West Palm weighs 3 downtown hotel plans
WEST PALM BEACH —
To encourage tourism and a thriving downtown, city officials are preparing to sell the old city hall site, with its prime location near the waterfront, for a hotel.
Some want to maximize the space with a tall building that will incorporate a hotel, apartment or condo units and retail space — a concept that would require a zoning change.
Others say West Palm Beach would be more realistic to focus solely on a hotel.
After an open bid competition, city staff have picked three offers for the commission to consider:
- $3.1 million from Navarro Lowery Properties of West Palm Beach, Hyatt Hotels and Concord Hospitality to build a five-story hotel. The offer would drop to $2 million if the city requires an enclosed garage.
- $12 million from the Kolter Group, a condominium developer, to build a 15-story building with a minimum of 120 hotel rooms, 260 condo units and ground-floor retail.
- Up to $15 million from the Crocker Group, Song + Associates and the Carlton Fields law firm, for a 12-story building with 200 hotel rooms, upscale apartment rentals and lobby retail space.
The Navarro Lowery proposal would follow the current zoning guidelines, but the other two would require an exemption to the five-story height limit for buildings east of Olive Avenue between Okeechobee Boulevard and Seventh Street.
Included in all three deals will be negotiations for the former Helen Wilkes hotel site, east of the city hall site. The city also owns this parcel and wants it turned into a park, preferably at the winning bidder’s expense.
City commissioners could approve the height exemption on their own, but they have said they will let voters decide. The commission would have to give final approval to a referendum question by Feb. 4 to get it on the March 12 ballot.
Commissioner Shanon Materio said removing the height restriction “definitely gives the city a much better package financially” but she wants to hear from residents, who were able to first review the competing plans last week.
Going to a referendum, however, could be risky.
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