The nonprofit Quantum Foundation is assembling land in West Palm Beach’s Coleman Park neighborhood to build apartments, townhomes and offices that it says will serve as a “vibrant community hub” for the underprivileged neighborhood.
City commissioners voted May 26 to give the foundation four city-owned lots totaling 0.85 acres in the neighborhood, which runs along Tamarind Avenue north of Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, as a site for its development.
The foundation said it also owns or is working to acquire several other nearby lots, all clustered around Tamarind and 20th Street.
The project is part of a larger effort to revitalize the Coleman Park neighborhood being undertaken by a Quantum Foundation division called Palm Beach Venture Philanthropy.
The organization says the life expectancy of residents in Coleman Park, one of the city’s original historically Black neighborhoods, is among the lowest in the county, a byproduct of years of segregation and systemic racism.
Coleman Park residents live to 68 years on average, well below the countywide average of 82, the foundation said, citing U.S. Census statistics.
“If you’re born and raised in a community of persistent poverty, you are subjected to conditions that tend to lead to poor health outcomes,” said Raphael Clemente, executive director of Palm Beach Venture Philanthropy.
The organization said it has invested more than $8 million in the neighborhood already as it prepares to undertake the new development.
Clemente, the former executive director of the Downtown Development Authority, told commissioners that Palm Beach Venture Philanthropy is bringing a pop-up library to the neighborhood and is paying to install bus shelters at two bus stops. It is planning to host a green market, movie nights and other public events.
The city lots will consist of three residential projects — two homeownership sites and a mixed-use complex with rental apartments. At least 40% of the units must be affordable or workforce housing under the foundation’s agreement with the city.
In addition to affordable housing, the new development will include a fresh grocery market, a library, a community gathering space and offices for community organizations.
The organization is working to find a developer to build the project, with completion estimated in five years.
Mayor Keith James called the proposal “a powerful example of what is possible when the public and nonprofit sectors come together with a shared purpose.”
“This partnership reflects a shared commitment to preserving history while strengthening the future of this neighborhood,” he said in a prepared statement.
Andrew Marra is a reporter at The Palm Beach Post. Reach him at amarra@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Could this development transform West Palm’s Coleman Park?
Reporting by Andrew Marra, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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