The Palm Beach Gardens City Council will soon decide whether to approve a proposed five-story apartment complex on a long-vacant parcel off Northlake Boulevard where a mobile-home park once stood.
The council is expected to consider a first reading of the Kolter Group’s plans for the Hilltop Gardens apartments when it meets March 5.
The city’s Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board on Feb. 10 recommended changing the development rules for the site to allow a mix of commercial and residential buildings, a move required to let Kolter build the community. It also recommend the City Council approve the apartment complex.
Here are three things to know.
What is proposed and where will the apartments be located in Palm Beach Gardens?
Kolter wants to build a complex of 432 apartments on the site of the old Hilltop Gardens Mobile Home Park, north of Northlake near Congress Avenue.
The project would include 54 residences designated for the city’s workforce housing program, which is designed to make housing more affordable for middle-income workers.
If the zoning change and a site plan are approved, Kolter would designate 17.64 acres for residential use, with plans to construct six five-story apartment buildings and a clubhouse, according to city records. A 3.41-acre parcel would be allocated for future commercial use. Kolter’s plans do not specify what that use might be.
The apartment complex would sit about 400 feet north of Northlake Boulevard, on the west side of the Congress Avenue extension that will connect the major north-south route to Alternate A1A.
What Palm Beach Gardens businesses and landmarks are near the Hilltop Gardens site?
The site is one of the last vacant parcels along a stretch of the Northlake corridor that is surrounded by restaurants, retail and service outlets.
It is close to shopping venues such as Target and Costco, and sits just east of Howell L. Watkins Middle School and the Lake Catherine Sports Complex.
What happened to the Gardens mobile home park?
Once the home of about 150 residents, the Hilltop Gardens Mobile Home Park closed in 2007. Residents were evicted after the property was sold to a Miami-based company in 2005. Homeowners were paid as much as $6,000 to move their double-wide homes and as much as $3,000 to move their single-wide homes, under the Florida Mobile Home Act.
In 2009, Palm Beach Gardens designated that the land be used for commercial purposes, paving the way for potential uses such as a shopping plaza or an office park. However, the land has sat vacant since the mobile-home residents departed.
Julius Whigham II covers northern Palm Beach County and public safety for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach Gardens to vote on apartments with affordable housing. What to know
Reporting by Julius Whigham II, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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