Zoning may restart unfinished hotel-condo project

A court ruling could lead to a resumption of construction work on the unfinished Palm House hotel-condominium in Palm Beach.

Circuit Court Judge Donald Hafele approved a motion by the stalled project’s court-appointed receiver Cary Glickstein to submit a zoning application to the Palm Beach Town Council.

Glickstein, a real estate professional who serves as mayor of Delray Beach, is overseeing efforts to finish the construction work. Construction of Palm House  at 160 Royal Palm Way stopped more than a year ago amid disputes among the project’s investors that led to litigation.

Glickstein told the Palm Beach Daily News the zoning proposal for the Palm House site would “essentially bring the project back to the [town’s] 2012 approvals,” which means any construction work in conflict with the 2012 approvals would be ripped out and redone.

“It would require some internal deconstruction before reconstruction could start,” Glickstein told the Daily News.

In October, a judge temporarily stopped town fines of $2,000 a day for failure to complete construction of the Palm House project as scheduled. The total amount of fines is approaching $2 million, and under the judicial order, they will start accumulating again January 15. [Palm Beach Daily News] — Mike Seemuth