September 10, 2025 • 38 mins
A city like West Palm Beach is always changing, adding new landmarks that help redefine who we are. The city is also hard at work renewing what is already here through the efforts of the West Palm Beach Community Redevelopment Agency. Today we'll look at our nationally recognized CRA, what they're all about, and how their efforts are forming the West Palm Beach of tomorrow. With Chris Roog, Executive Director of the West Palm Beach CRA.
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Episode Transcript
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(14:05:04):
Welcome to the City Center podcast. I'm
Jerry Marcello. A city like West Palm
Beach is always changing, adding new
landmarks that help define who we are.
The city is also hard at work renewing
what is already here through the efforts
of the West Palm Beach Community
Redevelopment Agency. Today we'll look
at our nationally recognized CRA, what
(14:05:25):
they're all about, and how their efforts
are forming the West Palm Beach of
tomorrow. That's next on the City Center
podcast.
And welcome back. We have with us today
Executive Director of the West Palm
Beach Redevelopment Agency, Chris Root.
Chris, thank you for joining us today.
(14:05:45):
Hey, Jerry, how are you? I'm doing great.
Glad to have you here.
Yes, glad to be here.
Listen, what is the CRA and what is it
created to do? So CRA, the
acronym stands for Community
Redevelopment Agency. And this is a tool
that was created by the state of Florida
(14:06:05):
many years ago. I believe it's the, and
you may want to fact check that. I don't
know. So a lot of podcasts do a fact
check at the end, but I'm pretty sure I'm
accurate on this, is that it was the
Community Redevelopment Act of 1969.
That's when the state really sort of
(14:06:26):
passed the first enabling legislation.
Obviously, since then, there's been lots
of amendments to that law to sort of
steer and amend what CRAs and local
governments can do with CRAs. But
generally, that was kind of the point
where they said, "Okay, we have these
areas in the state of Florida that really
need help. They're what, no, they're slum
(14:06:51):
and blighted, and we need to
remove that. And the best way to do that
is we'll actually create these
agencies that can develop projects to
improve the value and quality of those.
And they'll be able to take the taxes
that generate from the increase in that
value and continue to reinvestment in
those areas. And so that's essentially
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the premise behind it. And a lot of
states have sort of the same model, but
that's essentially the idea behind CRAs
is that as their work continues over the
years, the tax increment grows, they
continue to reinvest that in the
community.
Now, the city of West Palm Beach, by and
large, is not a really old city. We're
only about 130, 130, something that,
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that, that, around that age. Is that, is
that a common thing for cities of our age
and size to have a CRA or is this
something unique for us?
I don't think it's unique in the state of
Florida. And I don't think it's that
unique, really, in other areas of the
United States. I mean, because you have
business improvement districts, downtime
development authorities, these are all
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agencies that are, although they may have
a different sort of mission, you
know, they're generally there to continue
to ensure that the place thrives and
grows and becomes, you know, great for
overall economic development, which, you
know, can include a lot of different
things. But CRA specifically were meant
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for that removal of slum and blight. But
I mean, you have over 200 in the state
of Florida.
Right.
So well, but what I would, what I would
brag about is that I would say that West
Palm Beach is best in class when it comes
to CRA's for lots of reasons, which I'm
happy to talk more about,
you know, I mean, that's,
Well, so, okay, so let's use a real world
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example, give me an example of an area or
a landmark structure or whatever that we
have basically rehabilitated and turned
into a beautiful, profitable
or livable position, a place.
Sure. So hopefully some of our listeners
(14:08:55):
have been in West Palm, but even if you
haven't been in West Palm for some time,
it's good to, it's good to kind of know
some areas where the CRA has been
effective. So let me
back up and just kind
of lay out some boundaries for where the
CRA currently is working.
(14:09:15):
So the city of West Palm Beach has two
series. One is in the
downtown city center
area. And then there's another one that's
on the north end of the city.
That's around the Northwood village area
for folks. And if you're looking, you're
like, okay, well, what streets are we
talking about in the
downtown city center?
For all intents and purposes, you're
looking at Okeechobee Boulevard to Palm
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Beach Lakes, north and south boundaries.
On the west boundary, you have the lakes,
right? Clear Lake, which provides the
water to the city of West Palm Beach, and
then the inter coastal on the east side.
So that square is essentially the
downtown city center CRA. And the larger
of the two based on budget and also just
general activity. On the north end,
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equally important, but also a little bit
smaller geographically. And then maybe
also it doesn't have the sort of size of
budget, which I'll talk a little bit
about later. Right
around 25th Street, you have
Northwood village. And just to the south
of that, you have
Pleasant City. And then to
the east, you have Curry Park, the
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industrial area. And
then the CRA controls,
or within our boundaries, I should say is
a strip of US one known as Broadway from
25th Street all the way up to the city
line, which is at 59th. Those are
essentially the two series. And within
those boundaries,
there's lots of projects that
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are happening that sort of fall under
what series can be doing
to your question about,
okay, well, what are some maybe
structures or things like
that that we've worked on?
Going back, I think the most notable one
is probably the
ordination that we worked on
with related. And this was well before my
(14:11:03):
time, you're talking
about mid late 90s, is
City Place.
I was going to ask that.
Yeah, I mean, so there is a long term
agreement there, you have
the community, the CDD, the
Community Development District of City
Place, that's almost like a
CRA within a CRA, it's kind
of an oversimplification. But they
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essentially keep the taxes in their
little area. And so the
CRA contributes to them through
agreements, you know, to help them pay
off a lot of the bonds that
went into that infrastructure to make it
what it is today. And
within that, you know, you have
historic structures like the Methodist
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Church that now became
the Harriet Himmel theater.
Right.
So that's one real kind of, I think,
marquee one that that most
of our local listeners would
know about.
I was gonna ask you about City Place. And
I was wondering if it was
something that I know City
Place is what now 20 originally started
about 25, 30 years ago. So it's
(14:12:09):
interesting to see that it
went through the process of rejuvenation.
If I recall, back in the
80s, that was a pretty rough
part of town. There was some very, very
debilitated neighborhoods
through there. And it turned into
what became City Place. And now it's
going through yet another re reformation.
So when you when you think about it in
(14:12:30):
that sort of context of
time, right? And yes, I mean,
the downtown area was, was blighted, you
know, during those the the
80s. And 1984 is when the
city actually created the downtown city
center CRA. So I have a the
original plan that in my office,
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which is really neat to look at, just
because you can see sort of
the evolution of the city and
everything. But you know, that's when it
was really created. And they had
calculated a lot of the what
the anticipated new tax increment was
going to be over time, which is really
kind of cool to look at.
But but yeah, I mean, you hit the nail on
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the head, everybody was
like, we need to do something
about, you know, this larger downtown
area, which had fabulous
bones, right? I mean, the city has
from a planning purpose, from a planning
perspective. And, you
know, for a lot of my,
my planning, my fellow planning gurus out
there, you know, it, we
really are fortunate when you
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think about the proximity of all of these
different assets within our
downtown and how it was laid out
in sort of that grid format, it really
sort of laid the success
for the city early, early on.
So we've talked a little bit about
downtown, let's take a
moment, look north, northwood.
Obviously, that was, I love going up to
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Northwood and walking through
and seeing the older shops and
seeing, you know, the signs on top, the
old post office, you know,
that was started, you know,
sometime in the last century. Lots of
cool stuff down there. But now it's
there's an explosion of
activity in the area. Tell us a little
bit about that. So two
major projects in the Northwood
(14:14:13):
Village area, which yeah, it's, it's sort
of like a mini, you know,
it's own little mini downtown,
which is great. And the main one, which
is on the very west
end of Northwood Village,
right up against the railroad tracks, but
on the east side of the tracks, just
south of 25th street,
it's, it's affectionately been known as
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the anchor site. And that's
because it was always meant to
anchor Northwood Village, much like a
traditional shopping center. You know,
you have these sort of
major anchors, and I think everybody
wanted it and still do
want to see some type of urban
grocer, which I'm happy to talk more
about some of the efforts to bring a
grocery store to the
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north end, because that is something
that's been a priority for the CRA for
some time now. But we
called it the anchor site, we put out an
RFP, and that has been under
development for some time now
by a company known as Emocorp out of
Aventura Miami. Great
company, they're working really
hard. The developer really has a fabulous
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project that he's putting
together that's mixed use,
you know, it has apartments, over 400
apartments, which will be a
good dollop of housing for that
area. And then a lot of over 60,000
square feet of ground floor retail that
is currently available
for small businesses. And then less than
a block away from that is
the Spruce. And that's very
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exciting because it's another, in
addition to the 401 with the district at
Northwood Village. So
it's, that's the name of the project on
the anchor site is the
district at Northwood Village.
But the Spruce, which is right next to
it, is 270 units. And that is a
predominantly a workforce
housing project, but it does have market
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rate units in it. So
that's a really exciting project
if folks out there are familiar with the
grand, which is in
downtown, done by affiliated
development, great developers, really
know how to deliver a quality
product to folks and sort of
meet that sweet spot of affordability
with quality. They they're doing that
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project. And so that's
going to be another, I think 117, but
fact check that number to 117
numbers on units that are in
that 80 to 100% area median income that
will serve and then the other
units are our market rate. So
I think you're touching on something I
think is really important
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to talk about. We are seeing
real giant leaps in development,
especially in downtown, a
very, very high end housing.
A lot of what CRA does is thinking about
affordable housing.
How important is it as
far as your overall philosophy for what
you guys do? It's baked into
the enabling legislation. So
(14:17:04):
going back to that Community
Redevelopment Act of 1969 and the law
that has kind of evolved over time,
it is spelled out explicitly that that is
one of the core missions of
CRA is to provide and work
towards that affordable housing. So much
so that we, when last
legislative cycle, there was a talk
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about sort of looking at the roles and
responsibilities of
CRAs and CRAs were sort of
talked about as being one of the main
vehicles for providing affordable
housing, which is a bit of a
badge of honor, especially for the West
Palm Beach CRA going back to
that best in class that I was
(14:17:46):
mentioning. You know, the mayor made a
very clear vision about I
want as much affordable housing
as we can. And he set tangible goals that
we have met and he's just
continued to add to those goals.
And the CRA has been part of that. And
it's something that I think
the board is very proud of,
it's something the mayor is very proud
of. And we're going to
continue to work for looking at
all kinds of opportunities to continue to
(14:18:07):
provide that affordable
housing. So to your point,
being that it's baked into what we're
supposed to be doing, it is
core to our philosophy and what
we do on every single day. You mentioned
earlier that you were
hoping that you would see food
stores and those types of businesses
moving into certain areas. Is
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that part of the scope of the
things that you do, saying we're looking
to break the food desert and
put a store here? Is that part
of what you're planning? For sure. I
mean, so think about true
city building, which it's such
an awesome time to be in the city of West
Palm Beach right now with
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everything that's happening
and just what people are bringing the
businesses that are coming
here. I mean, just the business
growth alone has been just off the
charts. And that's not just the big
businesses, that's not
just the financial firms, which are
awesome and all of those targeted
industries, but it's also
the small mom and pop. There's quite a
bit. I think, I don't know
(14:19:09):
if you're going to interview
Robbie, but he's the economic development
specialist for the
city. But we've been looking
at the business tax receipt data that the
city collects annually
because all businesses in the
city of West Palm Beach have to renew
this business tax every single year. And
we have seen it grow
almost double in about 10 years, I
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believe. So it started
when we started looking at it
right around, I think 2012, we were right
around a little over 9,000
and now we're close to 18,000
registered businesses in the city of West
Palm Beach. And those are bona fide,
like they fill out the applications and
they put it in. And that's
across the board. That's all
kinds of businesses, large and small and
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predominantly small
businesses. So when you
think about what's needed for
redevelopment, holistically, you need
those small businesses
as well as the big businesses and then
the residential. And all
of those folks have needs.
And grocery stores are one of those big
things. I mean, they can help with
attracting additional
businesses, they help with home values
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and all of those things.
So as we have continued with
our infrastructure work and partnering
with these developers,
identifying places where a
grocery store makes sense has been very
much in our wheelhouse as a
goal of the CRA and on the
north end specifically. So we're happy to
see a very much a renewed
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interest by grocery store
operators, so much so that they have been
taking tours of the north
end to really sort of identify
potential sites. Most recently, we've
seen actual investment by folks like
Tapatea Market. They just
opened on 45th Street and Broadway, which
is that US one corridor.
(14:20:59):
And it's fabulous. I mean,
it's been such a huge hit with the
community and you can see it
just by the traffic that people
are really looking for those type of
amenities in the north end
of the city. Now, we've talked
about Northwood, we've talked about
downtown. Does Nora count
as a district? So Nora is,
yeah, so we're recording is just before
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the Labor Day weekend. And it's so
exciting. It puts us out,
hopefully all the listeners out there can
see the smile on my face,
but it's such a cool project
because it is bonafide city building. I
mean, if anybody out
there has ever played SimCity,
that's very much what it's like, but it's
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real time. A lot of hard
work, a lot of great partners.
Big shout out to my friends over there at
the Nora Holdings, which is
Ned, Damian, and Joe First
with Place Projects. Great group of guys,
visionaries, and very
capable of getting the
job done. But let's roll back and
(14:22:05):
actually explain to
people what exactly Nora is and
what it was before it started. Okay, good
point. Okay, so sorry.
Nora stands is short for North
Railroad Avenue. So N-O for North, R-A
for Railroad Avenue. And Nora was a,
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essentially an industrial area. I think
we zoned it industrial
chic, but for all intents and
purposes, it was old warehouses, very
underutilized collection of
properties and lots that was
assembled by this group, those three
gentlemen that I just
mentioned, Ned, Damian, and Joe.
(14:22:46):
And they put together these lots and then
came to the city with sort
of this vision and this plan
for a renewed part of downtown with
quality places, retail
shops that they had planned to
put there in a mixture of hotel and
residential. So the whole
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combination of items that really
when you go to any great city in America,
you would find these
things sort of all together.
And then just layered a level of quality
on it that is open to everybody, not
exclusive to anyone,
and just done in a way that I think is
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going to be one of these
great places that you can come
and just enjoy the space or you can go
there and really enjoy
quality restaurant dining or
retail products if you're there to shop
and things like that. So
they approached the CRA
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back, I want to say it was 2001 on the
streetscape and the actual street of
North Railroad Avenue
and said, "Look, we would really like, we
want to make this a
quality street very much like
Clamatus and Rosemary, like what you see
through city place and
taking these principles that the
city has applied to our streets and
public open spaces, which is
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shade, ease of accessibility.
When you look at a curbless street,
people don't realize that
without curbs, you make it so much
easier for people in wheelchairs and just
kids and folks. And it
just has that very comfortable
pedestrian feel, wide sidewalks, all of
these things that are essentially
human-centric designs
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that when you get there, you're like,
"This place feels great."
And then from there, they just
matched, they lined the street with great
tenants and great spaces and
well-designed buildings
that just, you know that when you get
there, it's something
special. So that project to
underground the utility lines, which
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that's the other thing, these little
details that when you
go, you realize that you're at a special
place, but you're not quite sure why,
just go to a street.
And if you see utility lines overhead,
it's not that it's bad, it's
just when they're not there,
you notice when they're not there and it
just, the space feels really nice.
So they wanted to underground the
utilities, which we did, and created the
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streetscape with all of
those principles that I just outlined.
And the whole project was
right around $20 million.
But the way that we partnered with it is
that they were going
to do the investment,
but in order to get reimbursed for it,
they had to meet specific
benchmarks to show, to know that
at the end of the day, the CRA will
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actually see the benefit of that tax
increment that will come
to our budgets and then we can continue
to reinvest in the overall downtown. And
they did it. Not only
did they do it, but they did it ahead of
schedule. And so now working with the
business owners that
are coming to Nora and looking at
additional ways that we can
(14:25:58):
just continue to enhance the
redevelopment, the project is just so
exciting. And it's beautiful
in this hotel that is going
to be coming online. So definitely check
it out. It's right there at 7th and
Dixie. You just then
head due West when you get to that. So it
is a little bit of a
scavenger hunt, but that's okay.
(14:26:19):
You'll see the signs. They've really
outlined a good wayfinding so
that when you go down Dixie,
between Palm Beach Lakes and Quadrill,
you can find the Nora
District, but it's beautiful.
What's the timeframe for
that project to be completed?
Well, that's probably a good question
because I think Nora is
going to be one of these things,
very much like City Place, how it's going
(14:26:41):
through another growth spur.
I don't know that there's a
bonafide or like a dedicated date when
you can say Nora's done. But
I think that if I had to put
a pin on when you'll see new things
really sort of completed,
it's probably that 2027 timeline.
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But even like 2027, I think you'll still
see a lot of new
residential being under construction
in the Nora area. The hotel will
definitely be completed by
then, if I remember correctly.
And then from there, they're already
looking at sort of additional phases.
We're looking at the
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east-west streets. We did North Railroad
Avenue, but you still have
all these east-west streets,
like 7th Street, 6th Street, and all the
way up to Palm Beach Lakes
that also need treatments.
Absolutely. Now, you've described an
amazingly complex process of
imagining a change and all the
fine details that go into actually
(14:27:45):
creating that new look. What
voice do the residents have in
making choices or helping to either vote
for or to speak out against an idea that
you guys might have?
Sure. So one of the things that the CRA
board, the mayor and commissioners, which
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I hope people know how hard their elected
officials work for
them, because they work
so hard every single day. And I know that
because I talked to the
commissioners and the mayor, and
you know, there's not a day goes by that
they're not getting an
email or their phone call,
and they know that. But they're extremely
(14:28:27):
responsive, and they
work really hard to ensure
that they do a quality job for the
residents and business
owners. So everybody just,
please know that your elected officials
are working really hard
for you, really hard. And
at the core of everything that they do
and the tough decisions
(14:28:49):
that they have to make,
they ensure that community engagement is
part of that process and
part of what they consider when
those items come before them in a major
way. So much so that the
CRA, we on a quarterly basis,
we meet with community members. We have
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quarterly outreach meetings
with the historic Northwest
residents. We meet quarterly with the
residents of Pleasant City.
And we're at the end of our
budget and fiscal season where we adopt,
and so on Monday, we're going to be
adopting the budget.
And when we were workshopping it, I
(14:29:32):
really outlined three
inputs on how the budget for
the CRA gets set and how the strategic
finance plan gets set. And
one of those inputs is the
community engagement. So as we meet with
residents and even phone calls and
regular outreach that we
do, either it's project specific or just
(14:29:53):
in general or the emails
that we get, we collect that
information and it very much steers the
strategic finance plan and
it steers future budget years
to react and to respond to what the
residents are telling us.
So it's built in every single
day in the work that we do. And it's one
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of the major inputs that
guides the work plan for the CRA.
So are we saying that one of the best
ways to reach out and
have your voice heard about
a certain project or ask questions about
a certain project is to
reach out to your commissioner in
your district or? You can reach out to
your commissioner. I
mean, they're always there,
but it's also signing up for our
(14:30:37):
newsletter. We have and
sending notes if you have ideas.
A good example is we've heard for a while
that a lot of people would
like to see more green space
and things like that in the downtown
core. So right now we're
working with the planning
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department on a downtown master plan. And
that is at that's part
of the discussion with the
consultant of Ziskovich, which is the
company that the CRA is funding with the
planning department,
you know, working through the DMP update
about how we can include, you
know, and where it should be
included, the additional green space and
(14:31:19):
places like that that can people can
enjoy because that's
what folks are telling us. So that's a
good example, but things
like that. You mentioned
a newsletter. How do I get on the list to
get the newsletter? So
you should be able to go to
the website and sign up for it there.
Okay. That would be wpb.org. Yes. And
then we'll go through
(14:31:40):
the menus and find CRA and there's
information there. That is correct. Or
you can send an email
to CRA at wpb.org. And that goes to my
entire staff. We all see
it. And everybody knows,
you know, what they need to be responding
to and, you know,
we'll get you signed up.
That's fantastic. And so what other
information can
(14:32:00):
people find on the website?
So we have our strategic finance plan.
Okay. So, and we also have
our budget that's required by
state law. So all if you want to know
what is the CRA working on, it's all
right there, because
we cannot fund or work on anything that
is not within our plan. So we
(14:32:22):
hold that. That's essentially
our book of what we can do. So even if
something is not necessarily funded, if
it isn't in our plan,
we really can't address it. So we try to
pack all of our wants and
hopes and dreams into that
strategic plan. Obviously it falls within
(14:32:43):
the state statute. So we
abide by state law. But
if for some reason there's a budget
adjustment or there's something where,
you know, a project for
whatever reason gets delayed or something
like that, and we have it
in our plan, we can always
shift those resources. But if it's not in
that plan, then we can't shift the
resources to something
new. So we really do try to put all of
(14:33:05):
our stuff there in that
strategic finance plan. And then
the budget reflects that. So you can look
at our budget and then
say, okay, you know, I can see
where it lines up with the strategic
finance plan. So let's take a look into
the future. Obviously,
you got a lot of stuff going on right
now. Lots of really amazing projects
underway. Give us a peek
(14:33:26):
into the crystal ball. What kind of
things can we look
forward to in the next 10 years?
So let's first talk about what we've
accomplished, right? So we look at
Klamata Street, which, you know, I view
that as a success because
(14:33:47):
it really is best in class,
you know, streetscape. And when we did
that project, that sent a
very strong signal to the
private sector who has embraced it
wholeheartedly to the point where that's
why you see it through
City Place. That's why you see it through
Nora. And you'll see it
(14:34:08):
again here on Chase and Trinity.
There's right next to Palm Beach Atlantic
University where one
Flagler was just completed.
That's where Chase Street is. It
intersects with Lakeview and Okeechobee
Boulevard. That will be
a streetscape project. We have seen
tremendous success in
investing in that infrastructure of
(14:34:29):
those streetscapes with enhanced
investment, which again is
at the core of the CRA and the
attractiveness of bringing more people to
the area in a real
redevelopment fashion. So you'll see
(14:34:49):
a lot more streetscape projects that just
continue to enhance
walkability, encourage people to
have those safe, comfortable connections
through our downtown and
even outside of our downtown.
I mean, when we start looking at, you
know, areas in Northwood
Village and what we're doing in
Curry Park and connecting Northwood
(14:35:11):
Village to the $35 million
investment of Curry Park,
you know, we want that safe, comfortable
connection to Curry
Park. So, you know, it's
not just in the downtown. It's really
throughout the city where I think you'll
see those principles
applied. So in the foreseeable future,
(14:35:33):
those streetscapes will
continue if people are like,
"Okay, well, give me something a little
more specific. I think you
can plan on seeing Rosemary
Avenue from Avernia Street all the way up
to 11th." So that's north
of the Sunset Lounge, which
if anybody hasn't heard of the Sunset
(14:35:53):
Lounge, we'll have an open
house November 7th, which is
really exciting. Yes. And then Sola in
the City will be there
shortly after. So it'll actually be,
people will go there and actually enjoy a
show. But yeah, I mean,
the streetscape for Rosemary
will be done. And that'll be another big
(14:36:13):
streetscape project.
Tamron Avenue, finishing
that from 7th Street to Palm Beach Lakes
will also be part of it.
And then we're starting,
like I mentioned with Nora, the east-west
streets throughout
the historic northwest,
looking at those as well. And that really
will help the residents
(14:36:34):
with wider sidewalks and more
lighting and shade trees where we can
plant them and things
like that. So I would say the
biggest one is really the streetscape
program. In addition to that, affordable
housing will just be
at the forefront. And those are just two
(14:36:54):
main bread and butter
infrastructure projects.
Yeah, I find a lot of people welcoming
that. For sure. Yeah. And
really getting creative with
interesting places where you could put
that affordable housing. I mean,
that's what's so much fun about the
planning aspect and
looking at areas that maybe are
(14:37:15):
publicly owned, where you can find these
sort of nooks and crannies to
do creative housing projects.
And luckily, the CRA has the tools to do
that. And right now, the
need is so great that I think
it allows for that innovative approach to
affordable housing,
which we are wholeheartedly
embracing. So I think you'll see a lot of
(14:37:36):
that as well. And then
the last thing is just,
I think looking at ways to make West Palm
Beach more resilient and
sustainable. And I don't mean
that just from a climate standpoint. Of
course, that's very, very
important and something,
but also from a financial standpoint. If
you can get places and assets,
(14:38:01):
a good one is 415 Klamadis, where the
photographic center was.
Having these places start having
quality tenants and great amenities that
the public can enjoy,
they'll pay rent in that spot.
And that rent then goes to the city to
offset public costs. So finding
opportunities like that,
that can generate that non-taxable
(14:38:22):
revenue for the city will only provide
more ability to ensure
that we're providing the services
long-term for our residents and
businesses. So that'll be another
core part of, I think, the CRA sort of
helping to make downtown and the city
overall as much as we
can. We have to focus on our boundaries
(14:38:44):
or the areas within our
boundaries, but really helping
with these resiliency and sustainability
efforts. You undoubtedly
get a lot of feedback from
residents, from everyone involved in
these projects. If you
could gather them all together
in one spot and deliver a message, a
message to them that you
feel is most pertinent and
most important to deliver
about the CRA, what would it be?
(14:39:11):
Well, I mean, to have them, it's such a
diverse group. And they all have
different priorities,
but I think they all want to ensure that
the city that they grew up
in grows and becomes better,
(14:39:33):
but also does not sort of lose what made
it special to begin with.
And so what I would probably say to them
is we are trying to hit that spot,
maintaining the character, the beauty of
the city. I mean, I grew up
(14:39:54):
here. My dad worked at the
Bell South building growing up, so I was
standing on the roof of that building
when I was six years
old. And that's before city place, so I
know I'm dating myself
here, but it's always been a
beautiful place, and South Florida is my
home. One thing that
(14:40:18):
always made me sad is my friends
would move away, and I'm like, "Man,
wouldn't it be great if we just had a
place that nobody ever
wanted to leave?" I mean, of course, we
want to travel and things
like that, but just a really
great place that was very much like what
the mayor describes, right?
A community of opportunity
for all. I mean, that's it. And with that
people first designs where
it really sort of offers that
(14:40:40):
extreme livability. And I think we even
talked about that we're
doing another project, and I know
I'm kind of all over the place here with
FAU and the Center for Smart
Streetscapes, but there's
all of these efforts to really ensure
that anybody can live here no
matter what your status is in
(14:41:01):
life. And also that it just offers that
great quality and ability
to just live and work that
is unmatched to any other spot, and
almost becomes that model American city.
We've even had some,
I think even Mr. Ross was related, used
that. He's striving for
(14:41:22):
that best in class, that model
American city, which if we're all aiming
towards that same goal, you
can kind of see it sort of
manifesting with all of this. So that's
probably what I would say to
all of them. And I'm sure that
would just erupt into a big debate about
what that means because
everybody has it. But I think
ultimately, yeah, I mean, that's probably
what I would say. At least
that's our goal, and then
(14:41:43):
we can discuss what that
means throughout our meeting.
Out of further meetings about that stuff.
Yeah, sure.
Sure. Chris, you guys are doing amazing
things. It's a vision for
the future that I think people
are very satisfied with and very excited
about. And thanks to you
and to your staff for doing
everything you're doing to basically
(14:42:03):
create a new pathway for
the city of West Palm Beach.
Yeah. Again, happy to do it. Love it. And
if anybody has any ideas
or anything where you want
to kind of learn more, I mean, we're very
much an open book here at
City Hall. We're happy to talk
(14:42:26):
more and just, there's no bad ideas. We
may not be able to do them
all. In fact, we can do them all,
I mean, as much as we would like to, but
you never know what could
gain traction to sort of
make the city a better place. So thanks
for having me. And thank you
for joining us for the City
Center podcast. If you're new to the
show, you might not know that
(14:42:46):
we've been in production for
three years and we've got many past
podcasts available for
your listening pleasure. We're
available on all major podcast outlets.
Just look for the City of
West Palm Beach and you'll find
the City Center podcast. If you have
comments or ideas for other topics,
please feel free to write
us at podcasts at wpb.org. This has been
(14:43:09):
a production of the
City of West Palm Beach
Communications Department. I'm Jerry
Marcello. We'll see you next time.
Welcome to the City Center podcast. I'm
Jerry Marcello. A city like West Palm
Beach is always changing, adding new
landmarks that help define who we are.
The city is also hard at work renewing
what is already here through the efforts
of the West Palm Beach Community
Redevelopment Agency. Today we'll look
at our nationally recognized CRA, what
(14:05:25):
they're all about, and how their efforts
are forming the West Palm Beach of
tomorrow. That's next on the City Center
podcast.
And welcome back. We have with us today
Executive Director of the West Palm
Beach Redevelopment Agency, Chris Root.
Chris, thank you for joining us today.
(14:05:45):
Hey, Jerry, how are you? I'm doing great.
Glad to have you here.
Yes, glad to be here.
Listen, what is the CRA and what is it
created to do? So CRA, the
acronym stands for Community
Redevelopment Agency. And this is a tool
that was created by the state of Florida
(14:06:05):
many years ago. I believe it's the, and
you may want to fact check that. I don't
know. So a lot of podcasts do a fact
check at the end, but I'm pretty sure I'm
accurate on this, is that it was the
Community Redevelopment Act of 1969.
That's when the state really sort of
(14:06:26):
passed the first enabling legislation.
Obviously, since then, there's been lots
of amendments to that law to sort of
steer and amend what CRAs and local
governments can do with CRAs. But
generally, that was kind of the point
where they said, "Okay, we have these
areas in the state of Florida that really
need help. They're what, no, they're slum
(14:06:51):
and blighted, and we need to
remove that. And the best way to do that
is we'll actually create these
agencies that can develop projects to
improve the value and quality of those.
And they'll be able to take the taxes
that generate from the increase in that
value and continue to reinvestment in
those areas. And so that's essentially
(14:07:12):
the premise behind it. And a lot of
states have sort of the same model, but
that's essentially the idea behind CRAs
is that as their work continues over the
years, the tax increment grows, they
continue to reinvest that in the
community.
Now, the city of West Palm Beach, by and
large, is not a really old city. We're
only about 130, 130, something that,
(14:07:33):
that, that, around that age. Is that, is
that a common thing for cities of our age
and size to have a CRA or is this
something unique for us?
I don't think it's unique in the state of
Florida. And I don't think it's that
unique, really, in other areas of the
United States. I mean, because you have
business improvement districts, downtime
development authorities, these are all
(14:07:53):
agencies that are, although they may have
a different sort of mission, you
know, they're generally there to continue
to ensure that the place thrives and
grows and becomes, you know, great for
overall economic development, which, you
know, can include a lot of different
things. But CRA specifically were meant
(14:08:14):
for that removal of slum and blight. But
I mean, you have over 200 in the state
of Florida.
Right.
So well, but what I would, what I would
brag about is that I would say that West
Palm Beach is best in class when it comes
to CRA's for lots of reasons, which I'm
happy to talk more about,
you know, I mean, that's,
Well, so, okay, so let's use a real world
(14:08:34):
example, give me an example of an area or
a landmark structure or whatever that we
have basically rehabilitated and turned
into a beautiful, profitable
or livable position, a place.
Sure. So hopefully some of our listeners
(14:08:55):
have been in West Palm, but even if you
haven't been in West Palm for some time,
it's good to, it's good to kind of know
some areas where the CRA has been
effective. So let me
back up and just kind
of lay out some boundaries for where the
CRA currently is working.
(14:09:15):
So the city of West Palm Beach has two
series. One is in the
downtown city center
area. And then there's another one that's
on the north end of the city.
That's around the Northwood village area
for folks. And if you're looking, you're
like, okay, well, what streets are we
talking about in the
downtown city center?
For all intents and purposes, you're
looking at Okeechobee Boulevard to Palm
(14:09:37):
Beach Lakes, north and south boundaries.
On the west boundary, you have the lakes,
right? Clear Lake, which provides the
water to the city of West Palm Beach, and
then the inter coastal on the east side.
So that square is essentially the
downtown city center CRA. And the larger
of the two based on budget and also just
general activity. On the north end,
(14:10:00):
equally important, but also a little bit
smaller geographically. And then maybe
also it doesn't have the sort of size of
budget, which I'll talk a little bit
about later. Right
around 25th Street, you have
Northwood village. And just to the south
of that, you have
Pleasant City. And then to
the east, you have Curry Park, the
(14:10:21):
industrial area. And
then the CRA controls,
or within our boundaries, I should say is
a strip of US one known as Broadway from
25th Street all the way up to the city
line, which is at 59th. Those are
essentially the two series. And within
those boundaries,
there's lots of projects that
(14:10:42):
are happening that sort of fall under
what series can be doing
to your question about,
okay, well, what are some maybe
structures or things like
that that we've worked on?
Going back, I think the most notable one
is probably the
ordination that we worked on
with related. And this was well before my
(14:11:03):
time, you're talking
about mid late 90s, is
City Place.
I was going to ask that.
Yeah, I mean, so there is a long term
agreement there, you have
the community, the CDD, the
Community Development District of City
Place, that's almost like a
CRA within a CRA, it's kind
of an oversimplification. But they
(14:11:25):
essentially keep the taxes in their
little area. And so the
CRA contributes to them through
agreements, you know, to help them pay
off a lot of the bonds that
went into that infrastructure to make it
what it is today. And
within that, you know, you have
historic structures like the Methodist
(14:11:47):
Church that now became
the Harriet Himmel theater.
Right.
So that's one real kind of, I think,
marquee one that that most
of our local listeners would
know about.
I was gonna ask you about City Place. And
I was wondering if it was
something that I know City
Place is what now 20 originally started
about 25, 30 years ago. So it's
(14:12:09):
interesting to see that it
went through the process of rejuvenation.
If I recall, back in the
80s, that was a pretty rough
part of town. There was some very, very
debilitated neighborhoods
through there. And it turned into
what became City Place. And now it's
going through yet another re reformation.
So when you when you think about it in
(14:12:30):
that sort of context of
time, right? And yes, I mean,
the downtown area was, was blighted, you
know, during those the the
80s. And 1984 is when the
city actually created the downtown city
center CRA. So I have a the
original plan that in my office,
(14:12:50):
which is really neat to look at, just
because you can see sort of
the evolution of the city and
everything. But you know, that's when it
was really created. And they had
calculated a lot of the what
the anticipated new tax increment was
going to be over time, which is really
kind of cool to look at.
But but yeah, I mean, you hit the nail on
(14:13:12):
the head, everybody was
like, we need to do something
about, you know, this larger downtown
area, which had fabulous
bones, right? I mean, the city has
from a planning purpose, from a planning
perspective. And, you
know, for a lot of my,
my planning, my fellow planning gurus out
there, you know, it, we
really are fortunate when you
(14:13:32):
think about the proximity of all of these
different assets within our
downtown and how it was laid out
in sort of that grid format, it really
sort of laid the success
for the city early, early on.
So we've talked a little bit about
downtown, let's take a
moment, look north, northwood.
Obviously, that was, I love going up to
(14:13:52):
Northwood and walking through
and seeing the older shops and
seeing, you know, the signs on top, the
old post office, you know,
that was started, you know,
sometime in the last century. Lots of
cool stuff down there. But now it's
there's an explosion of
activity in the area. Tell us a little
bit about that. So two
major projects in the Northwood
(14:14:13):
Village area, which yeah, it's, it's sort
of like a mini, you know,
it's own little mini downtown,
which is great. And the main one, which
is on the very west
end of Northwood Village,
right up against the railroad tracks, but
on the east side of the tracks, just
south of 25th street,
it's, it's affectionately been known as
(14:14:34):
the anchor site. And that's
because it was always meant to
anchor Northwood Village, much like a
traditional shopping center. You know,
you have these sort of
major anchors, and I think everybody
wanted it and still do
want to see some type of urban
grocer, which I'm happy to talk more
about some of the efforts to bring a
grocery store to the
(14:14:54):
north end, because that is something
that's been a priority for the CRA for
some time now. But we
called it the anchor site, we put out an
RFP, and that has been under
development for some time now
by a company known as Emocorp out of
Aventura Miami. Great
company, they're working really
hard. The developer really has a fabulous
(14:15:16):
project that he's putting
together that's mixed use,
you know, it has apartments, over 400
apartments, which will be a
good dollop of housing for that
area. And then a lot of over 60,000
square feet of ground floor retail that
is currently available
for small businesses. And then less than
a block away from that is
the Spruce. And that's very
(14:15:37):
exciting because it's another, in
addition to the 401 with the district at
Northwood Village. So
it's, that's the name of the project on
the anchor site is the
district at Northwood Village.
But the Spruce, which is right next to
it, is 270 units. And that is a
predominantly a workforce
housing project, but it does have market
(14:16:00):
rate units in it. So
that's a really exciting project
if folks out there are familiar with the
grand, which is in
downtown, done by affiliated
development, great developers, really
know how to deliver a quality
product to folks and sort of
meet that sweet spot of affordability
with quality. They they're doing that
(14:16:22):
project. And so that's
going to be another, I think 117, but
fact check that number to 117
numbers on units that are in
that 80 to 100% area median income that
will serve and then the other
units are our market rate. So
I think you're touching on something I
think is really important
(14:16:43):
to talk about. We are seeing
real giant leaps in development,
especially in downtown, a
very, very high end housing.
A lot of what CRA does is thinking about
affordable housing.
How important is it as
far as your overall philosophy for what
you guys do? It's baked into
the enabling legislation. So
(14:17:04):
going back to that Community
Redevelopment Act of 1969 and the law
that has kind of evolved over time,
it is spelled out explicitly that that is
one of the core missions of
CRA is to provide and work
towards that affordable housing. So much
so that we, when last
legislative cycle, there was a talk
(14:17:25):
about sort of looking at the roles and
responsibilities of
CRAs and CRAs were sort of
talked about as being one of the main
vehicles for providing affordable
housing, which is a bit of a
badge of honor, especially for the West
Palm Beach CRA going back to
that best in class that I was
(14:17:46):
mentioning. You know, the mayor made a
very clear vision about I
want as much affordable housing
as we can. And he set tangible goals that
we have met and he's just
continued to add to those goals.
And the CRA has been part of that. And
it's something that I think
the board is very proud of,
it's something the mayor is very proud
of. And we're going to
continue to work for looking at
all kinds of opportunities to continue to
(14:18:07):
provide that affordable
housing. So to your point,
being that it's baked into what we're
supposed to be doing, it is
core to our philosophy and what
we do on every single day. You mentioned
earlier that you were
hoping that you would see food
stores and those types of businesses
moving into certain areas. Is
(14:18:27):
that part of the scope of the
things that you do, saying we're looking
to break the food desert and
put a store here? Is that part
of what you're planning? For sure. I
mean, so think about true
city building, which it's such
an awesome time to be in the city of West
Palm Beach right now with
(14:18:48):
everything that's happening
and just what people are bringing the
businesses that are coming
here. I mean, just the business
growth alone has been just off the
charts. And that's not just the big
businesses, that's not
just the financial firms, which are
awesome and all of those targeted
industries, but it's also
the small mom and pop. There's quite a
bit. I think, I don't know
(14:19:09):
if you're going to interview
Robbie, but he's the economic development
specialist for the
city. But we've been looking
at the business tax receipt data that the
city collects annually
because all businesses in the
city of West Palm Beach have to renew
this business tax every single year. And
we have seen it grow
almost double in about 10 years, I
(14:19:30):
believe. So it started
when we started looking at it
right around, I think 2012, we were right
around a little over 9,000
and now we're close to 18,000
registered businesses in the city of West
Palm Beach. And those are bona fide,
like they fill out the applications and
they put it in. And that's
across the board. That's all
kinds of businesses, large and small and
(14:19:53):
predominantly small
businesses. So when you
think about what's needed for
redevelopment, holistically, you need
those small businesses
as well as the big businesses and then
the residential. And all
of those folks have needs.
And grocery stores are one of those big
things. I mean, they can help with
attracting additional
businesses, they help with home values
(14:20:14):
and all of those things.
So as we have continued with
our infrastructure work and partnering
with these developers,
identifying places where a
grocery store makes sense has been very
much in our wheelhouse as a
goal of the CRA and on the
north end specifically. So we're happy to
see a very much a renewed
(14:20:37):
interest by grocery store
operators, so much so that they have been
taking tours of the north
end to really sort of identify
potential sites. Most recently, we've
seen actual investment by folks like
Tapatea Market. They just
opened on 45th Street and Broadway, which
is that US one corridor.
(14:20:59):
And it's fabulous. I mean,
it's been such a huge hit with the
community and you can see it
just by the traffic that people
are really looking for those type of
amenities in the north end
of the city. Now, we've talked
about Northwood, we've talked about
downtown. Does Nora count
as a district? So Nora is,
yeah, so we're recording is just before
(14:21:22):
the Labor Day weekend. And it's so
exciting. It puts us out,
hopefully all the listeners out there can
see the smile on my face,
but it's such a cool project
because it is bonafide city building. I
mean, if anybody out
there has ever played SimCity,
that's very much what it's like, but it's
(14:21:44):
real time. A lot of hard
work, a lot of great partners.
Big shout out to my friends over there at
the Nora Holdings, which is
Ned, Damian, and Joe First
with Place Projects. Great group of guys,
visionaries, and very
capable of getting the
job done. But let's roll back and
(14:22:05):
actually explain to
people what exactly Nora is and
what it was before it started. Okay, good
point. Okay, so sorry.
Nora stands is short for North
Railroad Avenue. So N-O for North, R-A
for Railroad Avenue. And Nora was a,
(14:22:26):
essentially an industrial area. I think
we zoned it industrial
chic, but for all intents and
purposes, it was old warehouses, very
underutilized collection of
properties and lots that was
assembled by this group, those three
gentlemen that I just
mentioned, Ned, Damian, and Joe.
(14:22:46):
And they put together these lots and then
came to the city with sort
of this vision and this plan
for a renewed part of downtown with
quality places, retail
shops that they had planned to
put there in a mixture of hotel and
residential. So the whole
(14:23:07):
combination of items that really
when you go to any great city in America,
you would find these
things sort of all together.
And then just layered a level of quality
on it that is open to everybody, not
exclusive to anyone,
and just done in a way that I think is
(14:23:28):
going to be one of these
great places that you can come
and just enjoy the space or you can go
there and really enjoy
quality restaurant dining or
retail products if you're there to shop
and things like that. So
they approached the CRA
(14:23:50):
back, I want to say it was 2001 on the
streetscape and the actual street of
North Railroad Avenue
and said, "Look, we would really like, we
want to make this a
quality street very much like
Clamatus and Rosemary, like what you see
through city place and
taking these principles that the
city has applied to our streets and
public open spaces, which is
(14:24:11):
shade, ease of accessibility.
When you look at a curbless street,
people don't realize that
without curbs, you make it so much
easier for people in wheelchairs and just
kids and folks. And it
just has that very comfortable
pedestrian feel, wide sidewalks, all of
these things that are essentially
human-centric designs
(14:24:32):
that when you get there, you're like,
"This place feels great."
And then from there, they just
matched, they lined the street with great
tenants and great spaces and
well-designed buildings
that just, you know that when you get
there, it's something
special. So that project to
underground the utility lines, which
(14:24:53):
that's the other thing, these little
details that when you
go, you realize that you're at a special
place, but you're not quite sure why,
just go to a street.
And if you see utility lines overhead,
it's not that it's bad, it's
just when they're not there,
you notice when they're not there and it
just, the space feels really nice.
So they wanted to underground the
utilities, which we did, and created the
(14:25:17):
streetscape with all of
those principles that I just outlined.
And the whole project was
right around $20 million.
But the way that we partnered with it is
that they were going
to do the investment,
but in order to get reimbursed for it,
they had to meet specific
benchmarks to show, to know that
at the end of the day, the CRA will
(14:25:37):
actually see the benefit of that tax
increment that will come
to our budgets and then we can continue
to reinvest in the overall downtown. And
they did it. Not only
did they do it, but they did it ahead of
schedule. And so now working with the
business owners that
are coming to Nora and looking at
additional ways that we can
(14:25:58):
just continue to enhance the
redevelopment, the project is just so
exciting. And it's beautiful
in this hotel that is going
to be coming online. So definitely check
it out. It's right there at 7th and
Dixie. You just then
head due West when you get to that. So it
is a little bit of a
scavenger hunt, but that's okay.
(14:26:19):
You'll see the signs. They've really
outlined a good wayfinding so
that when you go down Dixie,
between Palm Beach Lakes and Quadrill,
you can find the Nora
District, but it's beautiful.
What's the timeframe for
that project to be completed?
Well, that's probably a good question
because I think Nora is
going to be one of these things,
very much like City Place, how it's going
(14:26:41):
through another growth spur.
I don't know that there's a
bonafide or like a dedicated date when
you can say Nora's done. But
I think that if I had to put
a pin on when you'll see new things
really sort of completed,
it's probably that 2027 timeline.
(14:27:04):
But even like 2027, I think you'll still
see a lot of new
residential being under construction
in the Nora area. The hotel will
definitely be completed by
then, if I remember correctly.
And then from there, they're already
looking at sort of additional phases.
We're looking at the
(14:27:24):
east-west streets. We did North Railroad
Avenue, but you still have
all these east-west streets,
like 7th Street, 6th Street, and all the
way up to Palm Beach Lakes
that also need treatments.
Absolutely. Now, you've described an
amazingly complex process of
imagining a change and all the
fine details that go into actually
(14:27:45):
creating that new look. What
voice do the residents have in
making choices or helping to either vote
for or to speak out against an idea that
you guys might have?
Sure. So one of the things that the CRA
board, the mayor and commissioners, which
(14:28:06):
I hope people know how hard their elected
officials work for
them, because they work
so hard every single day. And I know that
because I talked to the
commissioners and the mayor, and
you know, there's not a day goes by that
they're not getting an
email or their phone call,
and they know that. But they're extremely
(14:28:27):
responsive, and they
work really hard to ensure
that they do a quality job for the
residents and business
owners. So everybody just,
please know that your elected officials
are working really hard
for you, really hard. And
at the core of everything that they do
and the tough decisions
(14:28:49):
that they have to make,
they ensure that community engagement is
part of that process and
part of what they consider when
those items come before them in a major
way. So much so that the
CRA, we on a quarterly basis,
we meet with community members. We have
(14:29:10):
quarterly outreach meetings
with the historic Northwest
residents. We meet quarterly with the
residents of Pleasant City.
And we're at the end of our
budget and fiscal season where we adopt,
and so on Monday, we're going to be
adopting the budget.
And when we were workshopping it, I
(14:29:32):
really outlined three
inputs on how the budget for
the CRA gets set and how the strategic
finance plan gets set. And
one of those inputs is the
community engagement. So as we meet with
residents and even phone calls and
regular outreach that we
do, either it's project specific or just
(14:29:53):
in general or the emails
that we get, we collect that
information and it very much steers the
strategic finance plan and
it steers future budget years
to react and to respond to what the
residents are telling us.
So it's built in every single
day in the work that we do. And it's one
(14:30:15):
of the major inputs that
guides the work plan for the CRA.
So are we saying that one of the best
ways to reach out and
have your voice heard about
a certain project or ask questions about
a certain project is to
reach out to your commissioner in
your district or? You can reach out to
your commissioner. I
mean, they're always there,
but it's also signing up for our
(14:30:37):
newsletter. We have and
sending notes if you have ideas.
A good example is we've heard for a while
that a lot of people would
like to see more green space
and things like that in the downtown
core. So right now we're
working with the planning
(14:30:58):
department on a downtown master plan. And
that is at that's part
of the discussion with the
consultant of Ziskovich, which is the
company that the CRA is funding with the
planning department,
you know, working through the DMP update
about how we can include, you
know, and where it should be
included, the additional green space and
(14:31:19):
places like that that can people can
enjoy because that's
what folks are telling us. So that's a
good example, but things
like that. You mentioned
a newsletter. How do I get on the list to
get the newsletter? So
you should be able to go to
the website and sign up for it there.
Okay. That would be wpb.org. Yes. And
then we'll go through
(14:31:40):
the menus and find CRA and there's
information there. That is correct. Or
you can send an email
to CRA at wpb.org. And that goes to my
entire staff. We all see
it. And everybody knows,
you know, what they need to be responding
to and, you know,
we'll get you signed up.
That's fantastic. And so what other
information can
(14:32:00):
people find on the website?
So we have our strategic finance plan.
Okay. So, and we also have
our budget that's required by
state law. So all if you want to know
what is the CRA working on, it's all
right there, because
we cannot fund or work on anything that
is not within our plan. So we
(14:32:22):
hold that. That's essentially
our book of what we can do. So even if
something is not necessarily funded, if
it isn't in our plan,
we really can't address it. So we try to
pack all of our wants and
hopes and dreams into that
strategic plan. Obviously it falls within
(14:32:43):
the state statute. So we
abide by state law. But
if for some reason there's a budget
adjustment or there's something where,
you know, a project for
whatever reason gets delayed or something
like that, and we have it
in our plan, we can always
shift those resources. But if it's not in
that plan, then we can't shift the
resources to something
new. So we really do try to put all of
(14:33:05):
our stuff there in that
strategic finance plan. And then
the budget reflects that. So you can look
at our budget and then
say, okay, you know, I can see
where it lines up with the strategic
finance plan. So let's take a look into
the future. Obviously,
you got a lot of stuff going on right
now. Lots of really amazing projects
underway. Give us a peek
(14:33:26):
into the crystal ball. What kind of
things can we look
forward to in the next 10 years?
So let's first talk about what we've
accomplished, right? So we look at
Klamata Street, which, you know, I view
that as a success because
(14:33:47):
it really is best in class,
you know, streetscape. And when we did
that project, that sent a
very strong signal to the
private sector who has embraced it
wholeheartedly to the point where that's
why you see it through
City Place. That's why you see it through
Nora. And you'll see it
(14:34:08):
again here on Chase and Trinity.
There's right next to Palm Beach Atlantic
University where one
Flagler was just completed.
That's where Chase Street is. It
intersects with Lakeview and Okeechobee
Boulevard. That will be
a streetscape project. We have seen
tremendous success in
investing in that infrastructure of
(14:34:29):
those streetscapes with enhanced
investment, which again is
at the core of the CRA and the
attractiveness of bringing more people to
the area in a real
redevelopment fashion. So you'll see
(14:34:49):
a lot more streetscape projects that just
continue to enhance
walkability, encourage people to
have those safe, comfortable connections
through our downtown and
even outside of our downtown.
I mean, when we start looking at, you
know, areas in Northwood
Village and what we're doing in
Curry Park and connecting Northwood
(14:35:11):
Village to the $35 million
investment of Curry Park,
you know, we want that safe, comfortable
connection to Curry
Park. So, you know, it's
not just in the downtown. It's really
throughout the city where I think you'll
see those principles
applied. So in the foreseeable future,
(14:35:33):
those streetscapes will
continue if people are like,
"Okay, well, give me something a little
more specific. I think you
can plan on seeing Rosemary
Avenue from Avernia Street all the way up
to 11th." So that's north
of the Sunset Lounge, which
if anybody hasn't heard of the Sunset
(14:35:53):
Lounge, we'll have an open
house November 7th, which is
really exciting. Yes. And then Sola in
the City will be there
shortly after. So it'll actually be,
people will go there and actually enjoy a
show. But yeah, I mean,
the streetscape for Rosemary
will be done. And that'll be another big
(14:36:13):
streetscape project.
Tamron Avenue, finishing
that from 7th Street to Palm Beach Lakes
will also be part of it.
And then we're starting,
like I mentioned with Nora, the east-west
streets throughout
the historic northwest,
looking at those as well. And that really
will help the residents
(14:36:34):
with wider sidewalks and more
lighting and shade trees where we can
plant them and things
like that. So I would say the
biggest one is really the streetscape
program. In addition to that, affordable
housing will just be
at the forefront. And those are just two
(14:36:54):
main bread and butter
infrastructure projects.
Yeah, I find a lot of people welcoming
that. For sure. Yeah. And
really getting creative with
interesting places where you could put
that affordable housing. I mean,
that's what's so much fun about the
planning aspect and
looking at areas that maybe are
(14:37:15):
publicly owned, where you can find these
sort of nooks and crannies to
do creative housing projects.
And luckily, the CRA has the tools to do
that. And right now, the
need is so great that I think
it allows for that innovative approach to
affordable housing,
which we are wholeheartedly
embracing. So I think you'll see a lot of
(14:37:36):
that as well. And then
the last thing is just,
I think looking at ways to make West Palm
Beach more resilient and
sustainable. And I don't mean
that just from a climate standpoint. Of
course, that's very, very
important and something,
but also from a financial standpoint. If
you can get places and assets,
(14:38:01):
a good one is 415 Klamadis, where the
photographic center was.
Having these places start having
quality tenants and great amenities that
the public can enjoy,
they'll pay rent in that spot.
And that rent then goes to the city to
offset public costs. So finding
opportunities like that,
that can generate that non-taxable
(14:38:22):
revenue for the city will only provide
more ability to ensure
that we're providing the services
long-term for our residents and
businesses. So that'll be another
core part of, I think, the CRA sort of
helping to make downtown and the city
overall as much as we
can. We have to focus on our boundaries
(14:38:44):
or the areas within our
boundaries, but really helping
with these resiliency and sustainability
efforts. You undoubtedly
get a lot of feedback from
residents, from everyone involved in
these projects. If you
could gather them all together
in one spot and deliver a message, a
message to them that you
feel is most pertinent and
most important to deliver
about the CRA, what would it be?
(14:39:11):
Well, I mean, to have them, it's such a
diverse group. And they all have
different priorities,
but I think they all want to ensure that
the city that they grew up
in grows and becomes better,
(14:39:33):
but also does not sort of lose what made
it special to begin with.
And so what I would probably say to them
is we are trying to hit that spot,
maintaining the character, the beauty of
the city. I mean, I grew up
(14:39:54):
here. My dad worked at the
Bell South building growing up, so I was
standing on the roof of that building
when I was six years
old. And that's before city place, so I
know I'm dating myself
here, but it's always been a
beautiful place, and South Florida is my
home. One thing that
(14:40:18):
always made me sad is my friends
would move away, and I'm like, "Man,
wouldn't it be great if we just had a
place that nobody ever
wanted to leave?" I mean, of course, we
want to travel and things
like that, but just a really
great place that was very much like what
the mayor describes, right?
A community of opportunity
for all. I mean, that's it. And with that
people first designs where
it really sort of offers that
(14:40:40):
extreme livability. And I think we even
talked about that we're
doing another project, and I know
I'm kind of all over the place here with
FAU and the Center for Smart
Streetscapes, but there's
all of these efforts to really ensure
that anybody can live here no
matter what your status is in
(14:41:01):
life. And also that it just offers that
great quality and ability
to just live and work that
is unmatched to any other spot, and
almost becomes that model American city.
We've even had some,
I think even Mr. Ross was related, used
that. He's striving for
(14:41:22):
that best in class, that model
American city, which if we're all aiming
towards that same goal, you
can kind of see it sort of
manifesting with all of this. So that's
probably what I would say to
all of them. And I'm sure that
would just erupt into a big debate about
what that means because
everybody has it. But I think
ultimately, yeah, I mean, that's probably
what I would say. At least
that's our goal, and then
(14:41:43):
we can discuss what that
means throughout our meeting.
Out of further meetings about that stuff.
Yeah, sure.
Sure. Chris, you guys are doing amazing
things. It's a vision for
the future that I think people
are very satisfied with and very excited
about. And thanks to you
and to your staff for doing
everything you're doing to basically
(14:42:03):
create a new pathway for
the city of West Palm Beach.
Yeah. Again, happy to do it. Love it. And
if anybody has any ideas
or anything where you want
to kind of learn more, I mean, we're very
much an open book here at
City Hall. We're happy to talk
(14:42:26):
more and just, there's no bad ideas. We
may not be able to do them
all. In fact, we can do them all,
I mean, as much as we would like to, but
you never know what could
gain traction to sort of
make the city a better place. So thanks
for having me. And thank you
for joining us for the City
Center podcast. If you're new to the
show, you might not know that
(14:42:46):
we've been in production for
three years and we've got many past
podcasts available for
your listening pleasure. We're
available on all major podcast outlets.
Just look for the City of
West Palm Beach and you'll find
the City Center podcast. If you have
comments or ideas for other topics,
please feel free to write
us at podcasts at wpb.org. This has been
(14:43:09):
a production of the
City of West Palm Beach
Communications Department. I'm Jerry
Marcello. We'll see you next time.
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