Developers interested in building a mixed-use project with hotels and restaurants on the waterfront just north of the Port of Palm Beach will soon have another chance.
Riviera Beach council members, sitting as the board of directors of the Riviera Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), voted 4 to 1 last week to issue a new request for developers interested in building hotels and other projects at Marina Village. The assemblage of publicly owned land now consists of parks, a marina, a meeting hall and the Rifiki Tiki outdoor restaurant and bar.
Four development teams had already submitted applications to build on a 12-acre sliver of Marina Village prior to a June 27 deadline. However, only Related Urban, the affordable housing arm of Miami-based Related Group, and its partner, West Palm Beach-based Tezral Partners, were deemed “responsive.” The three other contenders — Sonnenblick Development, Forest Development and Bear Atlantic Development — failed to submit all their required paperwork and could therefore no longer move forward, according to a memo from the city’s purchasing department.
Most elected officials said they were worried that Riviera Beach would not be able to get a good deal without competition from other builders.
“When there is no competition, it gives us less leverage. When we have more than one to consider it puts us in a better negotiation posture,” council member Bruce Guyton said at the July 9 CRA meeting.
But council chairperson Shirley Lanier, the sole dissenting vote, said she couldn’t support issuing a new request after most applicants failed to complete the bid.
“I still have some heartburn about moving forward with this after there is a process, and the process was not completed. And that is just what it is,” Lanier said.
Albert Milo, president of Related Urban Development Group, told council members they should consider the message that will be sent to potential developers that invest time and money properly in the process, only for it to be scrapped.
“We were responsive. We filled out all the proper paperwork. We sent all our financials as requested by the city. We demonstrated our capacity to move forward to the next step,” Milo said. “Think about… the message you are sending to the business community, about how and why we should continue to invest in the city here.”
Related Urban and the Related Group are already involved in building two mixed-use residential projects on vacant land that is now used as spillover parking for Marina Village. One of those projects, Residences at Marina Village, is a 149-unit apartment building with workforce and affordable housing that will be built by Related Urban and Tezral Partners. The other, Gallery at Marina Village, is a 20-story tower with 418 market-rate apartments that will be built by the Related Group, BH Group and Tezral Partners.
A spokesperson said Related Urban’s proposal on 12 acres near the marina will include a condo-hotel concept, “ample food and beverage components,” and a mixed-use public parking garage.
Robert Sonnenblick, chairman of Pacific Palisades, California-based Sonnenblick Development, told The Real Deal he will propose an eight-story, 150-room Compass by Margaritaville hotel, along with a larger development that would include condos, restaurants, a second 150-room hotel and a 900-space parking garage. It will be a revival of a proposal made in 2023 that included a Margaritaville hotel, prior to the deal falling apart last year.
Sonnenblick also insisted that his application was deemed incomplete because he left out the address of his company’s subsidiary in Jupiter, as well as an address for a reference. All other details, including his company’s financials, were included.
“This has nothing to do with whether or not we are qualified to build a $300 million project,” Sonnenblick told council members.
The new request for proposals and request for qualifications for developers to submit bids is still being worked on, an employee for Riviera Beach’s procurement department said. Once it is issued, developers will have 60 days to issue proposals, according to the resolution approved by the CRA board. Applicants will still be required to submit all materials required by the new process, Purchasing Director LaTonya Ammons confirmed at the meeting.
