West Palm condo owners push back on hotel project

Unit owners at an eight-year-old, mid-rise condominium in downtown West Palm Beach are protesting plans to build a 14-story hotel nearby.

The planned Canopy by Hilton hotel would block or degrade city views from dozens of condos at the 21-story Two City Plaza, which opened in 2008. The hotel would rise on a site less than 75 feet from the 467-unit condominium

The planned 150-room Canopy by Hilton also would require the condo residents to share a one-way and one-lane access road to Two City Plaza with delivery truck drivers and an estimated 90 additional rush-hour motorists.

Representatives of the developer, North Palm Beach-based Driftwood Acquisition and Development, met with condo residents last week in a crowded meeting room at City Hall. The developer asked for suggestions to alter the hotel design, but the most common request was to just move the development to another location.

The Palm Beach Post reported that the meeting drew a standing-room-only crowd of 150. Driftwood’s representatives included the developer’s lawyer, architect, traffic engineer and construction manager.

“My property values are in the dumps,” one man told the hotel developer’s representatives, according to the Post. “I’m angry and I hope everybody else is. It’s not about you guys, it’s about a property right in my face! When I wake up and open up my eyes, I’m going to be looking at that building.” [Palm Beach Post] — Mike Seemuth