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The Breakers wins approval for courtyard renovation
16K sf area marks last major renovation site of historic property
The Breakers’ president Paul Leone along with renderings of The Breakers’ planned courtyard renovation (Getty, The Breakers, Hart Howerton)
The Breakers, Palm Beach’s historic oceanfront resort, won approval for the renovation of a central courtyard, the last site on the property in need of major restoration work.
The Town of Palm Beach Landmarks Preservation Commission approved plans to update the 16,000-square-foot Mediterranean Courtyard at its meeting last week. Renovations will include adding a 1,800-square-foot conservatory and American Disabilities Act-compliant routes to and through the courtyard.
“This is the last piece of the preservation puzzle for us,” said Paul Leone, longtime president of the Breakers. Leone reflected on his 39 years working for the hotel at the outset of the meeting, describing a decades-long effort to both preserve and modernize the building.
“There is no other resort like this in the country performing at this level,” he said of the 534-key, 140-acre property at 1 South County Road. The resort also has two 18-hole golf courses and a private beach.
The Breakers commissioned architecture firm Hart Howerton, which has offices in New York City, San Francisco and Palm Beach, to design the renovation and landscaping for the courtyard. The planned conservatory includes seating and drink and barista service, according to the hotel’s letter of intent for the project.
The Breakers was developed by Standard Oil magnate Henry Flagler in 1903. He hired Leonard B. Schultze and S. Fullerton Weaver to design the hotel. Schultze and Weaver were major early American hotel architects, also designing the Nautilus Hotel in Miami Beach, the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, the Pierre and Waldorf-Astoria hotels in New York City.
The Breakers today belongs to the Kenan family, heirs of Mary Lily Kenan Flagler Bingham, Henry Flagler’s third and final wife. The Kenans remain active players in Palm Beach real estate beyond the boundaries of the resort, through entities tied to the Breakers.
Last year, a company affiliated with the Breakers bought a bank building on the island for $9.3 million. In 2019, another affiliate dropped $20 million on retail and restaurant components of a mixed-use development by the Frisbie Group on Royal Poinciana Way.