Wellington’s Architectural Review Board approved the signage, exterior elevations, colors and materials for the planned Kaluz Restaurant near the Mall at Wellington Green on Wednesday, Dec. 21.
Kaluz will be located along Forest Hill Blvd. in the location previously occupied by the Buca di Beppo restaurant, which closed in 2015.
“The existing building will be demolished and rebuilt in a similar footprint,” said Kelly Ferraiolo, associate planner with the Village of Wellington.
The proposed building is one story high, with outdoor patio space and a covered porte-cochère. The proposed architecture is not the Mediterranean style common in the Wellington Green area. The renderings incorporate earth tone colors, windows for natural lighting, tower elements, decorative tiling around a waterfall and more, she said.
Stone, coping, wood cladding, earth tones, glass tile and metal panels are proposed outdoor materials.
The applicant, Arka Grill Company West LLC, requested that the primary and secondary wall signs be equal in size, deviating from the previously established sizes.
“Staff supports the request for additional height for the primary wall sign because the sign will be compatible with the height and unique design of the façades,” Ferraiolo said. “Staff supports the request for the secondary elevation wall sign to be equal in size of the primary wall sign as it faces Forest Hill Blvd., and a smaller sign would not look proportionate to the façade.”
The applicant is proposing to modify the existing single tenant monument sign on Forest Hill Blvd., which staff supports.
“I think it looks great. I think it looks very nice,” Board Member Roger Grave de Peralta said.
There is currently a Kaluz location in Fort Lauderdale. Located on the water, it is an upscale restaurant serving New American cuisine.
Board Member Ron Shamash thanked the applicant for bringing the restaurant to Wellington.
“Thank you for coming to Wellington,” he said, noting that the Fort Lauderdale location looks nice. “We really welcome this in Wellington. I’d like to see more like this. The design is beautiful.”
Shamash made a motion to approve the requests, which passed unanimously, 7-0.
The board also discussed a change request for exterior elevations and signage with technical deviations for the First Bank of the Palm Beaches location in the Wellington Plaza, located at the corner of Wellington Trace and Forest Hill Blvd.
The 33-foot-high bank, with a drive-through, will be constructed of textured stucco and plank lap siding. Various external features such as windows, textures, tower features and more will complement the building design. There will be a bike rack, bench and trash receptacle at the entrance.
Four thank-you signs and three directional signs are requested; staff supports six signs and recommends removing one of the signs, Ferraiolo said.
The applicant proposed an additional freestanding monument sign and additional lines of copy on the sign, both of which staff supports. Staff offered specific conditions regarding the height, length and sign area of various signs.
Board Vice Chair Tom Wenham requested rumble strips or a hump at the exits toward Forest Hill Blvd., and suggested that the trash receptacle be moved. Wenham also asked for stop signs at the exits.
Agent Robert Kuoppala of Kuoppala & Associates PA, noted that there are stop signs, they just weren’t noted on the information presented to the board. Kuoppala agreed to adding a hump or rumble strips at the exit of the building and moving the trash receptacle.
Complying with the rest of staff’s recommendations, Kuoppala said, is not a problem.
Grave de Peralta and Board Member Damon Robling asked about the drive-through height, as well as an exterior column.
Bank drive-throughs are typically 10 feet, 6 inches, rather than the planned 14 feet, which seems out of scale, Grave de Peralta said.
Board Chair Kimberly Sundook asked Kuoppala to return at the next meeting on Jan. 18 with diagrams from other projects with 14-foot drive-throughs and clarification from Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue regarding height requirements for a drive-through.
A motion to postpone decisions on the First Bank of the Palm Beaches project passed unanimously.
ABOVE: An artist’s rendering of the planned Kaluz Restaurant.
