How north county is growing: Seven-story apartment tower nears OK at Twin City Mall site

LAKE PARK — A seven-story apartment complex might rise on part of the former Twin City Mall site, which has been a weed-infested, sandy vacant land eyed by developers for decades since the mall’s demolition.

The “Northlake Promenade Apartments” plan triumphed over traffic and parking concerns from the Lake Park and North Palm Beach planning boards in early May, when they recommended that the Lake Park Town Commission approve it. It has the final vote on the proposal.

It would bring 279 rental apartments to 9 acres on the western side of the former mall’s lot, which is along Northlake Boulevard and U.S. 1. Its developer, Virginia-based AvalonBay Communities, also committed to upgrade the storefronts on the site and invest $1 million into beautifying its Publix supermarket.

The building would be the second-tallest building within Lake Park, behind the 24-story Nautilus 220 condominium tower off U.S. 1 about three-quarters of a mile southeast of the Twin City Mall site.

“We’re making it a place where people really want to be and congregate,” Donaldson Hearing, the agent for the project, told the boards at the May 2 meeting.

Lake Park has not scheduled a vote on the apartment complex, according to a town spokesperson. A developer has introduced an idea for Village Place, a complex mixing apartments with retail and commercial space, on the east side of the property, but its site plans have not faced a vote yet.

The North Palm Beach Village Council will have the final deciding vote on Village Place. The Lake Park and North Palm Beach planning boards have accepted a master plan from its developer, but the North Palm Beach Village Council is not yet scheduled to vote on the proposal, officials said.

Plan does not offer any apartments at more affordable workforce prices

Planning board members saw one glaring hole in the project: It does not offer any of its homes at workforce housing prices. Instead, the rental prices will match market rates.

John Buechele, a member of the Lake Park planning board, was the first to question the lack of affordable housing, which he said “would obviously be for public servants, school teachers and firefighters.”

Lake Park does not require developers to include any number of workforce-priced homes in projects. However, the Town Commission may adopt an ordinance to enforce workforce requirements toward the end of the year, according to a town spokesperson.

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Hearing said the developer met all of the requirements for the project, which didn’t include any workforce demands.

“There are just so many improvements that we are doing. … It just wouldn't be viable,” he said.

Hearing said the Lake Park and North Palm Beach market prices would “probably be lower rents” than those in Palm Beach Gardens.

The building, whose design Hearing described as “light and airy,” will feature 20 studio, 133 one-bedroom, 102 two-bedroom, and 18 three-bedroom apartments.

Its amenities include a pool, a bicycle storage room, a coffee shop, a co-working space, two parks, and garden areas. Arborists would also liven up the area by planting sabal palms, gumbo limbo trees, Montgomery palms and silver and green buttonwood plants around the complex.

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Planning board member asks: Is a sea of surface parking enough?

Evelyn Harris Clark, another Lake Park planning board member, said there weren’t enough parking spaces for the number of residents the developer hopes to welcome.

The plan includes 1.45 spaces per apartment with a total of 468 spots of surface parking, 20 of which would have electric vehicle charging stations.

Anders Viane, a Lake Park planner, said the town considers the area an urban site and wants to encourage walkability, so its staff found the number of parking spaces adequate.

“I understand what type of community it will be, but in all practicality, most households have two or three cars,” Clark said in reply.

Hearing said the developer is “exceptionally confident” that there is enough parking and that extra parking spaces at the retail storefronts would be available for residents if needed.

One resident asked the developer to either add a parking garage or take away some spots to reduce the “sea of parking” look.

“The development is not urban and walkable,” Brady Drew of Lake Park said. “The sea of surface parking surrounding the building makes this look like an extension of the existing strip mall.”

Complex expected to add more than 1,000 trips to daily traffic flow

Next, came worries over traffic. The complex is expected to add 1,204 daily trips to the flow of area traffic, which is already often in gridlock.

Mark Michaels, a North Palm Beach planning board member, called the traffic issues “the elephant in the room.”

“The problem is that currently, the traffic is terrible,” said Michaels, who said his son once lived in an AvalonBay apartment complex. “Things are just going to get worse.”

Crews plan to add a traffic signal on Northlake Boulevard at the western entrance to the complex and extend the eastbound left turn lane onto U.S. 1 to help soothe traffic congestion.

“It’s going to generate traffic. I can't tell you it's not. But it does it in a much more sustainable way," said Hearing, noting that the complex’s proximity to Publix and other shops could encourage people to walk more often.

He also said the project could have included 78 apartments per acre, but this has just over 30 per acre.

Michaels was one of the two planning board members to vote against the project, which won a passing vote, despite hesitations from the boards.

“It is incumbent upon our two bodies to make sure that we coordinate this traffic problem, because that is what’s going to get us,” Michaels said before casting a dissenting vote.

Maya Washburn covers northern Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida-Network. Reach her at [email protected]. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Seven-story apartment tower in Lake Park wins OK from planning boards