Riviera Beach officials want to sell 2.2 acres of publicly owned land to Peter Baytarian’s Forest Development for at least $4.5 million, plus possible contributions to a fund meant to help offset rate hikes from a $400 million water plant.
City officials approved a non-binding term sheet Wednesday to sell 1851 Broadway to Baytarian for between $3.8 million and $7.8 million, depending on how many residential units the developer can build on the site.
The $3.8 million price would be for 300 units, and it goes up to $4.5 million for 335 units, which is the number Forest plans, in a building up to 20 stories. From there, the price would increase by $20,000 per unit. The maximum number allowed would be 500 units, raising the land price to $7.8 million.
The Riviera Beach Community Redevelopment Agency intends to approve 335 units at the $4.5 million price, executive director Gedel Merzius said.
That price reflects an appraisal for the property in December, about a month after Baytarian beat four other developers for the right to buy and develop the property. Earlier appraisals assessed the land value at $3.8 million, and some appraisals were as high as $6.5 million for the property, City Council Chairwoman Shirley Lanier said.
North Palm Beach-based Forest made an unsolicited bid to acquire the property, for $3.5 million in the summer of 2024. In response, the city put the 2.2-acre assemblage, owned by the city and the CRA, out for bid.
Baytarian later increased his bid to $3.78 million, though that amount was still lower than offers made to the city by West Palm Beach-based Kenco Communities ($4.6 million), Washington, D.C.-based Frontier Development & Hospitality Group ($4 million) and New York-based Coltown Properties ($4 million).
Nevertheless, the city voted in November to go with Baytarian’s $325 million proposal that included between 350 and 450 apartments. Twenty units would be reserved for workforce housing.
The term sheet requires that at least 5 percent of the project’s dwelling units be reserved for workforce housing and that the building include at least 17,000 square feet of retail and more than 100 parking spaces for public use, according to city documents.
Water woes
Riviera Beach started construction in February on a $400 million water plant after decades of contamination complaints. The city racked up $1.2 million in state and federal fines in 2023 for failing to report positive tests to the Florida Department of Health and keeping the public in the dark for seven months, WPTV reported.
But the cost of the plant will fall on ratepayers, whose bills are expected to increase 30 to 40 percent annually.
Baytarian said his firm was willing to contribute to a fund to help residents in need pay their water bills, after it was suggested by Council Member Bruce Guyton.
The city already charges a $10,000 per unit hook-up fee for development projects as part of a “community benefits package” in Riviera Beach, where the poverty rate was 18.4 percent in 2024, which is higher than the national average.
“We are about to be hit hard, and I don’t think many people understand the [impact] this will have on working people. Those rates will escalate back-to-back-to-back every year. This is going to be gentrification through water rates,” Guyton said.
Riviera Beach officials have sought to encourage more residential development within the 8.3-square-mile city just north of West Palm Beach as part of an effort to create more jobs and increase the tax base.
That includes requesting proposals to redevelop a 12-acre waterfront portion of Marina Village, a process that was recently looked into by the FBI. Forest Development, whose development team reportedly included a staffer from recently resigned Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick’s office, is among the three bidders.
Elsewhere in Riviera Beach, Baytarian is planning two 25-story condo towers called Oculina, at 3700 Broadway. The 399-unit project will be next to Nautilus 220, a 330 unit condo project in Lake Park that was completed last month by Baytarian and Royal Palm Communities, led by Dan Codsi.
