Developers are preparing to transform the approximately 70 acres of land known as K-Park off State Road 7 in Wellington into a large-scale community and business center. They plan to officially begin construction within 60 days.
The Wellington Village Council unanimously approved a rezoning request and two conditional use approvals for the property at a meeting Tuesday, Jan. 27. Development company Related Ross bought the land south of Stribling Way on the west side of SR 7 for $47 million. The site will be the future home of a commercial district with a pedestrian-only promenade. On the other side of the property will be a new private school serving students in pre-K through grade 12.
The development team went over the property’s master plan, which was worked out in discussions with the village, the previous owner of the property. The village has been discussing what to do with the land for more than two decades.
“We’re here to make a difference, and we thank all of you for giving us this opportunity and entrusting us with something here that has taken this long for anyone to be able to launch,” said Ken Himmel, president of Related Ross. “We promise you we’re going to deliver something extraordinary.”
Education company ElevateED is working to open the new private school, called Wingrove Academy, to students in August 2028. More than 250 educational professionals will welcome up to 1,750 students eventually to the new, nearly 44-acre campus. The school will only enroll students in pre-K through grade eight in its first year. The next school year, officials expect to expand to include its first high school class.
Wingrove Academy has already garnered support from the local school district.
“This will bring a lot of students from Boca Raton to Jupiter… from everywhere, right here into the Village of Wellington,” Palm Beach County School Board Vice Chair Marcia Andrews said. “We have not seen anything like this come to Palm Beach County. It’s going to put us on the map for excellence in academics.”
The promenade and surrounding development will be a mixed-use area with multiple retail stores and restaurants. An expected 215 residential units and a hotel with 180 rooms will be added near the commercial areas to attract more people.
Developers hope that the project will also bring in new entrepreneurs to the area. The property will include 75,000 square feet of office space to make the site a prosperous business center.
Supporters of the project told the council that these commercial and business opportunities will benefit Wellington greatly.
“We feel that this is an opportunity for Wellington to attract new visitors, as well as maintain and retain a lot of our residents,” said Mary Lou Bedford, CEO of the Central Palm Beach County Chamber of Commerce.
The development team hired the engineering firm Simmons & White to conduct a traffic study to meet the village’s standards near the development. To mitigate traffic, developers will contribute toward adding additional lanes at the Stribling Way and Fairlane Farms Road roundabout, and at Forest Hill Blvd. and State Road 7.
The engineers also proposed adding two new roundabouts: one on the north side of the property to act as an entrance to the Wingrove Academy campus, and another near State Road 7, which will lead drivers to the multiple mixed-use areas on the site.
With two other schools nearby, Wingrove will have staggered start and end times to reduce traffic congestion. The academy will also include more than a mile of internal stacking for pick-up and drop-off, allowing vehicles to queue on school property rather than backing up onto surrounding streets.
Bryan Kelley, a traffic engineer with Simmons & White, explained to the council that this intuitive design will reduce traffic near the school.
“What we’ve done is ensure that this is not going to happen for this school by the way we’ve designed it, and we’ve done these school operational plans,” Kelley said.
The council unanimously approved both the site’s rezoning and the conditional uses. The developers will return to the council with a full master plan presentation at a meeting in February.
