Riviera Beach approved a deal with New York-based Exact Capital to enable it to build 280 apartments in the city, most of which will be workforce and affordable housing.
The development agreement, which includes the sale of a half-acre property owned by the Riviera Beach Community Redevelopment Agency for $2 million, was approved by a vote of 4 to 1 during the CRA’s meeting last week. Vice Council Chairperson KaShamba Miller-Anderson was the lone dissenting vote.
According to the agreement, an affiliate of Exact Capital plans to build an 18-story, 192-unit mixed-income building with 7,000 square feet of commercial space at 2600 Broadway, and an eight-story, 88-unit affordable housing building for senior citizens, plus 2,000 square feet of commercial space, across the street at 2601 Broadway. Both projects would be managed by the Riviera Beach Housing Authority, a partner in the project.
Exact Capital’s project, called The Riviera Gateway, will be built on properties that Riviera Beach’s CRA paid nearly $2.8 million to acquire. Records show the CRA bought the 2600 Broadway parcel from Broadway & Blue Heron Realty LLC, managed by Robert Sullivan, for nearly $2.3 million in 2018, and it bought the 2601 Broadway property for $500,000 in 2013.
Exact Capital will get the property at 2601 Broadway property for no cost, and will get a 100 percent property tax exemption in exchange for building affordable housing for seniors.
The developer will pay $500,000 upfront for the property at 2600 Broadway, and will pay $1.5 million once the project receives financing, including a $250,000 contribution to North Technical Education Center to support vocational training, Craig Livingston, managing partner of Exact Capital, told council members. There would also be a 50 percent tax exemption on the land for the first five years, which would decrease by 2.5 percent each for the next 30 years.
The terms of the deal initially concerned some council members. Council Chairperson Shirley Lanier said she didn’t like the idea of the developer gaining control of the property before gaining financing, while council member Bruce Guyton wanted to make sure the city would get a return on the land.
“We are not in the business of giving away properties to developers, even in P3s. We need something coming back to us,” Guyton said.
Livingston replied that even with the tax abatement, Riviera Gateway would pay $5 million in property taxes in the first years and a total of $25 million over 30 years. “We’re going to produce affordable housing. We are creating a tremendous [number] of jobs. We are going to invest almost $200 million in this location that will, particularly on the east side, be generating a tremendous amount of tax revenue for the city,” Livingston added.
Workforce housing developer Terry Booty, who called himself an unpaid consultant for Exact Capital and the Housing Authority, said that if they don’t go forward with the project as promised, the CRA can take back the land through the agreement’s “call back provisions.”
Riviera Beach has attracted increased attention from developers in recent months. An analysis by The Real Deal revealed nearly 2,000 condos and apartments are in Riviera Beach’s residential development pipeline.
Several of these future developments are slated to be built on or near the U.S. 1/Broadway corridor, such as Boca Raton-based SobelCo’s 508-unit, 1.2 million-square-foot 1117 Broadway project, and North Palm Beach-based Forest Development’s two 25-story Oculina condo towers at 3700 Broadway. Forest Development, headed by Peter Baytarian, has also recently inked a deal to acquire 2.2 acres of Riviera Beach-owned property at 1851 Broadway for a $325 million project near Riveria Beach’s waterfront.
And the Related Group recently obtained $100 million in financing to build a 149-unit workforce housing development called Residences at Riviera Beach at 57 East 12th Street, which will be built next door to Related’s joint venture 20-story development, Gallery at Riviera Beach, at 1300 Broadway.
