Palm Beach Airport holdout agrees to sell

Marlene Cooper in front of her home and the Palm Beach Airport (source: Palm Beach Post)
Marlene Cooper in front of her home and the Palm Beach Airport (source: Palm Beach Post)

Pianist Marlene Cooper, one of the last holdouts against the Palm Beach International Airport, has caved, agreeing to sell her home for $224,900.

Originally, Cooper was offered $154,000 for her two-story home on a 1.16-acre plot. Thus far, the airport has spent about $100 million buying up hundreds of homes in various neighborhoods — $25 million in Cooper’s neighborhood alone.

“There are still a few more (houses) left. We are getting close to the point where, if we needed, we could work around them,’’ Jerry Allen, deputy director of Palm Beach County’s airports department, which is marketing the area to developers, told the Palm Beach Post.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

Increased crime in the now empty neighborhood was a major factor in Cooper’s decision to sell after living there nearly 42 years. Recently, Cooper’s home had been broken into.

“I have not felt safe, not felt comfortable. I have never had that feeling before,’’ she said. [PBP]Christopher Cameron