$17.5-Mil Redevelopment Plan Wins Agency OK

DELRAY BEACH, FL-This south Palm Beach County city has won national recognition for the successful redevelopment of its commercial core. Now it hopes to duplicate that success by overhauling a decaying area just west of Downtown.

The local Community Redevelopment Agency, which has been buying up smaller parcels in a rundown neighborhood along West Atlantic Avenue, has assembled a 4.6-acre site and selected a developer from among four bidding groups.

A partnership called Atlantic Grove and comprising Seabron Smith, New Urban Communities and the Delray Beach Community Development Corp., has been chosen to erect a $17.5-million complex of three buildings that will include 72,000 sf of office and retail space plus 62 townhouses.

Construction is slated to begin next year, with the townhouses and the first phase of the retail space scheduled for completion in 2002. The rest of the project is to be ready for occupancy the following year.