Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
WEST PALM BEACH —
Palm
Beach billionaire and former U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Greene is
snatching up properties in West Palm Beach, including vacant land behind
The Home Depot on Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, where he plans to build
an apartment complex.
Greene said Friday he expects the apartments to be rented by employees of the Palm Beach Outlets shops that are to be constructed at the Palm Beach Mall site across Palm Beach Lakes.
A plan approved by the West Palm Beach City Commission on Dec. 10 includes 548 apartment units, a clubhouse and a bowling alley on land where the West Palm Beach Municipal Stadium once stood. The 548 apartment units are expected to be priced at about $950 a month for a single bedroom, up to $1,350 a month for a three-bedroom unit.
The plan will come before the commission for final approval on Jan. 7.
“It’s going to be an amazing state-of-the-art complex that will provide fantastic rental housing for people who want to live close to the new mall development, right near I-95, near all the office buildings on Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, shopping and restaurants in a great community,” Greene said.
While the project was pitched to the commission as “luxury apartments,” Greene said the complex will fit in an area that he believes will improve once the old Palm Beach Mall is converted into outlet shops, which are expected to employ about 2,000 people.
“There’s no question if you go in a certain direction around the property it’s certainly not considered a luxury neighborhood,” Greene said. “But I think we’re building an upscale, nice apartment complex that’s going to be affordable.”
Greene, who purchased the 22-acre lot for about $6 million, said the area is near upscale neighborhoods, including the Land of the Presidents.
But Greene, a real estate investor who made a fortune on investments following the housing boom, isn’t stopping there. He also bought the foreclosed Comfort Inn at 1901 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd. for $6.6 million and converted it into a Ramada Inn with a “a major remodel of the rooms.”
“That’s a couple of blocks from the new mall, so it’s just another commitment to the neighborhood,” Greene said. “I’m sure I’m not going to be the only one who is going to be improving properties adjacent to that mall redevelopment.”
City Commissioner Kimberly Mitchell, whose district includes the proposed apartment complex, said it all sounds promising but “first we have to actually get (the outlet shops) built.”
The first phase of the outlet shops is scheduled to open in the fall of 2013, but demolition hasn’t yet begun on the old mall.
Mitchell said she was unaware Greene owned the vacant land, and she said he was not at meetings to discuss it.
“It’s great that he has interest in the city, and, from what I read. he has lots of money,” Mitchell said.
Greene, who lost to Kendrick Meek in the Democratic primary for the Senate in 2010, said he also plans to build apartments or condos on land he purchased across from Currie Park. That parcel is north of 23rd Street between Flagler Drive and Dixie Highway.
In November, Greene purchased 165 unsold units at the City Palms condominium at 480 Hibiscus St. in downtown West Palm Beach for $34 million. He said he plans to rent the units.
While Greene’s bulk purchase surprised some real estate experts, Greene says West Palm Beach is “a bit of a secret among other South Florida cities and people don’t realize how cool this city is.”
“The urban planning here from (City Planning Director) Rick Greene’s department and the mayor (Jeri Muoio), everyone in the city has been just brilliant,” Greene said. “The zoning decisions made have encouraged these beautiful apartment complexes that have really made downtown West Palm Beach an amazing pedestrian urban environment.”
Greene said he likes that Palm Beach County is less congested than Miami-Dade or Broward counties, and he’s looking elsewhere in the county. Last year, he purchased the Omphoy Ocean Resort in the town of Palm Beach and he also spent $3.7 million on the island’s historic post office, which he converted into office space to manage his various companies.
Greene said he also has properties in Lake Worth and Jensen Beach.
Greene said Friday he expects the apartments to be rented by employees of the Palm Beach Outlets shops that are to be constructed at the Palm Beach Mall site across Palm Beach Lakes.
A plan approved by the West Palm Beach City Commission on Dec. 10 includes 548 apartment units, a clubhouse and a bowling alley on land where the West Palm Beach Municipal Stadium once stood. The 548 apartment units are expected to be priced at about $950 a month for a single bedroom, up to $1,350 a month for a three-bedroom unit.
The plan will come before the commission for final approval on Jan. 7.
“It’s going to be an amazing state-of-the-art complex that will provide fantastic rental housing for people who want to live close to the new mall development, right near I-95, near all the office buildings on Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, shopping and restaurants in a great community,” Greene said.
While the project was pitched to the commission as “luxury apartments,” Greene said the complex will fit in an area that he believes will improve once the old Palm Beach Mall is converted into outlet shops, which are expected to employ about 2,000 people.
“There’s no question if you go in a certain direction around the property it’s certainly not considered a luxury neighborhood,” Greene said. “But I think we’re building an upscale, nice apartment complex that’s going to be affordable.”
Greene, who purchased the 22-acre lot for about $6 million, said the area is near upscale neighborhoods, including the Land of the Presidents.
But Greene, a real estate investor who made a fortune on investments following the housing boom, isn’t stopping there. He also bought the foreclosed Comfort Inn at 1901 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd. for $6.6 million and converted it into a Ramada Inn with a “a major remodel of the rooms.”
“That’s a couple of blocks from the new mall, so it’s just another commitment to the neighborhood,” Greene said. “I’m sure I’m not going to be the only one who is going to be improving properties adjacent to that mall redevelopment.”
City Commissioner Kimberly Mitchell, whose district includes the proposed apartment complex, said it all sounds promising but “first we have to actually get (the outlet shops) built.”
The first phase of the outlet shops is scheduled to open in the fall of 2013, but demolition hasn’t yet begun on the old mall.
Mitchell said she was unaware Greene owned the vacant land, and she said he was not at meetings to discuss it.
“It’s great that he has interest in the city, and, from what I read. he has lots of money,” Mitchell said.
Greene, who lost to Kendrick Meek in the Democratic primary for the Senate in 2010, said he also plans to build apartments or condos on land he purchased across from Currie Park. That parcel is north of 23rd Street between Flagler Drive and Dixie Highway.
In November, Greene purchased 165 unsold units at the City Palms condominium at 480 Hibiscus St. in downtown West Palm Beach for $34 million. He said he plans to rent the units.
While Greene’s bulk purchase surprised some real estate experts, Greene says West Palm Beach is “a bit of a secret among other South Florida cities and people don’t realize how cool this city is.”
“The urban planning here from (City Planning Director) Rick Greene’s department and the mayor (Jeri Muoio), everyone in the city has been just brilliant,” Greene said. “The zoning decisions made have encouraged these beautiful apartment complexes that have really made downtown West Palm Beach an amazing pedestrian urban environment.”
Greene said he likes that Palm Beach County is less congested than Miami-Dade or Broward counties, and he’s looking elsewhere in the county. Last year, he purchased the Omphoy Ocean Resort in the town of Palm Beach and he also spent $3.7 million on the island’s historic post office, which he converted into office space to manage his various companies.
Greene said he also has properties in Lake Worth and Jensen Beach.
