A BROOKLYN-BASED DEVELOPER and art collector wants the Lake Worth Beach Community Redevelopment Agency to donate 1.6 acres of prime downtown land so he can build a $60 million mixed-use cultural arts campus anchored by a museum dedicated to fired arts.
In exchange for free CRA land, which city officials value at $3.3 million, and other incentives, Arthur Wiener is pledging to deliver a transformative project with 110 apartments, a new parking garage and an artistic tourist destination projected to inject millions into the city’s economy.
The proposed public-private partnership, to be discussed Oct. 7 at a joint City Commission and CRA workshop, has three key elements:
A permanent home for the Wiener Museum of Decorative Arts, currently in Hollywood, Fla., showcasing about 15,000 decorative glass and ceramics pieces that Wiener started collecting in 1965. The museum would move to a newly built 33,000-square-foot space fronting the southwest corner of Lake Avenue and South M Street. Catty-corner from the city’s Cultural Plaza, the museum would have a cafe, bookstore, community classrooms for students and seniors, and a new permanent installation by glass artist Dale Chihuly.
A 110-unit apartment complex behind the museum with a swimming pool, fitness center and courtyard. The complex, on land north of First Avenue South between L and M streets, would include 102 market-rate apartments, eight affordable artist lofts and one-level of underground parking.
A 3.5-story parking garage two blocks east of the museum and apartments on an existing city-owned surface lot at the southeast corner of K Street and First Avenue South. The garage would have 265 to 290 spaces and be owned and operated by the city. While the garage would serve as the primary parking for museum patrons, it would also be open to the public and help offset demand for downtown parking.
United Management Co., Wiener's development company, would build the museum and apartment complex. Profits from the apartment rentals would subsidize the museum’s operating costs.
Once open, the museum and residential complex are projected to inject nearly $14 million in tax revenue to the city over the development’s first 10 years, according to a proposal made public by the city on Oct. 1. The museum is projected to have 50,000 visitors a year.
The $8.5 million parking garage would be built through a public-private partnership, with the CRA paying $4 million, the city $3.5 million and the museum, known by the acronym WMODA, $1 million. The CRA’s contribution would come from the tax boost generated by the project. WMODA would hold a five-year construction loan for the garage, a move the company says would shave $2.3 million off a traditional 20-year loan.
The alley between the museum and apartments would get new paving, landscaping and lighting along with artwork, all designed and paid for by United Management with a goal of transforming the alley into an “arts walk.” The alley would be maintained by the museum.
The “arts walk” would be extended another block to the east, into the alley behind the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County building, to offer a walkable two-block route to the museum from the parking garage. That block of the arts walk would be built by United Management and the city and maintained by the city.
If approved, the project’s first step would entail United Management moving four CRA-owned houses, built between 1933 and 1946, that are currently in the footprint of the apartment complex. Three buildings would be moved two blocks west to CRA-owned land on First Avenue South, immediately south of the proposed K Street parking garage. A fourth would be moved three blocks west to CRA-owned land at 126 S. J St.
The K Street garage would be built first with a goal of being completed by late 2026. The city would own and operate the garage. Since some of the land designated for the apartment complex is used as public surface parking lots, the new garage would help offset the loss of those 65 spaces.
The museum would be built next, followed by the residential portion. The museum is projected to be done by summer 2027 and the apartment complex by fall 2028, according to a preliminary construction schedule.
According to the Oct. 1 proposal, Wiener’s contributions for the project are estimated to be $63 million (including money for the arts walk and moving the buildings), the CRA’s $6.7 million (including the land value), and the city’s $1.2 million.
The project’s concept was first unveiled at a CRA meeting on Feb. 13. Presentations were made at a virtual public meeting in April, a public charrette in May at The Hatch, and a City Commission meeting in June. Wiener’s team also led tours of the WMODA’s current home in Hollywood for several city leaders.
“It would be a crown jewel here in Lake Worth Beach. I hope it works out,’’ CRA board member Drew Bartlett said at the February CRA board meeting.
The CRA board is composed of seven city residents appointed by the city commission. The board oversees $7 million a year in tax revenue from downtown property.
Arthur Wiener plans to attend the Oct. 7 workshop, which will be the first time the project's financial aspects are discussed in public. The workshop starts at 6 p.m. at the Lake Worth Casino Building and Beach Complex, 10 S. Ocean Blvd.
The next day, Oct. 8, the CRA board will consider the land deal and development agreement. On Oct. 15, the City Commission will consider entering into a public-private partnership with WMODA and a development agreement. Two weeks later, on Oct. 29, the commission will consider a second vote on the public-private partnership.
So far, the reception from city leaders has been positive. Among other things, they like how the project would reinforce the city as a culture destination known for arts lofts, downtown galleries, the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County, the Lake Worth Playhouse and the Benzaiten Center for the Creative Arts.
“I feel like it’s the perfect fit for us,’’ said Joan Oliva, the CRA’s executive director. “This is along the lines of how the community sees us redeveloping.’’
And the museum’s new partnership with Seattle-based Chihuly Studios glass artists, announced Oct. 2, is expected to be a big tourism draw. Chihuly's exhibitions have hundreds of thousands of visitors across the United States, generating significant economic revenue for host cities such as Asheville, Dallas, and Richmond, Va., the Wiener team said in a press release.
“I cannot think of a better home for the Wiener Museum of Art and a permanent exhibit by Dale Chihuly than downtown Lake Worth Beach,’’ said Mayor Betty Resch.
The non-profit Wiener Museum of Decorative Arts first opened in 2014 on the second floor of the Gallery of Amazing Things in Dania Beach. For eight years, it showcased the ceramics and glass pieces Wiener started collecting in 1965. From British pottery and porcelain by Wedgwood and Royal Doulton to contemporary studio glass by artists like Chihuly, the collection includes more than 3,000 pieces, some dating back to the late 1700s.
When the Dania lease expired, the gallery owner had other plans for the second floor, Wiener said. WMODA considered a move to Tamarac but settled at its current location in a warehouse district in Hollywood in 2023. The museum has not been open to the public, except by appointment, because of permit issues that Wiener’s staff said were recently resolved.
“We have gotten our permits with Hollywood. We are moving forward,’’ project consultant Renee Miller said, adding that the museum should open to the public later in October. “Moving it from a warehouse/office space to something that can have public gathering spaces has been a lot with the fire code and other things. It has been a challenge. Hopefully we are at the end of that.’’
The Hollywood location has always been considered a temporary stay while the museum seeks a permanent home. But to make plan work, the museum needs to be tied to a residential portion that can offset the museum’s operating costs, the Wiener team said.
At the May charrette, Wiener said the museum’s operating costs in Hollywood are “at least $700,000 a year.’’ The projected operating costs of the Lake Worth Beach locations are not known yet, officials said.
“We are embarking on something that is very innovative,’’ Miller said in April. “Most museums in the country struggle or fail over time because they lack the financial support to be able to keep them open. Museums are not great revenue generators. It is the Wiener family's desire to create that residential to support, financially, the operations of the museum. And at this time, the only way we see to do that is to seek a market rate housing project.’’
Wiener, 80, said his goal is for an economically self-sustaining project so his children aren’t burdened with the costs of operating the museum.
“The museum is not an inexpensive operation to run, and that's aside from adding to the collection,’’ he said in an interview. “Hopefully the project will be profitable to partially, partially, offset the expense of the museum.’’
Wiener said he had been in discussions about his project with at least three other cities outside Florida before focusing on Lake Worth Beach earlier this year.
“Of all the towns we interviewed, I feel most comfortable with Lake Worth Beach,’’ said Wiener, who would not identify the other cities. “It reminds me of Cambridge, Mass., and the West Village of Manhattan.’’
Wiener and his family, including his daughter, Ariana, first visited Lake Worth Beach after their team reached out to Oliva late last year with their idea for the mixed-use arts campus.
Oliva said the Wiener team reached out to her on the recommendation of former Lake Worth Beach CRA Director Corey O’Gorman, who has known Miller since her days as city manager of Hallandale Beach from 2012-2106.
“I think it's a really quirky artsy little town,’’ Ariana Wiener, United Management’s vice president for new development, said in an interview. “We like places that are off the beaten path with a bit of an edge and I think Lake Worth Beach fits our personality very well.’’
Lake Worth Beach’s diverse population also was attractive to the Wiener family. The city has a poverty rate of 24 percent. Arthur Wiener said he envisions the museum offering tours and lessons to underprivileged children and seniors.
“I want to make it amenable for minority kids to come in and have the same opportunity that my kids have had,’’ he said. “Give them a drawing pad, give them a potter's wheel to get their hands dirty. That's important to me.’’
Other project features:
Demolition of a building housing the city’s Parking Division offices at the southwest corner of Lake and South M Street, the future site of the museum’s main entrance.
Two of the four structures that would be moved from the footprint of the apartment complex currently house the offices of the city's Leisure Services Department. Those structures would be moved to the land south of the K Street garage and continue to be used by Leisure Services.
The museum would be four stories high, including a lobby with 18-foot ceilings and other floors with 12-foot ceilings. At just under 56 feet high, the museum would be about 10 feet lower than the tallest building on the block, the Lucerne condominiums building across Lake Avenue along South L Street.
The residential buildings would range in height from five to three stories. The portion closest to the museum would be five stories, and the elevations would fall as the building approached First Avenue South.
The museum expects to hire locally to build a staff of 12 to 15. About 10 more workers could be hired to work in other museum jobs or at the apartment complex.
The museum would have an admission fee. The current fee is $15.
The project is being designed by HLW Architects, a New York City-based firm that opened a Florida office in West Palm Beach in 2023.
© 2024 ByJoeCapozzi.com All rights reserved.
Please help support local journalism by clicking the donation button in the masthead on our homepage.
About the author
Joe Capozzi is an award-winning reporter based in Lake Worth Beach. He spent more than 30 years writing for newspapers, mostly at The Palm Beach Post, where he wrote about the opioid scourge, invasive pythons, the birth of the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches and Palm Beach County government. For 15 years, he covered the Miami Marlins baseball team. Joe left The Post in December 2020. View all posts by Joe Capozzi.