Cornell Museum to taking over Crest Theater, which also is not open.
The city wants all money from special events “and other commercial events managed by the DDA” to be used to “offset maintenance and improvement costs” at Old School Square. The city also wants the DDA to “submit proof of revenues with its quarterly reports to the city.”
According to Oris, the DDA is asking that “during the initial term of the agreement any revenues generated shall be used to offset the costs of administration, setup, operation, maintenance, programming activities, exhibits and DDA special events.” After that, the DDA has offered to present a revenue-sharing plan with each annual request for money. Any money to the city would “be used for maintenance and improvement costs for Old School Square.”
Moore stressed the revenue issue because the “expectation” is that, under DDA management, Old School Square will move toward “a self-sustaining economic model.”
These differences are not small. They also aren’t all that surprising. Last fall, DDA board members said they wanted a level of control that seemed greater than what commissioners might be willing to give them.
DDA Executive Director Laura Simon noted that the agreement that the agency proposes would last two years and be “a first for the DDA and the city, so it was important to take time.” Both sides have been “working really hard, and we’ve had some great discussions. I’m hopeful.”
Commissioner Adam Frankel said he met Friday with DDA Chairwoman Mavis Benson to “relay my concerns.” He asked how the agency would replace the donations Old School Square raised and recruit the volunteers Old School Square used. Benson, Frankel said, had no response on either.
In addition, Frankel said, a video is circulating of DDA board members criticizing city parks and recreation employees who have been helping at Old School Square. Frankel, who opposed ending the lease with Old School Square for the Arts, said, “I’m all for collaboration, but it’s not good when you’re complaining about people you want to collaborate with.”
I’ll have more after the meeting.
Proposals for Delray golf course renovation
Delray Beach commissioners wanted lots of options for a possible public-private partnership to renovate the city’s 18-hole municipal golf course. They got them.
At today’s workshop meeting, commissioners will hear from CBRE, the city’s consultant. The company has compiled an impressively detailed analysis of the six varied proposals. All seek private development on a portion of the roughly 150 acres. After that, they diverge markedly.
Three are joint ventures. Three involve just one corporate entity. Here’s a look at each:
Bobby Jones Links/Mill Creek
They would create a par-70, 6,700-yard course with greens fees ranging from $35 to $150. They would renovate the clubhouse. They would build 650 apartments, with 20 percent of them workforce housing.
According to the analysis, the development component would bring in nearly $2 million in tax revenue. The private component would be on 10 acres. The course would reopen in the fall of 2024, with the first phase of residential done in 2026 and the second in 2028.
CGHP/Morningstar
They would build a new, roughly 9,000-square-foot clubhouse. The proposal doesn’t offer details about the course, but greens fees would run from $50 to $175, the highest of any proposal.
The group would build 312 apartments and a 128-room Springhill Suites hotel. There also would be a retail component. Development would take up 11 acres and take roughly three years to build, along with the course. Tax revenue is estimated at $960,000 a year.
E2L Real Estate Solutions
This is the most ambitious proposal, envisioning 600 units—60 of them workforce housing —another 158 senior living units and a 128-room Residence Inn. Not surprisingly, it would take up the most land—30 acres.
The course proposal is different from most of the others. There would be 19 holes, with just nine of normal length. The other 10 would be par 3s. Greens fees would be lower—from $15 to $45. The group would build a new clubhouse roughly two-thirds as large as the current one.
Heatherwood Luxury Rentals
They would build 360 units—36 of them workforce—on 10 acres. Fees for the new course would range from $47.50 to $67.50. The course would be the standard 18 holes.
In addition, the group envisions a 14,000-square-foot “entertainment center” and 75,000 square feet of restaurant space to go with a renovated clubhouse. CBRE notes that this bid has fewer overall details than the others. The course also would not reopen until April 2026.
Related Group
The company, one of the country’s largest developers, would spend a maximum of $25 million to renovate the course and build a new, 25,000-square-foot clubhouse. Any money left over would go back to the city. The course would be championship length at 7,160 yards, which many weekend players would consider too long.
Related would build 444 residential units and 24 “villas” on seven acres, the smallest footprint of the six. Ninety units would be workforce housing. Greens fees would be from $27 to $78. CBRE notes that Related’s bid also offers fewer details than some of the others.
T-36 Golf Holdings
Golfwise, this is the most creative proposal. It envisions 27 holes on 18 fairways, meaning that two sets of golfers could be playing the same hole at the same time because nine fairways would run two ways. This format is designed to save money on maintenance.
T-36 also would build pickleball courts and nature trails. The residential component would be small—120 units, 24 of them workforce housing—but there would be 63,000 square feet of retail and the project would take up 15 acres.
Commissioners must balance many considerations. Among them are the strength of the local golf market for any course, the financial return for the city and whether the winner will keep up the course over, say, 30 years, to avoid Delray Beach winding up with the same problem again.
Moore does not expect anything close to a final decision today. Discussion will gauge commissioners’ early sentiment. Moore would not offer a timetable of when the commission might decide.
I’ll have more after the meeting.
Residents push back against New Dixie Boca proposal
A community effort to seek ideas for revitalizing four Boca Raton neighborhoods did not end well.
I have written about New Dixie Boca, a group that received $16,000 from the city to hold a pair of community forums for residents of Boca Woods, Chatham Hills, Villa Rica and Winfield Park. It’s generally the area between Dixie Highway and Federal Highway north of 20th Street.
Realtor Mike Weppner got the idea of trying to perk up the Dixie Highway corridor. Weppner no longer lives in the area—he’s a neighbor of mine in Camino Lakes—but community residents dominated the leadership of New Dixie Boca.
The second meeting took place Dec. 6. Listening to the audio, the meeting devolved—after organizers gave their presentations—into something resembling the raucous school board meetings when masks were on the agenda. People talked over each other repeatedly. Some residents suspected a developer plot to run them out through zoning changes. Weppner said, “They wanted to stop any discussion.”
Paranoia ran especially high on the idea of forming an association—even a voluntary one—to represent the area. Even Councilwoman Andrea O’Rourke—whom Weppner invited because of her neighborhood advocacy—got a hostile response when explaining what property owners could do under current zoning laws. “Is that a threat?” one person shouted.
Weppner is returning to the city New Dixie Boca’s unspent $3,500. An accompanying letter will review comments from the two meetings. The letter notes community support for beautification and better code enforcement. The letter also notes that it’s hard to see how this might happen without the homeowner association that residents oppose.
In an email, O’Rourke called the December meeting “difficult/frustrating. I could not get my point across (I guess I didn’t do a good job) that as a strong collaborative neighborhood(s) they would be much more effective addressing (inevitable) change and growth, as well as working on initiatives to better the neighborhoods.
“They came in angry and ready to fight. I felt the organizers were genuine and it was sadly a missed opportunity.”
