Palm Beach board: Extent of demolition at Royal Poinciana Playhouse a 'shock'
Calling it a ''shock'' to see the amount of demolition underway at the Royal Poinciana Playhouse, the Landmarks Preservation Commission aired its concerns Wednesday about the long-awaited redevelopment of the historic structure.
As part of a meeting that included a presentation from the project's design team as well as public comment, some commissioners raised concerns about the extent of the work, while others questioned the transparency of the developer.
At a November meeting in which Alexandra Clark, vice president of Asset Strategy & Experience for WS Development, provided an update to the board, commissioners were not given a full accounting of the additional demolition work that would be needed to complete the project, Commissioner Brittain Damgard said.
More: Demolition at historic Palm Beach theater draws ire, but developer says work OK'd by town
That work was beyond the scope of what the board approved in February 2022, she added, and should have required a new certificate of appropriateness application.
In a statement to the Daily News on Monday, Clark said additional structural work was needed in order to meet the minimum requirements of the Florida Building Code.
"Nothing was said about total demolition," Damgard said. "Truthfully, it all sounded rosy. We were not given the facts. The process that should have been followed wasn't. They should have come back seeking a new COA and telling us their intentions. When they received the original COA from us, it was to restore and preserve, not totally demolish and reconstruct."
Other commissioners, however, said Clark and her team did make an effort to be transparent about their plans, though it didn't lessen the shock of seeing the extent of the demolition.
"Why we're here today is more the shock of seeing it," commissioner Bridget Moran said. "They did make an effort to tell us about it. They went to staff and told them about it. I'm not sure that the outcome would be any different. For me, to look at an engineer's report, I'm not an engineer. I don't know that I'd know how to read it. I'd just have to believe what they said to be true. It's unfortunate that we're here, but I just want to make note to say that I feel like I was informed, and I appreciate that."
Wednesday's landmarks meeting was for informational purposes only, board chair Sue Patterson said, and discussions will continue.
Shuttered for nearly two decades, the playhouse will reopen as a cultural arts center and new waterfront restaurant.
The project will include a top-to-bottom renovation of the two-story, 34,517-square-foot landmarked building at 70 Royal Poinciana Plaza, which closed in 2004 after Clear Channel Communications, its last tenant, left.
Jodie Wagner is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at jwagner@pbdailynews.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Extent of demolition at historic Palm Beach theater a 'shock' to board
