The Loxahatchee Groves Town Council on Tuesday agreed to listen to proposals to lease or possibly purchase the Central Palm Beach County Chamber of Commerce’s building at Southern Blvd. and F Road.
Chamber CEO Wayne Burns offered to discuss the possibilities, explaining that the chamber has been downsizing and no longer needs all the space in the almost 4,000-square-foot building, which was built four years ago.
“Our chamber of commerce, when I became CEO last November, was basically wrapped up in doing a lot of large-scale events,” Burns said. “Since that time, our chamber has evolved, and we’re more focused on business-to-business and business-to-community services. That has allowed us to streamline our business model. We have a lot fewer staff than we had before, and because of that, we have a lot less need for space than the chamber needed when we built that building in 2010.”
Burns pointed out that the building is located on a prime corner within the town.
“There may be an opportunity here to occupy some or all of that space for the town staff and administration, and give you an opportunity to have both a town meeting space, as well as administrative offices and a public space with ample parking already in place, and surrounded by a park and park trails that the residents currently enjoy using,” he said.
Burns added that the building was found to be in excellent condition in March by an independent appraiser. “The building is new, and it sits on a large paved piece of property that’s ideally located,” Burns said.
The design follows guidelines of the Loxahatchee Groves Neighborhood Plan specifically to meet the rural character of the community. He said the interior has ample office space, as well as meeting space that is already used by the town for some of its advisory board meetings.
“The chamber needs less space, and there is an opportunity for the town to consider part or all of this,” Burns said. “I was hoping to ask your permission and direction to at least be able to meet with your town manager to offer some alternatives for you to consider.”
Mayor Dave Browning said a decision would come down to cost, between what the town currently rents space for and what the chamber could offer.
“I think I speak for the rest of the council,” Browning said. “We’re looking out for our tax money.”
Vice Mayor Ron Jarriel said people had told him that 4,000 square feet is more than the town needs, but he is willing to talk about it.
“I think it’s at a beautiful location,” Jarriel said. “It’s right across from a new medical plaza. Some people have said there’s not enough parking. I don’t think parking would be a problem because the county owns the property around it. If we needed more parking space, I believe they would allow us to make a bigger parking lot.”
Jarriel added that since town meetings are held at night, they might be able to use parking space at the medical plaza across the street.
“I like the idea,” he said. “I know what that place cost you, and I know that most of the work was done by volunteers. It would have cost you a whole lot more if you hadn’t had contractors and different people volunteering their equipment and time.”
With those considerations, Jarriel said he thought the chamber could make the town a good offer.
“What I believe you guys would be asking for it is a real good deal as far as I’m concerned,” he said. “I would like us to go with a lease with an option to buy.”
Jarriel also pointed out that the current town office located in the Palms West Plaza has serious security issues.
“Anybody that has an office that adjoins our office, they basically have access to anything that we’ve got,” he said. “I don’t like that, but we haven’t found anything better than what we’ve got right now.”
If the chamber building does offer too much space, the town might be able to sublet part of it, Jarriel noted.
“I don’t know the legal aspects of it, but if we had more office space over there than this town could use, I would think that we could rent it out or allow somebody else to lease an office,” he said. “There’s too many positive things for us to ignore this and drag our feet on it.”
Jarriel also pointed out that access to the Palms West Plaza is already difficult and will only be more so after Southern Blvd. is widened to six lanes.
The town would also need to look into the lease agreement on the land that the chamber has with the county for $1 a year.
“That sounds good to me,” Jarriel said. “I would hope we could keep a good relationship with the county.”
He also thought that the price of the chamber building would probably be less than the cost of building a 4,000-square-foot building on the Loxahatchee Groves Water Control District property, where the town council now meets, and that the chamber building meets hurricane-resistant standards.
“Everything we need is in that building,” he said.
Councilman Tom Goltzené said he would support further conversations between the town manager and the chamber, but would not support a referendum to allow the town to borrow money.
Councilmen Jim Rockett and Ryan Liang both said they would support further dialogue with the chamber.
Burns said the chamber itself would be willing to consider renting or leasing space back from the town if it chooses to buy the building.
“We have a small staff now, and we would probably occupy a couple of offices,” he said, pointing out that the building is designed so that portions can be sealed off from the rest of the building.
“We came to the Town of Loxahatchee Groves first with the idea that we think it’s the most ideal,” Burns said. “It is secure, it is paved, it provides ample space for things that you want to do.”
By consensus, the council gave direction for the chamber and town staff to discuss the lease or purchase options.
ABOVE: Chamber CEO Wayne Burns at Tuesday’s meeting.
