County planners OK $84 million Ag Reserve project

The project would include 144 rental apartments with capped rents.

The Agricultural Reserve in Palm Beach County
The Agricultural Reserve in Palm Beach County

The Palm Beach Planning Commission approved a proposed $84 million project to build housing, restaurants and a hotel in the county-designated Agricultural  Preserve west of Delray Beach.

The commission  voted 5-4 to endorse the proposed development by Millenia Partners, which includes 144 apartments with capped rents for middle-income tenants and a pledge to preserve 15 acres of the Ag Reserve.

The proposed development encompasses a 130-room hotel, an assisted living center with 115 beds, and an apartment building with 360 units, including the 144 rent-capped units.

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The 51-acre development site is west of Florida’s Turnpike, on the northeast corner of the intersection of Starky Road and Atlantic Avenue.

County commissioners are expected to consider at their July 26 meeting whether to change rules for building in the Ag Reserve, by allowing developers to put  less land in preservation in exchange for developing rent-capped housing affordable to such tenants as teachers and police officers. [Sun-Sentinel] Mike Seemuth