Delray Beach and Boca Raton Real Estate and Homes for Sale

Watch as Jeff and Dave, the founders of YourDelrayBoca.com, give you their take on the local real estate market:

There is no more dynamic real estate market in the U.S. than Boca-Delray.

From oceanfront mansions and historic homes to picturesque country clubs and subdivisions the market is vibrant, the choices are endless and the neighborhoods varied depending on age range, price and taste. The area features everything from old Florida to the most modern downtown condo’s and townhomes.

You are sure to find exactly what you want in these two world-class cities.

Buying or selling in the Delray-Boca area and need a recommendation? We can help. Learn more here.

24 February, 2025 5 5 Comments

Housing: The Impossible Dream?

February 24, 2025 By 5 Comments

The high cost of housing has created a waiting game for many Americans.

I read a stunning statistic last week.

The median age of first-time homebuyers is 38.

Considering that the average lifespan in America is 77, that means that Americans are middle aged before they purchase their first home. Or looked at another way, first-time buyers are out of high school 20 years and only 24 years away from the earliest age they can receive Social Security benefits when they purchase their starter home.

Yikes.

As soon as you acquire a home (and a list of honey do projects that go along with it) you also acquire a sore back, creaky knees and a desire to nap because you’re pushing 40.

In 1991, the median age of first-time homebuyers was 28. As a twenty something in the early 90s, That sounds about right. I remember that era as a time when most people of my generation were settling down and buying “starter homes.”

Our first townhouse in Delray cost $69,000 with all the upgrades included. It was brand new, affordable; the neighborhood was cute, and it came with a pool and a tennis court.  Not too shabby.

The townhouse itself was modest, we had a small courtyard, a tiny home office and room (barely) for a golden retriever. I remember being thrilled to be an “owner” and felt connected to my community.

Not that renters aren’t important or connected, but there’s something intrinsically different about homeownership. You feel a part of things. Your vested; and invested too.

Back in those affordable days, things overall felt different. There was a palpable sense of community back then, South Florida felt like a new frontier with limitless possibilities. It was affordable and on the move.

But these days it feels like we live in a very different landscape. And I think a lot of it is driven by home prices and the cost of living overall. When you factor in insurance, taxes and everything else it takes to make it these days you scratch your head and wonder: how does anybody afford this? And how are young people supposed to get started?

For example, recently I had lunch with two retired fire chiefs.

They were telling me that they are seeing firefighters living hours away from the cities they serve because they can’t afford to live anywhere in our community.

Work schedules enable these men and women to live in far flung places and make the long drive back home after working 2-day shifts in which they sleep at the fire station.

I recently spoke to a retired Delray police officer who now consults on public safety and emergency preparedness nationwide. He says he knows of firefighters in California who fly home to another state in private prop planes after clocking out to find more affordable housing.

All of this is perfectly understandable. And the trend is not limited to firefighters. Police officers, city managers, department heads and other civil servants, including teachers and nurses are finding it hard or impossible to find attainable housing—and that includes affordable rents.

If you didn’t have a home before the rise in prices, this is a hard market to crack.

I ask people that I know—some very wealthy—if they could afford to buy the home they currently live in if they had to buy it today. To a person, all have said no.

So ,what do we lose when essential workers, public servants and public safety workers can’t afford to live where they work?

I would argue a whole lot. Instead of long-term contributors we may end up with people who clock out emotionally as soon as they are off the clock. Of course, this is not universal. I know plenty of people who don’t live here who care more for this place than those who do. But it’s human nature to give back to the place where you rest your head at night. It would also be natural to quit your job in Palm Beach County if you can find something closer to your home in Palm Bay or Port St. Lucie.

But if your workforce lives locally, they often serve that community and care about that community in myriad ways. They may coach youth sports, they may serve on their homeowner’s association board, or volunteer for a local nonprofit. They get involved in schools because their kids are being educated where they live, not where they work.

I think the holy grail for a city is to create a place that people love. If you fall in love with your city, you commit to that place, you invest your time, charitable dollars and soul in that city’s success. It becomes more than just a place where you work and leave for that long drive home, it becomes home.

I was fortunate to serve with a team of city department heads and staff that lived, worked and played in Delray. Because they lived here or nearby, their hearts were here too. They were long-term players who devoted their careers to this place.

I remember being a young reporter and covering Mayor Tom Lynch and the commission he led. Last week, I ran into former Mayor Jay Alperin and former Vice Mayor David Randolph at a charity event, and I started to think about those days again. It was the early 90s and one of the bedrock principles of that particular commission was to encourage home ownership. They formed a Neighborhood Task Team to dive into issues impacting neighborhoods. They talked about code enforcement, trash clean-up, lighting, landscaping and public safety. It was all aimed at stabilizing neighborhoods and encouraging people to come here and put down roots.

It was a sound strategy. And it worked. But today, it’s harder because the barrier to entry is daunting.

Clearly market forces and societal changes are playing a role in delaying the age at which people buy their first homes. People are getting married later and birth rates are declining too.

Another factor is that older homeowners with lots of equity or even a paid-off primary residence are a little less sensitive to the recent mortgage rate increases. Or they can’t afford to move because if they do so, their taxes will triple even with portability thanks to Florida tax laws.

But regardless, I think what we’re seeing is sobering and needs to be studied. As noted in a prior column, our area is changing rapidly. Major players with vast resources see our slice of paradise as an opportunity for more commerce, more luxury, more everything.

It’s exciting. “Change” my friends, is inevitable. It is not something to lament, but it is something to shape.

Hopefully, as we rapidly evolve, leaders will consider the price of housing, both to own and to rent as they shape the future. Because if we don’t find a place for our teachers, cops, service workers and young professionals we lose a lot. We lose the soul of our communities, the people who make a place, a home.

 

Notes:

Congratulations to Community Greening’s Executive Director and Co-Founder Mark Cassini who recently won the 2024 “Friends of the Urban Forest Award” for being an  “Outstanding Advocate”.

This recognition was highly deserved as Mark is indeed a champion of urban forestry and his organization does outstanding work in so many communities.

It has been a joy to watch Community Greening grow and thrive.

3 February, 2025 2 2 Comments

The Future May Be Here

February 3, 2025 By 2 Comments

I ran into my old friend Kelly Smallridge while attending an event recently at the beautifully restored Delray Beach Club.

Kelly is the longtime president and CEO of the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County. I did two stints on her board over the years and had the privilege of watching Kelly at work. Palm Beach County is fortunate to have her. She’s great at what she does. Her practice is economic development. Her job is to sell Palm Beach County as a great place to live, work, learn and play.

Kelly does all that and more. She’s also a visionary. She’s the architect of  a campaign called “Wall Street South” that has rapidly gone from dream to reality.
I was involved with the BDB when that phrase was coined and Kelly reminded me that when the term was first introduced it was often greeted with laughter.

Yes, we have sunshine and no income taxes. Yes, we have an emerging cultural scene and lots of wonderful beaches, but it’s doubtful New York City’s movers and shakers spent much time thinking about us as a place to do business or as competition for Wall Street.

But fast forward a few years and here we are. Financial firms are pouring into the area and Wall Street South is suddenly very real.

At the same event, I ran into Brian Seymour, the chair of the Business Development Board, and a prominent land use attorney at Gunster. In his roles, Brian gets to see a lot. And he’s seeing a lot. A whole lot of investment, plans, vision and excitement for Palm Beach County.

Early beneficiaries are West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens and Boca Raton.

We are experiencing huge investment in the office sector (once written off as dead), retail, industrial and residential asset classes. It’s something to see. You can feel the change that’s happening. It’s in the air.

I felt the excitement last week, when we caught up with our friends at 1909, an exciting business incubator/accelerator in West Palm Beach. The Carl Angus DeSantis Foundation is an investor in this wonderful nonprofit.

We have seen the group reach hundreds of entrepreneurs with an array of programs. They also build community, which is important for entrepreneurs.  They are moving into beautiful new office space in downtown West Palm, and we got to visit with an array of business owners who are seeing their dreams come to life while taking advantage of the support services offered by 1909.

At the event, we talked to County Commissioner Gregg Weiss who spoke about the county’s investment in 1909 and we learned that Boca Raton has invested as well. Both governments will surely see a return on that investment as 1909 grows.

The same week we experienced these meet-ups with people hard at work making things happen in our county, we watched with amazement a meeting in Boca Raton in which the City Council weighed four proposals to re-imagine 30 acres of their downtown, including their City Hall campus. It’s a multibillion bet that— if done right— has the potential to remake an already successful city. And that’s an important distinction. Boca’s leadership isn’t content to coast or rely on its past success, it’s striving and aspiring for more.

That will be music to some people’s ears and nails on a blackboard to others. But change doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game, you can evolve and hold onto your soul. You can progress and keep the good stuff too.

But it’s hard and it requires leadership that is not only visionary, but vigilant and sensitive to the needs and concerns of all stakeholders.

Often cities respond only to the loudest voices, which tend to protect the status quo. The need and concerns of existing residents and business owners are super important, but there is also a very strong need to consider the future, which includes people who will eventually want to live and work in your city.

It’s a balance. More art than science.

Watching the workshop, I was struck by the comments of Stephen Ross whose Related Ross company is a bidder on the project.

Mr. Ross (who owns the Dolphins) has gobbled up a ton of downtown West Palm Beach real estate, including old and new office projects. Ross sees this area as the next “Silicon Valley” and predicts that Boca will be the equivalent of Palo Alto in that scenario. He sees Palm Beach County as offering the “greatest opportunity” in America.

“I believe this will become the most important place in America, going forward, from a business standpoint,” Ross told the Boca Council.

That’s heady stuff.

Many regions have aspired to be the “next Silicon Valley” including our region with an effort called the “Internet Coast.”

Personally, I think cities and regions should aspire to forge their own identities, but I think Ross makes a larger point. We are rapidly turning into something different, something significant too.

Like anything in life, change brings both good and not so good consequences.  No doubt, there will be opportunity and lots of money flying around.

Recently, Lake Worth Beach, which has enormous potential (untapped and sometimes unrealized) received an unsolicited $355 million bid to redevelop its waterfront casino and nearby golf course from a group that includes Stiles Corporation and golf great Jack Nicklaus.

The proposal includes two Hyatt Hotels. Interesting.

In addition, the new Trump administration is clearly a factor in our backyard with Mar A Lago serving as a magnet for an array of lobbying and public affairs firms seeking local digs to be near the nexus of power—at least for the next four years.

Still, there are headwinds that we should be mindful of. Those of us who came decades ago or who are natives found an affordable paradise in South Florida. That is no longer the case.
Housing costs, food costs, insurance costs and divisive and often corrosive politics have changed the personality of our region.

Executives from Related Ross, including a young executive who grew up in Boca’s Mill Pond neighborhood but went elsewhere to build his career, promised to bring jobs to Boca so that future generations won’t have to head to New York and California for career growth.

That’s wonderful, it truly is. It’s hard not to get swept up when a proven visionary like Stephen Ross outlines a big (and I think achievable future) but it would be folly if we create a place that displaces those who can’t afford seven figure homes. If we can’t accommodate teachers, nurses, restaurant workers and essential service providers we will cease being a place.

Years ago, I was part of a group that brought the president of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group to Lynn University for a conversation. We had a conversation about success, innovation, invention and technology. It was fascinating. But at the time and to this day, Silicon Valley struggles with a lack of attainable housing.

We struggle mightily with this issue now; can you imagine what it will be like if Ross’ prediction comes true.

Affordability, insurance, mobility and fostering enlightened and effective leadership are complex topics. Ignore them at your own risk.

Market forces will prevail, and change is inevitable and often desirable. But smart leaders and smart communities plan, shape and lead the way into the future.

These are interesting times. Frankly we’ve lost a lot of ground relative to affordability already. But it’s never too late to course correct, prepare and innovate.

Here’s to the future.

 

Notes:

A heartfelt congratulations to Assistant Police Chief Jeff Rasor on his new position as chief of police in Manalapan, just up the street from Delray.

Chief Rasor served 22 years with the Delray Police Department and distinguished himself every step of the way up the ladder. I got to know Chief Rasor when he spearheaded the Criminal Justice Academy at Atlantic High School, a program the commission I served on championed along with then principal Kathy Weigel. Jeff created a great program that fed a lot of talent from the academy into service to our city.

We wish Jeff lots of success and thank him for his dedicated service.

Delray continues to mint chiefs of police. It’s a very proud legacy.

 

 

 

30 December, 2024 4 4 Comments

Traffic Blues

December 30, 2024 By 4 Comments

Traffic in Miami.

Around this time of year, many of us are feeling overwhelmed by congestion.

Tis the season for traffic.

Fa la la la …blah.

Yes, I am talking about annoying, frustrating traffic punctuated by bad drivers and pedestrians who are oblivious to DO NOT WALK signs that are there to stop you from being maimed by the—bad and good drivers.

Bah humbug.

Now I wish I had good news for you regarding this vexing topic.

I don’t. There are no quick fixes and solutions will require us to think differently; never an easy thing.

But I do have a few things for you to consider.

First, you are not sitting in traffic, you are traffic. We all contribute.

Second, traffic never gets better.

That may sound defeatist, but if you believe David Edmondson, a transportation planner and a consultant with the Edmondson Planning and Design firm in Washington D.C. building more lanes and more roads won’t solve the problem, in fact, it makes congestion worse.

The culprit is something called induced demand.

Here’s what Edmondson recently wrote in a cheery little article called “Why Traffic Never Gets Better.”

“In 1962, (economist) Anthony Downs wrote that there is a Fundamental Law of Highway Congestion: no matter how much road is built, the highway will end up congested again. In decades since then, the United States has undergone a massive experiment in expanding most major roads, leading to an additional conclusion: there is a Fundamental Law of Traffic Congestion impacting both highways and major roads. In both cases, congestion will return to previous levels about 5 years after a widening. This is the phenomenon known as induced demand.”

Researchers looking at this issue use a measure called “lane-miles” to get at how much road is being built. A lane mile is the length of the road multiplied by how many lanes it has—a mile of two-lane road is two lane-miles, for instance. Add another two lanes to that stretch and you’ve built another two lane-miles.

 

Studies differ on exactly how much new driving is induced when new lane-miles are built. But they all hover at around a 1-to-1 ratio: a 1% increase in lane-miles results in a 1% increase in driving. But some studies show a worse ratio. The more lane miles, the worse that traffic gets.

Double ugh.

So sorry asphalt contractors, we can’t pave our way out of this conundrum.

Here’s Edmondson again.

“Why this occurs is relatively straightforward. Traffic demand is based on the immediate cost of driving: gas plus travel time. Reduce the time it takes to drive somewhere, and that trip becomes cheaper. People drive more because it now costs less. But as more people choose to drive more miles, the cost of driving settles back to where it was originally. Congestion is where the road system hits equilibrium, its happy place. Congestion always wins.”

Double ugh.

“Congestion always wins” is a terrible slogan. I do not recommend that future candidates use it.

But yet we keep adding lanes despite 62 years of research that says it doesn’t work.

Why?
Because some people believe widening does relieve congestion and others believe that if you add bike lanes and transit improvements alongside the widened roads, congestion will improve.

This indicates that politicians and engineers are still debating science, or they don’t trust the studies.

One researcher who has studied the issue said this in a New York Times story in 2023.

“If you keep adding lanes because you want to reduce traffic congestion, you have to be really determined not to learn from history.”

Makes sense.

But does that mean there are no answers?

Before we trot out the usual solutions: mixed use development that enables people to avoid trips, investments in mass transit, congestion tolling etc., let’s acknowledge that not everyone considers congestion a problem. Some urban thinkers consider congestion a good thing.

Blasphemy!

Ok, wait a second, let’s unpack what these heretics are saying before we condemn them.

Charles Marohn is the influential founder of the Strong Towns movement. We once hosted him in Delray Beach where he gave an interesting talk on his views before a packed crowd at Northern Trust on Atlantic Avenue.

He never calls congestion a problem.

“It is clearly not,” writes Marohn.  “Within our places — on our streets — congestion is an indicator of success. As Yogi Berra reportedly said: “Nobody goes there anymore because it is too busy.” Indeed. The most successful places are full of congestion. On the roads we build to travel between places, congestion signals many things but, for me anyway, it primarily indicates America’s cultural — and the engineering profession’s technical — misunderstanding of the systems we have built.”

Ok, Chuck Marohn, you have our attention.

Mr. Marohn believes we have created a system of roads destined to fail us. His answer: “the only way to deal with it and still have a successful economy is to address it at the source. We need to absorb those trips locally before they become a flood. Instead of building lanes, we need to build corner stores. We need local economic ecosystems that create jobs, opportunities and destinations for people as an alternative to those they can only get to by driving.

For nearly seven decades, our national transportation obsession has been about maximizing the amount that you can drive. Today, we need to focus on minimizing the amount you are forced to drive. If we develop a system that responds to congestion by creating local options, we will not only waste less money on transportation projects that accomplish little, but we will be strengthening the finances of our cities. We can spend way less and get way more in return. That’s the essence of a Strong Towns approach.”

In other words, Marohn’s solution is to turn soulless roads into streets, so instead of building speedways we build places that include a mix of uses.

In other words, do what Delray did to U.S. 1.

Here’s more Strong Towns thinking from Mr. Marohn.

“When I suggest that we convert our STROADS back into streets — changing unproductive transportation corridors into platforms for growth and investment — the pushback I get is that congestion will become unbearable. If we narrow those lanes, bring back the on-street parking, take out the turn lanes, remove the traffic signals, slow the automobile speeds and welcome a more complex urban environment, somehow we wouldn’t all be able to rapidly get to where we want to go.

To this I say: AMEN!

We have spent untold amounts of wealth reducing the time spent in the first and last mile of each auto trip. The result: a nation of fragile and unproductive places, an economy subsisting on financial meth and other desperation moves along with a built environment that forces (let me emphasize that to reinforce the notion that having only one option in a marketplace is quite un-American) FORCES nearly all of us to drive everywhere we need to go.

If we began to unwind this system, converting those nasty STROAD corridors into wealth producing streets, we would have congestion, of course, but in this case, congestion would simply be another word for opportunity. And not the type of opportunity that benefits the global corporation that can purchase toilet paper for 0.005 cents over cost, ship it around the world on subsidized transportation systems using subsidized energy all while protected by the U.S. military. I’m talking about opportunity for real people in real neighborhoods.

Need a gallon of milk? In an America of Strong Towns, you can get in your car and drive or — if the cost in terms of your time or quality of experience is worth more to you than you would choose to give up in dollar wealth — you can walk down the street to the corner grocer. Today that is considered quaint, but stop wasting enormous sums of money fighting congestion and now that becomes a real choice. Am I going to sit in my car for half an hour on clogged streets to save two dimes on milk or will I just walk up the block?”

Intriguing.

Of course, none of this happens overnight. Or without significant political will that pushes back against NIMBYism and old ideas.

P.S. Some of this thinking can be employed to battle the lack of housing.

Want to keep your big box?

How about letting people live next door to the box? Or how about converting all those one-story post offices to mixed use by allowing people to live above that use?

Regardless, we need to change our approach to congestion and begin to embrace some new ideas.

Meanwhile, be careful out there. And please don’t walk on red.

Have a wonderful New Year and thanks for reading.

23 September, 2024 3 3 Comments

Looking at Boca…

September 23, 2024 By 3 Comments

From left, Mayor Singer, Boca Chamber President Troy McClellan and Councilman Andy Thomson.

Last week, I wrote about some of the amazing things happening in West Palm Beach.

I touched briefly on Boca Raton, but I realized that there is more to talk about when it comes to Boca.

It’s funny, when you’ve been the mayor of a neighboring city, people get antsy when you say something nice about another community. One time– way past my “sell by” date— I rode on a float with the Mayor of Lake Worth Beach in the Delray holiday parade.

On the float, I was given a t-shirt touting Lake Worth. It read something like this: “Lake Worth, Making Delray Nervous for 100 years.” I thought the message was cute and complimentary of Delray because it hints that our town is an ideal that others strive to match.

But apparently I hit a nerve and a local gadfly went after me on Facebook as if I defected to Cuba and declared my love for communism. Oh well…

As they say in NY…tough noogies. I like Lake Worth Beach. Always have, always will.

Anyway, Boca has been a friendly rival of Delray for years—with the emphasis on friendly.

Way back when, I debated then Boca Mayor Steven Abrams about the merits of both cities. We squared off in the atrium of a Boca office building and had a great time. The Boca News (rest in peace) even put us on the cover in boxing gear.

It’s always good when we can approach life with a sense of humor. National politicians should take note: just like Boca and Delray aren’t enemies, Americans shouldn’t be at war with each other either.

But let’s avoid the national mess and revisit Boca Raton, which is nearing its 100th birthday as a city in 2025.

I had the pleasure of attending a half-day CityLead leadership conference recently at Boca Raton Community Church. CityLead is a monthly event that attracts a wide variety of local leaders. Pastor Bill Mitchell has been leading this effort for a decade and it’s wonderful. Check it out, I promise you won’t regret it: https://citylead.com/boca/

Once a year, they do a half-day conference and I was finally able to attend as a guest of 4Kids of South Florida, a wonderful nonprofit that partners with the Carl Angus DeSantis Foundation.

It was a great day with lots of highlights and lots of takeaways that I’m still processing.

But one segment I got right away.

It was a 15-minute panel featuring Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer, City Councilman Andy Thomson and Boca Chamber CEO Troy McClellan.

In that short period of time, these three civic leaders touted why they love Boca Raton. They talked about the city’s business development efforts (39 publicly traded companies call Boca home), the quality of life, the fact that young people are flocking to the city for jobs (the median age of Boca is getting younger and is now 47) and how the city seems to have “aspiration” in its DNA. From Addison Mizner’s dream, to the brave soldiers who once called Boca home during World War II, from the IBM era to today’s thriving economy Boca Raton has it going on and these leaders were beaming with civic pride.

But they talked about the “soft stuff” too. Councilman Thomson spoke passionately about an effort to promote neighborliness and how he plans to work with homeowner associations and community organizations to encourage people to check in with their neighbors. Mayor Singer talked about the people who come to Boca and find ways to serve and engage. My friend Troy talked about community institutions such as the 75-year-old chamber, trusted nonprofits like the George Snow Scholarship Fund and the fact that even with 103,000 people Boca still feels like a community.

Pastor Mitchell noted that the speakers filled the air with positivity about Boca and never talked about the wonderful beaches, beautiful parks and A-rated schools. In other words, Boca has lots of good stuff.

I felt the civic pride and during a break I caught up with Mayor Singer. He was approached by several people who expressed their love of Boca, including one young woman who graduated from Boca High, went to the University of Florida and came home to work in advertising. She told the mayor she wanted to be the next generation of leadership in the city.

That short conversation captured everything—the holy grail of community building. You want young people to feel excited about their hometown. You want people to fall in love with a place and dedicate themselves to making it better.

Troy, Andy, Scott and Bill Mitchell all mentioned being stewards of their special city. They showed respect to past leaders who built an awesome place, and they saw their roles as making their city better.

Now I’m sure some don’t like growth; others can’t stand the traffic and still others lament the changes that have occurred. No place is perfect, and no place is perfect for everyone. But cities are not museums, they change, they evolve and if you work hard and are intentional they change for the better. But some things should never change: respect for the past, nurturing a sense of community, caring for others and creating opportunity for future generations.

What I saw at CityLead and what I know from watching and doing business in Boca for a long time is that it’s a strong city with lots of valuable assets and anchors. All those anchors and assets matter—the universities, the businesses, the parks, the beach, the schools, the nonprofits and the places of worship—but the most valuable resource is always the  people who call a place home.

People provide leadership, pride of place and aspiration.

Boca has it. And they appreciate what they have.

 

Mercury Morris

Dolphins great Mercury Morris died over the weekend at the age of 77.

Mr. Morris was a talented running back who won two Super Bowls with the Dolphins in the 70s and was on the team that had the “perfect season.”

Post football he had some legal issues that were eventually tossed and he became a well-traveled public speaker. As a rookie journalist in Binghamton N.Y. in the mid 80s, I had a chance to interview Mr. Morris when he visited Broome County Community College. He was my first “celebrity” interview and I was really nervous to meet him. In short order, I had a chance to meet and interview MASH actor Mike Farrell and Watergate figure G. Gordon Liddy. Farrell was wonderful, Liddy was… let’s say… colorful. But Mercury Morris helped to put these interviews in perspective for me. I remember him as being kind, intelligent and determined to share his story with young people.

I am a football fan so that was common ground and I got to ask him about the famed back field he was part of alongside Jim Kiick and Larry Csonka.

I still have the “clip” from that interview and I used the piece as part of my collection of clips to apply for jobs in South Florida. I liked how the interview turned out and I figured that editors would me more interested in the NFL than my stories about whether there should be a solid waste facility in Vestal, N.Y. or rural Conklin.

Rest well Mercury and thanks for the memories. What a football player. He was electric.

 

16 September, 2024 4 4 Comments

Vision + Aspiration=Change

September 16, 2024 By 4 Comments

West Palm Beach

I took a tour of an apartment building in downtown West Palm Beach recently.

That may not sound too exciting, but it was.

From the top floor we had a beautiful panoramic view of the downtown. My guide was excitedly describing what was happening below. I was swept away by his enthusiasm.

To the north he noted the site of a proposed Vanderbilt University campus, a $300 million vision that includes training the next generation of tech engineers and business leaders.

To the east, he noted the presence of Palm Beach Atlantic University which has an ambitious plan to maximize the potential of its urban campus.

We saw several sites purchased by Stephen Ross, the visionary chair of Related Companies who’s leading the charge on Vanderbilt, investing in gleaming new office towers and building new residential projects on sites that are currently blighted with boarded up homes.

Ross is a real estate legend.

And at 83, he’s chosen West Palm Beach as the place to cement his legacy. He’s making a bet that West Palm will become the city in a region that’s already booming.

According to Bloomberg, Ross’ Related Cos. owns almost half the office stock in West Palm Beach’s downtown and he’s building more.

But the vision doesn’t stop at offices, hotels and residential towers. Ross has also signaled that he’s going to be a player in everything from schools to health care. He has stated that he hopes to make West Palm Beach “a model city for the country.”

It’s heady stuff.

But we’ve seen examples of this before.

On the west coast, Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik is playing a major role in the growth of Tampa. We saw the vision of Wayne Huizenga shape Fort Lauderdale and Broward County. We are also witnessing the impact of entrepreneurs like Jorge Perez and Manny Medina in Miami. Their efforts have forever changed the trajectory of “the Magic City.”

So, what does this mean for those of us who call southern Palm Beach County home?

Well, certainly a rising tide lifts all boats so there will be benefits to the maturation of West Palm Beach.

But like any “renaissance” there will be winners and losers.

As noted before in this space, building and maintaining economies and cities is a complex endeavor with lots of moving parts. It’s part art and part science. There’s also a need for serendipity, which is always welcome, but can’t be counted on or plugged into a spreadsheet.

Never underestimate the magic. It may or may not visit, but it tends to be fleeting so you need to take be ready and take advantage of it when it arrives.

Still, there are also lots of unintended consequences when cities transform—some are happy, and some are not.

When catalytic entrepreneurs with vision, guts, capital and smarts show up and decide to make a splash there’s sure to be a ripple effect.

We will most likely see job creation.

Hopefully, we will see increased philanthropy.

We will benefit in a myriad of ways from the newcomers who will be attracted to all the excitement.

For those of us already here, we may see and seize opportunities. But others will be left behind. And we need to be aware of the communities at risk.

Hopefully, these mavericks and those who follow in their wake will be creating a community in which our children will sense opportunity and want to come home after going away to college. I never felt it made any sense to spend billions on pre-K through university level education only to see our best and brightest leave because they don’t see opportunity here at home.

But there are downsides as well to transformational change.

We will need to be mindful of the environment and ensure that as we urbanize, we make sure to preserve open space. (Hey governor, leave the parks alone).

It’s good to see growth happening in the urban core of West Palm. It beats sprawl, which is bad for the environment and creates traffic.

We already struggle—mightily–with affordability. And as the county attracts investment above and beyond what Mr. Ross is doing, we are likely to see even more upward pressure on housing prices.

There will be a need to preserve neighborhoods from the threat of displacement and we must find a way to house our workforce. If your essential workers can’t afford to live here, you don’t have a community, you have a theme park for rich people. (I think I saw that phrase somewhere and  I agree with it.)

As a proud resident of Southern Palm Beach County, I applaud West Palm’s transformation. I’m rooting for that city and it’s Mayor Keith James. He’s a good guy.

But I also hope and expect that our neck of the woods will find its own path forward. We certainly have unlimited potential.

Boca Raton has a robust economic development program, a business-friendly City Council, an extraordinary Chamber of Commerce, an excellent research park, top tier office product, one of the best malls in the nation, FAU, Lynn University, Palm Beach State College, a world class resort, an airport and a Brightline station.

Boca is also pondering a new downtown government campus that could reinvigorate the area. Some council members are talking about the redevelopment of the campus as a billion dollar plus project. Then there’s the continued development of The Center for the Arts & Innovation at Mizner Park, an ambitious effort that has enormous upside potential. In addition, Boca is experiencing a residential housing boom with several multifamily projects working their way through the approval process.

As for Delray, when I think about the future my mind goes back to the city’s Cultural Plan which was done about 20 years ago.

In that plan, the consultant noted that Delray needed to find its place in the cultural landscape. It was recommended that the city not compete with West Palm’s Kravis Center or the Broward Center for the Performing Arts but rather carve its own niche by offering unique and intimate cultural opportunities. The larger point is you need to find your  positioning in the marketplace based on local sensibilities (and sensitivities, i.e. no tall buildings), what’s possible and perhaps what’s missing.

With West Palm and Palm Beach Gardens anchoring the northern part of the county and Boca off to the races, where does Delray fit in?

That’s the challenge and the opportunity. I do know that the best way to determine the path forward is to engage the community in a visioning process. It’s been a while since we’ve had one.

I also know that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. You can’t control the market, but you can shape your own destiny.

Thoughts…

Do you ever scroll social media when you are on a boring call?

I admit that I do, sometimes anyway.

That’s what I was doing last week when I came across a post from a former teacher of mine who announced that he had just lost his wife hours earlier to Alzheimer’s.

This was not just any teacher; this was my favorite teacher. I had him in 4th grade and incredibly we are still in touch although I haven’t seen him in person since 1973.

Back then, he was a young teacher just starting out. He left an impression on all of us. He stayed in touch with many of my classmates and a whole lot of other students he impacted during a career that saw him scale great heights as a principal and administrator.

I enjoy following his adventures on social media. Trips to great locations, ski vacations and family celebrations always with his beautiful wife alongside him.

Even though I never met her, I did feel I kind of knew her. She must have been awesome because my friend is very special.

I knew they met as teenagers. He went to her Sweet 16 and their first date was a Billy Joel show back when he was playing Long Island bars and bowling alleys. My friend’s wife went to school with Billy.

Over the years, we tried and failed to get together during my infrequent trips home to Long Island. It just never worked out. That saddens me, because I would really love to be in the same room with this special teacher and learn even more about his life. I can’t pinpoint the exact lessons he imparted when I was a kid, all I know is I learned a lot and had a good time.

It was around 4th grade that I fell in love with writing. I’m sure my teacher encouraged me, that’s what great teachers do.

I didn’t know my friend’s wife had Alzheimer’s. What an awful disease, you end up losing people twice. My heart aches for him and all those struggling with this disease.

 

Remembering Johnny Pun

Johnny Pun

Also on social media, I saw this post from the Delray Beach Police Department honoring Officer Johnny Pun on the 19th anniversary of his death. Johnny was a friend of mine. During my newspaper days, I rode with him many times on midnight warrant sweeps etc.

Johnny had an infectious smile, an expansive view of what a police officer can mean to a community and was a lot of fun to be around. Here’s what our PD said. It’s a beautiful tribute.

Honoring the Memory of Officer Jean “Johnny” Pun

This week, we take a moment to honor and remember a true hero, Officer Jean “Johnny” Pun, who tragically passed away on September 10, 2005, in an off-duty motor vehicle accident. Officer Pun was more than just a colleague; he was a cherished friend, a source of strength, and a leader within our community.

Officer Pun made an incredible impact in Delray Beach, especially in fostering connections between law enforcement and the city’s Haitian population and youth. His dedication to community policing and building trust with residents set him apart, creating a lasting bond that continues to inspire us today.

Officer “Johnny” Pun’s legacy is one of unity, love, and compassion—values that continue to guide us in serving this great community. We will forever carry his memory in our hearts.

9/11/

From Morning Brew: “Last week, New York officials revealed a sobering statistic: For the first time, more FDNY first responders have died from their exposure to toxins at Ground Zero (370) than were killed on the day of the attacks (343), including 28 in the past year. Union leaders are imploring Congress to extend funding for the World Trade Center Health Program, which runs out in 2028, through 2090, to ensure that every survivor can receive care.

The FDNY said urgency is needed before 9/11 fades from people’s memories: It soon plans to hire people born after Sept. 11, 2001.”

We must never forget.

And I don’t think we will.

On Sept. 11 I was at a meeting at FAU’s Schmidt College of Medicine. Before we began our meeting, one of the participants asked us to pause to think about those we lost on that fateful day. He asked whether we knew anyone personally who perished in the attack. Three of the four meeting participants said they did lose someone they knew. I guess they call that “Six Degrees of Separation”.

We lost 3,000 plus people and yet our small group had personal connections. Very powerful indeed.

Michael Boyle, NYFD, your classmates will always remember you.

 

 

 

6 September, 2024 2 2 Comments

Cities (Updated)

September 6, 2024 By 2 Comments

The Block 40 Food Hall In downtown Hollywood.

We took a brief staycation recently after a hectic few weeks and I have to say it does your soul a favor to take a break from it all. Even for a day.
We went to Hollywood Beach, a 45 minute drive from Delray and spent a day and a night at the Diplomat Resort on the ocean.
It’s fairly reasonable this time of year, despite the $17 drinks.
Hollywood is an interesting city with “good bones” as they say courtesy of its visionary founder Joe Young. There’s a walkable downtown, a magnificent beach and a few traffic circles that will keep you on your toes if you’re driving.
We checked out the new Block 40 Food Hall, a good example of adaptive reuse. The food hall occupies the building that once housed the historic Great Southern Hotel, built by Young 100 years ago to house workers who were building his dream. If you’re a film buff, you may recognize the hotel from its appearance in “Midnight Cowboy.”
We dined at Lux Burger, watched Delray’s Coco Gauff play at the U.S. Open and then took a walk around town.
My wife Diane was a young planner who worked for the City of Hollywood at the start of her career so it was interesting to hear her talk about the changes that have occurred since the 80s.
There’s lots of development happening in Hollywood—high rises..a very different vision than Delray’s.
I like our scale, but there’s room for different styles and visions.
I believe cities need their own visions and “positioning” so to speak. Variety is truly the spice of life. It’s nice that South Florida has a wide variety of cities.
I’ve always been fascinated by Hollywood, Pompano Beach and Lake Worth Beach…Boca, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm too.
I see those cities as places with lots of potential. It’s been interesting to see their progress or lack thereof. It’s been interesting to see the changes that have occurred since I discovered these cities after moving to South Florida in 1987.
I like cities that have “grids”, traditional downtowns, lots of amenities and natural gifts such as beautiful beaches or lakes like Lake Ida. Lake Ida is so underrated.
Which in a roundabout way, brings me back to Hollywood.
We spoke to a bartender who lives downtown and she thinks the city will become the “new” Miami.
Maybe. I don’t know.
I don’t know enough about the politics to understand the contours of Hollywood’s aspirations.
But walking around the downtown I felt the potential, but also saw the challenges of creating a vibrant downtown.
It’s not an easy endeavor.
There are some formulas—events to bring people downtown, accessible parking, decorative street lights, culture, a good mix of restaurants and retail—but you need some magic too. You need some chemistry: I can’t quite explain it. But I have seen it!
Delray managed to make it happen—the result of a lot of years, a lot of investment and a lot of people rowing in the same direction and taking risks.
Sometimes those risks work, and sometimes they don’t. But if you learn from the experiments that fail, you’ll find a way forward.
Years ago, when Delray was striving mightily to revive the downtown, someone —I can’t remember who— said something that stuck with me.
“Downtown will never be done.”
In other words, you can’t ever declare victory; you have to keep at it.
It’s a simple statement but profound nonetheless. There is a tendency to get complacent when you achieve a certain level of success.
But you can’t. Complacency is a killer. In every aspect of life.
The second statement I remember from those days was that “downtown is the heart of the city, without a healthy heart, the city will struggle.”
How true.
The third statement from that era I can attribute to retired City Manager David Harden. He told us that our biggest challenge would be surviving success.
Truth is, I wasn’t sure what he meant at the time. I thought success would breed more success. And it does, for a while.
But success can also breed complacency and contempt. How much is too much? What fits and what doesn’t?
Does the success include everyone? Has the success priced out people who want to live here or who do live here and may be forced to leave?
I believe change is inevitable and can be healthy. I also believe that change is never easy or straightforward.
How do you change and keep your soul? How do you aspire and ensure that you are inclusive?
All of these thoughts flooded my mind as I looked out at the ocean from our room at the Diplomat.
The last time I was here, I was a mayor attending a League of Cities convention or was it a Florida Redevelopment Association meeting? I don’t remember.
But I’m still thinking about those very same questions. Still wrestling with the riddle of cities. Still fascinated about what it takes to succeed and what the definition of success for a city actually means

2 September, 2024 0 Comments

Cities

September 2, 2024 By Leave a Comment

 

 

The Block 40 Food Hall In downtown Hollywood.     We took a brief staycation recently after a hectic few weeks and I have to say it does your soul a favor to take a break from it all. Even for a day. 
We went to Hollywood Beach, a 45 minute drive from Delray and spent a day and a night at the Diplomat Resort on the ocean. 
It’s fairly reasonable this time of year, despite the $17 drinks. 
Hollywood is an interesting city with “good bones” as they say courtesy of its visionary founder Joe Young. There’s a walkable downtown, a magnificent beach and a few traffic circles that will keep you on your toes if you’re driving. 
We checked out the new Block 40 Food Hall, a good example of adaptive reuse. The food hall occupies the building that once housed the historic Great Southern Hotel, built by Young 100 years ago to house workers who were building his dream. If you’re a film buff, you may recognize the hotel from its appearance in “Midnight Cowboy.”
We dined at Lux Burger, watched Delray’s Coco Gauff play at the U.S. Open and then took a walk around town. 
My wife Diane was a young planner who worked for the City of Hollywood at the start of her career so it was interesting to hear her talk about the changes that have occurred since the 80s. 
There’s lots of development happening in Hollywood—high rises..a very different vision than Delray’s. 
I like our scale, but there’s room for different styles and visions. 
I believe cities need their own visions and “positioning” so to speak. Variety is truly the spice of life. It’s nice that South Florida has a wide variety of cities. 
I’ve always been fascinated by Hollywood, Pompano Beach and Lake Worth Beach…Boca, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm too.  
I see those cities as places with lots of potential. It’s been interesting to see their progress or lack thereof. It’s been interesting to see the changes that have occurred since I discovered these cities after moving to South Florida in 1987. 
I like cities that have “grids”, traditional downtowns, lots of amenities and natural gifts such as beautiful beaches or lakes like Lake Ida. Lake Ida is so underrated. 
Which in a roundabout way, brings me back to Hollywood. 
We spoke to a bartender who lives downtown and she thinks the city will become the “new” Miami. 
Maybe. I don’t know. 
I don’t know enough about the politics to understand the contours of Hollywood’s aspirations. 
But walking around the downtown I felt the potential, but also saw the challenges of creating a vibrant downtown. 
It’s not an easy endeavor. 
There are some formulas—events to bring people downtown, accessible parking, decorative street lights, culture, a good mix of restaurants and retail—but you need some magic too. You need some chemistry: I can’t quite explain it. But I have seen it!
Delray managed to make it happen—the result of a lot of years, a lot of investment and a lot of people rowing in the same direction and taking risks. 
Sometimes those risks work, and sometimes they don’t. But if you learn from the experiments that fail, you’ll find a way forward.  
Years ago, when Delray was striving mightily to revive the downtown, someone —I can’t remember who— said something that stuck with me. 
“Downtown will never be done.”
In other words, you can’t ever declare victory; you have to keep at it. 
It’s a simple statement but profound nonetheless. There is a tendency to get complacent when you achieve a certain level of success. 
But you can’t. Complacency is a killer. In every aspect of life. 
The second statement I remember from those days was that “downtown is the heart of the city, without a healthy heart, the city will struggle.”
How true. 
The third statement from that era I can attribute to retired City Manager David Harden. He told us that our biggest challenge would be surviving success. 
Truth is, I wasn’t sure what he meant at the time. I thought success would breed more success. And it does, for a while. 
But success can also breed complacency and contempt. How much is too much? What fits and what doesn’t? 
Does the success include everyone? Has the success priced out people who want to live here or who do live here and may be forced to leave? 
I believe change is inevitable and can be healthy. I also believe that change is never easy or straightforward. 
How do you change and keep your soul? How do you aspire and ensure that you are inclusive?
All of these thoughts flooded my mind as I looked out at the ocean from our room at the Diplomat. 
The last time I was here, I was a mayor attending a League of Cities convention or was it a Florida Redevelopment Association meeting? I don’t remember. 
But I’m still thinking about those very same questions. Still wrestling with the riddle of cities. Still fascinated about what it takes to succeed and what the definition of success for a city actually means. 

 

 

1 July, 2024 4 4 Comments

Pharmageddon And The Third Place

July 1, 2024 By 4 Comments

The iconic Huber Pharmacy.

Fortune Magazine ran a piece recently that has stuck with me.

The article talked about the death of the American pharmacy. A bit overblown perhaps, but intriguing nonetheless.

As the son of a retail pharmacist, I read the piece through a personal lens. I saw up close how important the neighborhood pharmacy is to the community. Losing that staple in the neighborhood is yet another example of a thread pulled with unexpected consequences.

The neighborhood pharmacy has been on the ropes for decades now—competition from chains, big box stores, online pharmacies and supermarkets squeezed the independents making them as rare as bismuth crystals. (Look it up, fascinating).

Sure, there are a few independents left—we have a few in Delray and Boca—but they are rare sightings in a world where Walgreens and CVS seem to fill every corner. While writing this blog, I learned of the permanent closing of the iconic Huber Pharmacy, a staple on Atlantic Avenue for decades.

But now the chain stores are having a meltdown as well.

Big chains are shutting down hundreds of locations creating a phenomenon known as “pharmacy deserts” which sadly seems to impact vulnerable populations the most. According to Fortune, in 2023 there were 4,550 fewer pharmacies than a decade ago. And the National Community Pharmacists Association said in February that several thousand more local pharmacies, up to a third of its members, could close this year.

We are not quite at that point in the Delray /Boca area, but I think it’s fair to anticipate that based on trends, we may see a few of our chain stores close.

My dad, long retired, but with a lot of experience in the field, has always wondered how so many stores could survive so close to one another. How could they be adequately staffed? Wouldn’t they begin to cannibalize each another?

I counted 9 CVS stores in Delray and 29 in Boca Raton. (I may be off a little, this was a cursory internet search), Walgreen’s has a similar footprint. That’s a whole lot.

In addition, pharmacists are under stress these days. There’s a term for this kind of burn out; it’s called “pharmageddon.”

Citing overwork and added responsibilities (vaccinations, flu shots etc.) pharmacists are fleeing the industry at an alarming rate.

All of this adds up to a lot an worrisome situation. Pharmacies and pharmacists are important front line health care assets, a critical part of our local infrastructure as we learned during the pandemic.

Competition, burn-out, recruiting issues, general challenges in the retail sector and relentless squeezing of profits by insurance middlemen are conspiring to pinch even the large chains.

And if the large chains are challenged to survive, how are the small pharmacies supposed to make it?

I find all of it sad.

Truth be told, I won’t be broken-hearted if we have a few less chain stores  although I would feel bad for the employees. But it’s the loss of the independent drug store that stings.

In typing that sentence, I realize I am part of the problem. I do shop occasionally at an independent, but it has been years since I’ve filled a prescription at a store that resembles my dad’s old Maple Pharmacy, which is still going strong in Smithtown, N.Y.

It’s not that I enjoy CVS or Walgreen’s, I find CVS’ lack of cashiers mystifying since I see people walk out of the store in frustration after being unable to scan items. What makes the chains alluring is the convenience—they are everywhere, even if that might be changing.

But I remember when we valued a relationship with our local retailer. I remember how my father and his partner knew every customer and how those customers trusted their advice and recommendations.

I did get to know my pharmacist at CVS until he disappeared one day. I hear that he’s back, but truth be told, I started using the drive through where I barely see anyone so I wouldn’t know.

Those micro relationships are important touch points. I used to know my teller at Truist, until they replaced her with a voice through a small microphone. She used to give my dogs treats, until one day she was gone. It made it easier for me to switch banks–I no longer had a relationship at Truist.

The neighborhood grocer was another fixture of a time long past. I think Trader Joe’s comes closest because their staff is friendly and helpful, a throwback to a more personal time.

Lately, I’ve noticed what seems to me to be an inordinate number of restaurants going out of business in our town. High rents, high costs of goods, difficulty finding employees, and tons of competition in a hard business leads to the loss of many staples. I will miss Cabana El Rey, I really enjoyed Zima and Christina’s is a major loss—it was a sweet place to meet friends for breakfast and lunch.

The common touchpoint was that all those places were independent and as a result we got to know the wait staff, the managers, the owners, and the bar tenders over the years. For example, I love the food at Papas Tapas, but I also enjoy waving to Papa who is always there with a smile.

Those kinds of interactions give a place soul.

And friends, we need a large dose of soul in our lives.

I find myself thinking a lot about what makes a place special. It always comes down to the unique threads that stir something inside of us. I find myself thinking about an author I admire who taught me that lesson.

Ray Oldenberg was an urban sociologist and a wonderful writer. He coined the term “third place” which referred to places where people spend time between home (first place) and work (second place). They are the places where we meet people, share ideas, have a good time and build relationships. When we lose those places—the barber shop, the diner, the coffee shop and yes, the pharmacy we lose a little of ourselves as well.

I’m working on a play about a third place. I have no idea how to write a play, but I am trying to capture what a third place can mean to a community. The joy is in the writing, the joy is in the connections we make. And the joy is finding those places where we can nurture our humanity in a world gone cold.

 

News and Notes

I was thrilled to see Esther Isaacs Williams win the Leadership Florida Distinguished Member Award a few weeks ago.

Esther is a wonderful community servant who has been involved for decades in Boca and Delray.

Here’s what Leadership Florida had to say about our friend.

“Ethel Isaacs Williams’ 30-year history of visionary leadership is positively changing communities on local, state, and international levels. She puts into action the principles that are the cornerstone of Leadership Florida. She currently serves as the elected president of The Links, Incorporated, an international not-for-profit corporation and one of the nation’s oldest and largest volunteer service organizations. It has over 17,000 members in over 300 local chapters. In Florida, there are 20 local chapters. The Links members provide over one million hours of documented community service annually. In the over 79-year history of the organization, Ethel is only the third Floridian to serve as an international president. Under her leadership, The Links have expanded national initiatives to include STEMReady, national mentoring for students, and expanded financial literacy programming.”

Congratulations and well done!

Have a safe and happy 4th. Happy birthday America.

13 May, 2024 18 18 Comments

Trying to Make Sense of Density

May 13, 2024 By 18 Comments

Worthing Place

Note: I’ve been involved with the Urban Land Institute (ULI) for close to 20 years now. It’s a wonderful organization with chapters throughout the world dedicated to real estate and land use. Over the years, I’ve been asked to work with ULI panels to help cities navigate issues and seize opportunities. I’ve had a chance to work in places like Winter Park, Tamarac, West Palm Beach, and Fort Lauderdale. Recently, the City of Deerfield Beach engaged ULI in a community wide discussion about density. I thought I’d share my talk since it focused on our experience with the “D” word in Delray Beach.

 

The story of density in my hometown Delray Beach can be told through the saga of one project: Worthing Place which is located on Atlantic Avenue in the heart of our downtown. My hope tonight is that the Delray story—what worked and what didn’t– can offer you some insights that might help your city as you move forward.

Worthing Place is a 6- story, 60-foot tall apartment building with some restaurants and shops on the ground floor. It is set back from the street and sits behind a small pocket park which has become a lively space to watch the hustle and bustle of a very busy downtown.

It features 217 units on about 2.4 acres, which works out to roughly 90 units per acre, or three times the current density allowed in our downtown.

The Delray Beach CRA assembled the property in the mid-90s with a goal of creating a mixed-use project that would replace blight with vibrancy. We believed that housing was an essential component to jumpstarting a downtown that had shown some signs of life after a very rough decade in which we experienced 40 percent vacancy and virtually no nightlife. You could have gone bowling on Atlantic Avenue in the 80s and not hit anything.

 

The RFP was awarded to a team of experienced local developers who agreed to build a public parking garage before breaking ground on the apartments and retail. That offer, to build a garage benefiting the public before building apartments, was seen as a key to the winning bid.

But the size of the project—it’s height and density—split the town into two warring factions.

The project was approved and the city was immediately hit with lawsuits that prevented the project from moving forward. The developers built the garage—as promised, but litigation meant that they could not build the actual project.

When I was elected in 2000, the commission I served on inherited the lawsuits—I believe there were six or seven of them—but we also inherited the division over growth and development that this project ignited in our city.

Delray Beach is a very special place—we guard our charm and strive to maintain the brand of being a village by the sea.

We don’t allow tall buildings, but we do fight over 3 and 4 story buildings and density is a very, very touchy subject.

Mindful of these dynamics and wanting to unify the community after the tough fight over Worthing Place, we decided as a city commission to bring the community together and create a downtown master plan.

We did a massive public awareness campaign to get as many stakeholders to the table for a series of charettes or public meetings where we could brainstorm, draw, share and learn together. Our goal was to plan for a sustainable downtown that managed to be vibrant while being respectful of property rights as well as the look and feel our town.

Our tagline for the effort was “Keeping the Charm” and that was the goal.

Mind you, that’s not an easy task for a city…my idea of charm or of a village by the sea may be very different from my neighbors. Some may want a vibrant, bustling village and others may want a sleepy village. But we tried to work together as a community to come up with a consensus vision and policies to preserve, protect and enhance our downtown.

We produced a large document…but if I had to boil it down to a single theme it would be this: “Design matters more than a random density number.” In cities, we often get hung up on dwelling units per acre. We should be thinking about how projects fit in to the fabric of our communities.

In the master plan process, we learned that density was needed to provide housing opportunities for people who wanted to live downtown, we learned that if we wanted mom and pop businesses to survive, we needed a certain amount of density to support those businesses and we learned that density was better than sprawl in terms of the environment.

But the key message was the importance of design and scale…new development needed to be attractive and ideally enhance the charm and character of our downtown.

What I’m describing is a great aspiration.  But it can be hard to achieve because design is subjective.

We came away from the Downtown Master Plan process unified—at least among the few hundred who showed up to participate. But when you have 65,000 people, a few hundred, while good, is not enough to sustain an effort to shape your downtown. So, we worked hard to promote the plan, to educate the public on why density– done well– was important for our community.

And for a while we succeeded.

The city won all the lawsuits relating to Worthing Place and the project got built. It was supposed to be the first mixed-use housing project downtown, but the litigation delayed things and it ended up being among the last to be built.

Many other projects— not nearly as tall and certainly not as dense— were built. There has been a massive amount of public and private investment. And it has paid off.

Downtown Delray has become a regional attraction, with over 100 restaurants, tens of thousands of weekly visitors and a very low vacancy rate.

But success comes with challenges.

Rents have increased from $5-$7 a square foot when I moved here in 1987 to as high as $165 a square foot for prime restaurant space. It’s difficult for mom-and-pop businesses to pay the rent.

When you experience success, it’s not uncommon to want to try and ratchet things back.

So, after I was termed out, a subsequent commission lowered the height limit to 54 feet, 35 feet on the avenue itself, and capped density at 30 units to the acre in most of downtown Delray. There are a few places in town where you can exceed that amount, but by and large density has been capped.

You don’t tend to cap things that you view as virtuous. If density was popular, it would be encouraged not capped. Besides, our language has changed—instead of encouraging density in strategic places to achieve civic goals, we are warning developers about density.

After spending a lot of time, money and effort trying to sell the virtues of density and great design—we stopped engaging residents on these topics and now every election cycle is about the evils of growth and development. We no longer talk about smart growth or good development; we only seem to talk about traffic and whether we have lost our charm.

Density has become a dirty word in a town that used it as a tool to become a national model for how to revitalize a downtown.

Now, I understand the sensitivities…I understand the frustration caused by congestion, even though we experience more traffic driving on multi-lane suburban streets than when we drive downtown where we can use our grid system to get around efficiently.

I am immensely proud of my city and what we were able to accomplish. But I also understand it is not everyone’s cup of tea. And I understand that change cuts both ways: it can be good, it can be not so good. But all in all, I think Delray did a nice job.

We don’t allow big buildings, especially when compared to our coastal neighbors, which allow heights more than twice as tall as we do.

Efforts have been made to limit massing and maintain the human scale that is our calling card. We narrowed US 1 in our downtown to make it more of a neighborhood and less of a highway. We improved pedestrian safety and we have created a year-round economy in what had once been a seasonal town.

 

But in many ways, even though others think we have done a good job, we are losing the argument.

City planners and new urbanists are often fans of Delray. I’m here, 17 years after being term limited, because ULI views Delray as a positive example.

But as the kids say when talking about relationships—it’s complicated.

When politicians look at our city and see their best chance of being elected as running against what has been achieved downtown because density was used wisely— something has gone awry.

So as Deerfield weighs its next move relative to density, growth and change…I would offer up Delray as a good comp. We are both a success story and a cautionary tale.

We succeeded because we revitalized what had been a declining downtown. The revitalization has stood the test of time—we survived the financial crisis, Covid, competition from other cities and changing tastes. I would argue that density done right—done gently as my friend Juan (Urban designer Juan Mullerat) would say–helps you build wonderful and memorable places.

I commend you for engaging with ULI and inviting the public into this process, much like we did when we crafted our Downtown Master Plan in 2001.

But I would urge you—from experience—to never stop engaging, educating, and learning together as a community. We stopped doing those things somewhere along the way…because after all politicians come and go. But the need to keep dreaming and implementing never goes away. That’s the beauty of cities. You are never done, especially if you get some kind of success. You can’t be complacent. Complacency is a killer.

As a former elected official, I know you can never please everyone. And you can really set your community back by trying. But you can and should take a long-term view and try and move the big rocks.

The best piece of advice I ever got was that elected office is a job to do, not to have.

You need to take some risks to move the needle and make things happen in your city. But you have to bring the community along with you…they have to buy-in and say yes. And they have to keep saying yes. That means a never-ending conversation about the future of your community. That’s the fun part.

I’m a fan of Deerfield Beach, I’m in the Cove for dinner, I love your beach and I used to have an office in town. So, I am rooting for you.

I’ll conclude by telling you what happened with Worthing Place.

It succeeded. It never became the blighted tenement that opponents feared would forever scar our downtown. Instead, it became a catalyst for activity and additional investment.

The restaurants downstairs have become popular spots…the apartments are coveted, and the garage is well-used and a money maker for the city. A few months ago, the company I work for, a family office, bought the building from BlackRock for over $100mm. So, you can see that the project that divided our town has a whole lot of value.

It’s a full circle moment for me and a major investment in our downtown for my company. I’d like to think that density —done well—created an ecosystem that remains an attractive place for people to live, work and play. Thank you for this opportunity and good luck with your wonderful city.

 

 

 

 

 

1 April, 2024 2 2 Comments

Summers Past & Service Honored

April 1, 2024 By 2 Comments

The Dunlop Maxply Fort was a classic of the era. The iconic racquets sell for over $300 online.

Note: We’ve been engaged in a little bit of spring cleaning lately and I’ve finally worked up the will to dive into some boxes that have been stacked in the garage for ages. I’m not a hoarder (well, maybe a little bit), but I do manage to accumulate a lot and until recently I haven’t wanted to go through these “collections” of memorabilia and mementos to see what should be kept and what should be tossed. I can’t say it’s easy throwing away articles I’ve written during my newspaper career or old photos, but it’s gotten easier. After all, nobody is going to want these things and they are taking up space so it’s off to the recycle bin you go. Still, amidst the litter of life, you find some things that you forget about. Here’s an essay I wrote decades ago hoping it would be published in Newsday, the paper of record for Long Island. P.S. I never sent it.

 

“8.09 acres at the southeast corner of Oxhead Road and Pembroke Drive from J-3 Business to D-1 Residential.”

That was the way the day started. One seemingly innocuous sentence, buried in a Newsday round-up of zoning changes.

But the two sentences stung me. The 8.09 acres at the southeast corner of Oxhead Road and Pembroke Drive were the most important acres of my childhood. They were the site of the Stony Brook Swim & Racquet club –the place where I spent six glorious and formative summers.

Somehow, I thought “the pool club” would survive forever. In a way it will, in the memories of hundreds of families who spent precious summers together in an idyllic spot on the north shore of Long Island.

Even though the pool club had been gone for years (the owner converted it into a summer camp), the grounds remained untouched. The club was pretty much the same as it had been during its glory days in the mid-70s. I had seen to that on my infrequent visits home. I always made sure to visit the club, park the car, and reminisce.

Oh, the 13 clay tennis courts were memories once the club closed. But the venerable paddle ball courts, the snack bar, gazebos and concrete kickball court all remained.

I knew every inch of that place—from the “Savodnik” tree named after my best friend’s family who loyally set up camp under it every summer, to the storage sheds deep in the woods where we would take our summer love interests to share that first kiss.

I knew where every family sat. The Mah Jongg players would sit underneath large umbrella’s shuffling tiles for hours and hours interrupted only by our anxious pleas for change so we could raid the snack bar for Charleston Chews and cold drinks.

Then there were the tennis players. They would sit poolside, sporting world class tans except for their feet. Their feet were white as the sand on the finest beaches. The mark of a serious tennis player was white feet. If you had them, it meant you were out on the court polishing your game; too busy to get a total tan. For six years my feet were as white as could be, covered by ankle socks as I wore out my Stan Smith Adidas shoes.

Over at the paddle ball courts were the middle age war horses with names like Murray, Stu and Herman.  They didn’t mess with tennis, preferring instead to duke it out on the paddle ball walls.

Paddle ball was a city game. We were in the burbs, but the tough men with the leathery skin could be found on the paddle ball courts. These guys were my favorites and I loved watching them risk life and limb diving on the hard concrete courts to “kill” a little black ball.

The paddle ball players were early heroes and I dreamt that someday I’d be good enough to compete with them. When that day came, it was much sadder than I thought. The old war horses were good, but we were younger and quicker. Somehow that made me sad.

Tennis was winning the hearts and minds of my little pool club world. It was the “tennis boom” of the 70s and people like Jimmy Connors and Bjorn Borg were bringing the country club game to the masses.

If you grew up on Long Island in those days, you played tennis.

As for me, I threw myself into the game with reckless ambition. I played about every waking hour.

And when I wasn’t at the club, I was out front of my Levitt house pounding the ball mercilessly against the garage door. I would do this until my mother opened the window and begged me to stop. I couldn’t get enough of the game. I woke up early, put my tennis clothes on and waited impatiently for my mom to get ready so we could go to “the club” and I could hit the courts.

Around this time, the pool club changed.

Tennis had its own caste system and status was measured by the type of racquet you used. A Dunlop Maxply and Arthur Ashe Head Competition were paths to instant popularity. These racquets exuded cool. They were, in a word, iconic.

When tennis kicked in, suddenly the four hard courts at the pool club weren’t enough. It was clay courts or bust.

When I look back—as much as I love tennis—the popularity of the sport hastened the death of the club.

The club’s owner decided to add 13 har-tru courts and to allow for separate pool and tennis memberships.

At first, the addition of the soft clay-like courts seemed to uplift the place. We were no longer a distant second to some of the posh country clubs in Setauket and Old Field. The not quite ready for white collar kids from the Levitt homes could match strokes with any blue blood this side of Poquott.

But the incision was made, and the distinction between “family swim club” and big-time tennis was uneasy.

Then it happened.

Suddenly, one summer, we were the oldest kids around. In fact, there were hardly any kids at all. The area was changing, getting older and younger at the same time. Moms were heading back to work, and a different lifestyle was taking root. There were different ways to spend the summer in my hometown.

When the reality hit us—that this would be the last summer at the club—we didn’t mourn.

When you’re 15, you live to move on. You never glance back. It’s only when you’re older that you realize how good you had it and how you wished you had savored it more.

So, we walked the grounds of the pool club that last Labor Day—every inch of the place recounting only that summer.

We did it every Labor Day and this would be no different, even though it would be the last time.

There was no talk of the grizzled paddleball players who left the summer before. Their time had passed, like a soft summer breeze.

Gone too were the pretty girls who used to walk from the pool to the snack bar. They started going to the beach and so we would we in our never-ending effort to find romance.

The Mah Jongg players traded their tiles for jobs, and we all went to the Mall.

I feel fortunate to have spent ages 8-15 at the club. I shared tennis with my dad, and we grew closer. I spent every day in the same place as my mom and my sister and that meant something. Even though we didn’t hang out, I knew they were there. We had a daily destination as a family.

I met three of my closest friends at the club, friends I’ve kept to this day.

And, quite possibly, I fell in love for the first time at the pool club (although the relationship was innocent and lasted a scant few weeks). Puppy love is a better word for it.

I feel sad that families don’t have a destination to go to everyday; a place to be together with other families. I always had a vision of myself staring through a ragged chain link fence, looking in at the club years from now— wife and kids tow— explaining that this was where it all happened. The beginning of an aborted tennis career, my first kiss, my first standoff with a bully. It would be fall, when I looked through the fence. The leaves would cover the faded kickball court. But it would all be there. The gazebo, the snack bar, even the Savodnik tree. All there so I could look back and remember.

Funny, how a zoning change can ruin your day.

 

Thanks for a Job Well Done

Retiring BPOA President Bob Victorin was presented with a beautiful painting by gifted local artist Ernie DeBlasi.

Last week, the Beach Property Owners Association honored outgoing president Bob Victorin for his lengthy and distinguished service to the 55-year-old civic association.

I was honored to say a few words of praise. In Bob’s case it was really easy because he’s terrific.

Here’s a snippet of my remarks. We wish Bob and his lovely wife Jan health and happiness in the years ahead.

“I was fortunate to work with the two Bobs, Mr. Victorin and Bob Sparvero during my tenure on the city commission. They were wonderful people to work with and together we navigated through some tricky terrain: several hurricanes, a comprehensive beach restoration project, design guidelines, a downtown master plan and my personal favorite —the great bike lane debate sparked by the redesign of A1A by the Florida Department of Transportation.

Through every issue, through every controversy, Bob Victorin exhibited remarkable leadership skills.

He was fact-based, kind, respectful and courteous. In a word, Bob Victorin is a gentleman.

That kind of leadership has almost gone out of style these days. But Bob’s style of leadership has been immensely effective. He has been a wonderful advocate for the BPOA, a passionate protector of the barrier island and an invaluable contributor to Delray Beach.

This organization has been remarkably successful because of leaders like Bob Victorin. Over the years, I got to know and work with Betty Matthews, Frank Boyar, Bernie Dahlem, Frank DeVine and Andy Katz.

Like Bob, they were strong leaders and wonderful diplomats. In Frank Devine’s case, he was actually a former Ambassador to El Salvador.

Bob followed in those footsteps and really helped the BPOA flourish in terms of membership and importance.

When residents expressed a desire to have design guidelines, the BPOA took the lead and created a template that was looked at by other neighborhoods in the city.

Bob was a participant in every citizen goal setting session we held while I was on the commission giving his time and energy to make sure we were taking the needs of the barrier island into consideration. He was a voice of reason as we worked with the state to redesign A1A, balancing the needs of businesses, bicyclists, and coastal homeowners.

My colleagues on the commission deeply admired and appreciated Bob. So did city staff. He’s a pleasure to work with and because he’s a pleasure to work with— he’s been incredibly effective.

I’m happy to say we’ve stayed in touch through the years. Elected officials like me, come and go, but Bob stayed on and happily remained a friend. We share a love of music (he once gave me a bunch of CD’s of his favorite songs that I still play)…. we share a love of community and we’ve enjoyed a cocktail or two through the years.

Bob you are a very special man, I also want to acknowledge your lovely wife Jan. As we both know, it would be impossible to spend this kind of time doing community work without the support of our loved ones.

Bob and Jan, Diane and I wish you the very best in the years to come. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.

 

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