⚓️ On the waterfront
Let's get to it. Precious land in Riviera Beach and West Palm Beach is in play, local journalists draw the line, a prominent property changes hands in Gardens, hack your summer and more.
Today’s newsletter is a 5-minute read.
🛳️ Superyacht mega boatyard aims for Riviera Beach
Promising to turn a sprawling stretch of waterfront south of the Blue Heron Bridge into an “international focal point as the largest superyacht repair facility in the United States,” the Dallas-based conglomerate Safe Harbor Marinas says it’s about to pump more than $300 million a year into the Riviera Beach economy.
And, despite outcry from neighbors, Riviera Beach’s Planning and Zoning Board on May 25 said yes, bring it on, Stet contributor Jane Musgrave reports.
What it means: City planners say the expansion of the Safe Harbor Rybovich Marina at East 21st Street along the Intracoastal Waterway could help the city realize its long-held dream of a vibrant working waterfront.
“It’s a matter of trying to get an economic generator. This could be that generator,” city planner Curt Thompson said.
Yes, but: Residents of the adjacent Lakeview Park said the boatyard would destroy their small neighborhood and ruin the city’s plan to turn Broadway into a pedestrian-friendly downtown.
“The whole Broadway corridor — the vision of it being a really vibrant community for the public — is really just going to be a boatyard. We’re all going to be looking at boats. Boats, boats, boats,” neighbor Brandy Davis-Balsamo.
Of note: This means the end of Rybovich in West Palm Beach. Rybovich land on North Flagler Drive at 40th Street is likely to be redeveloped with luxury high-rises.
⛴️ To find out what is planned on the Riviera Beach waterfront, read Jane’s complete story here.
In West Palm Beach
➡️ At a special meeting Monday, West Palm Beach city commissioners decided to negotiate with a developer to create a city marina on the Intracoastal Waterway in downtown between Palm Harbor Marina and the South Cove Islands.
Safe Harbor made a pitch.
Jupiter-based City Harbor LLC and its parent company Seven Kings Holdings prevailed.
Mayor Keith James pledged “there will be ample opportunity for the public to weigh in” on the concept and the agreement.
🪧 Gannett + local journalism: Can this marriage be saved?
👋 Pat here. On Monday, Palm Beach Post and Palm Beach Daily News reporters, photographers and newsroom staff walked out, protesting the yearslong failure of corporate owner Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI) to finalize a contract.
Their colleagues at about two dozen Gannett papers across the country did the same.
Because local reporters’ pay is tied to the fiscal health of Gannett, we looked at its finances.
Disclosure: Carolyn, Joel and I worked at The Post. Friends and respected colleagues still work there. Some were among those who walked.
The background: Historically, with more reporters to cover more towns and more topics, daily newspapers set the pace for local coverage.
But newsroom staffing has been gutted from its 2008 high of 300.
Today, there are fewer than 50 news staffers and editors at The Post and Palm Beach Daily News combined.
Gannett has balked on even minor contract issues since the newsroom unionized in 2020, union reps say.
Gannett responds that it intends to “continue to bargain in good faith to finalize contracts.”
How much money does Gannett have to spend? It ended 2022 with $2.9 billion in revenue. That’s down from 2021 and 2020, but a sharp rise from 2019’s $1.8 billion.
Plus: In February, it posted quarterly per-share profits 50 percent higher than Wall Street expected.
Yes, but: That was the first quarterly profit in four straight quarters of losses. And Gannett expects sales to drop by 5 percent through 2023.
Gannett stock started falling in 2018 even before a merger with Gatehouse Media brought The Post into the fold. Shares now trade in the $2 range this June.
By contrast, The New York Times stock is trading in the $35 range.
A self-inflicted debt doesn’t help. Gannett’s merger with Gatehouse included borrowing $1.8 billion at 11½ percent interest.
Resulting cost cuts have vacuumed the local out of local news. Some Gannett papers have just one reporter to cover cities of more than 100,000.
📖 An insider look at how The Post newsroom shrank and the big money behind the big cuts in Palm Beach County coverage, here.
❓Mystery man no more: the buyer paying $2 million an acre for BallenIsles land
For years, no development option was good enough for the PGA Boulevard entryway to BallenIsles.
Corporate headquarters, a rehab center, even Dr. Oz all went away when they realized they could not get approvals to build from Palm Beach Gardens.
But now someone has acquired the property without submitting plans or even asking the city for rezoning, as developers typically do.
Maryland biotech entrepreneur Jacob Wohlstadter has dropped $29 million — $2 million an acre — to buy the 14 acres straddling BallenIsles Drive at the entrance to the politically influential golf course community.
You may have heard of Wohlstadter. He recently settled a patent lawsuit after an appellate court threw out a $137 million verdict in his favor.
Don’t ask about his local plans. Wohlstadter’s local lawyer referred questions to his corporate counsel in Rockville, Maryland, who did not return repeated phone calls.
Wohlstadter already owns two multimillion-dollar homes nearby — in Old Palm across the street from BallenIsles and in Admirals Cove.
The price he paid to commercial real estate developer John Bills raised eyebrows among local planners who understand how difficult it is to garner political support to build at BallenIsles.
But: It’s prime land on PGA Boulevard. Someone able to hold it for a long time may find it a good investment, real estate broker Rebel Cook said.
“This market is not anything we’ve experienced before in South Florida. We’re now living in California,” said Cook.
Joel dug into Wohlstadter and the history of the BallenIsles site at OnGardens.org.
The juice
Fresh-squeezed news from all over
Lying guards, a broken toilet, a failed attempt to hang himself: The days and hours before Jeffrey Epstein's death are detailed in more than 4,000 newly released documents. (Associated Press)
🏈 Dateline: Tequesta. A day in the life of 80-year-old Jets legend Joe Namath. (ESPN)
🎨 The Armory Art Center in West Palm Beach, one of the finest examples of Art Deco architecture in South Florida, is getting a colorful makeover. (Palm Beach Stories)
🏗️ Boynton Beach’s notorious Homing Inn is being transformed into a boutique hotel. (Coastal Star)
🧠 Quiz Answer: One stomach, 10 minutes, 76 hot dogs
🌭 In honor of the Memorial Day kickoff to summer, we asked: How does hot-dog speed-eater Joey “Jaws” Chestnut prepare for the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest?
The answer: A two-day water and lemon juice cleanse.
🚫 Tempting as it is to describe what happens to Chestnut’s body in the aftermath of eating 76 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes, the world record, we are going to pass.
For the perpetually curious, though, those details — and good reasons for not doing this, ever — can be found here.
🪣 561 insider: Summer bucket list
☀️ Hi, it’s Carolyn. Every year, when the temperature rises and the humidity closes in, I pledge to “hack” the summer.
Why it matters: Come June, crowds ease and the pace slows. The goal is to get outside but beat the heat. My list:
🌕 Catch a full moon rising at the beach. Some times and dates:
July 2, 7:58 pm
July 3, 9:01 pm
July 31, 7:41 pm
Aug. 1, 8:33 pm
Aug. 30, 7:49 pm
Aug. 31, 8:27 pm
🪘 Take in a free outdoor Thursday morning Tai Chi class or Monday evening drum circle celebration at the Norton Museum of Art.
🐢 Join an evening sea turtle walk guided by Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach or at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton.
📆 More
Swing over to Drive Shack.
See a Jupiter Hammerhead or Palm Beach Cardinals minor league game.
Watch Shakespeare by the Sea’s production of “Measure for Measure” July 6-9 and 13-16 in Jupiter and July 20-23 in Royal Palm Beach.
What’s your summer hack? Hit reply to this email and tell us.
🕰️ One hundred twenty years ago this week, The Breakers burned down. After the June 9, 1903, fire, 73-year-old Henry Morrison Flagler launched a plan to rebuild his Palm Beach hotel. It reopened Feb. 1, 1904.
In 1925, fire again destroyed the lavish resort. More than 1,200 construction workers labored around the clock to rebuild and reopen in December 1926.
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