Gulfstream Hotel Expansion - Subject of Tonight's Planning and Zoning Board Meeting - 6 p.m.

My Truth Matters show reviewed this project on Lake Worth Talk last night. Here are a series of exhibits related to the project that will help explain what is proposed. You need to know about my relationship with the owner of the property, so please read the disclaimer.
This is a narrative from the application:
These are the three (3) variance requests that will be considered tonight:
Site Plan (click on image for greater detail):
Rendering looking southeast:
Rendering - south elevation:
Rendering - view looking east from Lake Avenue:
Rendering - aerial looking at entire block and surrounding area:
CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO CITY STAFF REPORTS

Negative Post from Lake Worth Talk.com:

Did anyone actually look at the rendition of the hotel? It does not appear to be anything like the decor of the Gulfstream. In fact it looks altra modern to me. Doesn't fit our downtown area at all.

Now let's talk water. 51 rooms, meetings and catering, plus a high end spa. Even with a green building, where are we going to get the extra water for that kind if consumption?

And BFT, where did you read that the public will be using the garage, thus lending a hand to our parking woes? The valet parking will be for hotel and spa patrons only. And as far as leading to more downtown patronage, don't count on it. The people who will be able to afford these rates of rooms and spa treatments will be limo'd in and out of the area, never stepping foot in downtown shops or restaraunts, bet on it.

This is going to be another one of our P&Z screw-ups, watch and see. They will cave and grant whatever comes before them, the right people are backing the movement, like our Jeffy boy, Paxman, and of course Tom R. It will sail thru tonight's meeting with very little or meaningful changes to their requests for variances.

My response:

A couple of points:

The architecture of the new building reflects our current period of time. It will be a silver LEED standard building. Its height along Lake Avenue is less than the hotel to preserve a view of the historic hotel from the west, making it the most important building. Not copying the existing hotel respects it for what it is and will not be a cheap copy of it. This is a historic preservation principle. Architecture is subjective and creates different reactions. It does represent change and that is something people have a hard time accepting.

The City does not have a moratorium on new construction due to the drought. If the affects of the drought are that bad, then the City Commission should consider it. We can't arbitrarily say we don't have the capacity for this project.

Parking will be contained within the new building and take care of the demand generated by the historic hotel and the new building. Doing that opens up the public spaces along Golfview by Byrant Park for general public parking.

This will be a destination and will bring people to our City that otherwise would not be here, bringing their money with them. It will help the historic hotel remain economically viable and assure its continued operation - we need to have our flagship waterfront hotel operational. Its economic success is not guaranteed - look at its ownership history. This occupies some of the most valuable land in the City and represents a significant contribution to the tax base. Compare this to how other communities (West Palm, Boynton, Delray) have treated their land along the water and this is a reasonable example of in-fill redevelopment.

Wes Blackman

I understand that the replay of last night's show is up on Lake Worth Talk.com. About the last half of the show talked about this project. You can take a listen to it today and don't forget to refer to the TalkBlog for the seventh show exhibits.

If you hit the link to the City's website for copies of the staff reports, please be patient. There is a lot of material and it takes a while to appear in your browser.

Please try to attend the meeting tonight regardless of your opinion of the project. This is an important piece of property in our City and you really need to hear the facts and discussion that will take place tonight.

Thanks for visiting!