Palm Beach pushes consideration of controversial Paramount Theatre project to July

Efforts to redevelop the historic Paramount Theatre building will remain paused amid concerns about traffic and parking.

At its development review meeting April 10, the Town Council directed the project's development team to return in July with updated renovation plans.

The additional time would allow for the incorporation of data collected through an updated traffic and parking study commissioned by the town, Planning Director Wayne Bergman told council members.

Last year, the town tasked Miami-based consultant The Corradino Group with conducting the study in an effort to address parking scarcity and traffic congestion on the island. Results were presented in February, but council members questioned whether the data used reflected current traffic conditions.

The council asked for an updated analysis to be conducted that would include the impact of all future developments in the town and West Palm Beach, updated peak afternoon traffic hours, and updated annual growth rate of the town, among other recommendations.

The study should be complete in about two months and is expected to include vital information about traffic near the Paramount site on the southeast corner of North County Road and Sunrise Avenue, Bergman told council members.

"It is in this updated study that the town will have updated traffic counts for the roadways adjacent to the Paramount property and recommendations on whether the established levels of service are appropriate or need to be changed for the better or for the worse," he said.

Council members agreed with the need to include updated traffic data in redevelopment plans for the nearly century-old Paramount property, which was purchased in 2021 by Palm Beach resident Lester Woerner and his son, Trent.

"We want to have definitive data that we can actually put our hat down on and say, 'This is it. This will definitively help us find the path forward,'" Council President Bobbie Lindsay said.

Woerner, however, disagreed with the decision to defer the project a third time.

He and his design team presented plans for the redevelopment of the Paramount Theatre building and neighboring parking lot in January and March, and both times council members postponed a vote over concerns about traffic, building heights and proposed uses.

"What I want to get a handle on is when is this report going to be done," asked James Crowley, an attorney with the Gunster law firm that is representing Woerner and his team. "We don't deserve to be delayed indefinitely while this report is done, because we were in before this report was commissioned."

Plans for the redevelopment of the Paramount Theatre have been revised numerous times during the past several years.

Woerner and his team originally planned a major renovation of the 40,000-square-foot theater, as well as an extensive redevelopment of the surface parking lot directly to the south.

Plans included two public-facing restaurants, a 250-seat event space and four 8,000-square-foot, multistory homes that would be built on the parking lot, with two below-ground parking levels and retail on the first floor of the three houses that would face North County Road.

But opposition was stiff, and Woerner ultimately eliminated the public-facing restaurants and added a 225-member private club and a small public-facing restaurant that would be open for breakfast and lunch. Further revisions included the elimination of the public event space and the public-facing restaurant. The private club was increased to 475 members from 225, while the total square footage of the four multi-story homes was reduced.

Council members rejected those plans in January, and then rejected revised plans presented in March that maintained the 475-member private club, but eliminated the multi-story homes and 18 of the 20 previously requested variances. Those plans also did not include a retail component, which concerned some council members. Lindsay asked Woerner to consider reinstating retail in the project's plans as well as a small restaurant.

"We'd like to produce something that makes sense for the community, for the town, that poses the least amount of disruption to the neighborhood," she said last month. "I'm … concerned about the fact that the way this is currently configured, the whole building is cut off."

Though frustrated with the council's decision to defer the project until July, Crowley told council members that Woerner and his team continue to work on an updated plan they believe would be acceptable to neighbors.

"We can fix a lot of these concerns that they have," he said.

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: Palm Beach pushes consideration of Paramount Theatre project to July