PALM BEACH’S LONG TIME TESTA’S RESTAURANT TO FINALLY BE REDEVELOPED?

PALM BEACH’S LONG TIME TESTA’S RESTAURANT TO FINALLY BE REDEVELOPED?

This has been a battle that has been going on for years. Since 2006 in fact, and it still is not over yet. It pits the Testa family, owners of the longtime (it is 93 years old!) Testa’s Restaurant on Royal Poinciana Way in Palm Beach against the Town Council of Palm Beach. Change and redevelopment in Palm Beach is rare and is not typically welcome. You can only imagine the Town Council’s horror when informed that the Testa family wanted to substantially change their 1.3 acre property which encompasses 221 and 231 Royal Poinciana Way, 214 Sunset Ave and 216 Sunset Ave. In all honesty, no one disputes the fact that it is necessary to renovate this property. The restaurant is 93 years old and needs a facelift, while there is a vacant gas station next store. This is something that is more than out of place in Palm Beach, it is almost insulting to have such a pedestrian use on The Island. You would think this fact alone would make them work more quickly on this project. As you can see above, a beautiful rendering was provided, showing the new proposed 2 story property. It would feature 6 residential condominium units, a courtyard, ground floor retail of 33,000 square feet (a combination of stores and restaurants including Testa’s of course!), and 34,618 square feet on the 2^nd floor. That is where the residential units would be. There is even 47,331 square feet of underground parking, something that is extremely rare in Florida. But the devil in in the details as they say. After this long battle, the Testa’s are finally waiting for a site plan review and special exception and variance requests from their friends at the Town Council. But as you can imagine, they are far from being in agreement on the project. The article ends with a quote from Bill Cooley, they Landmarks Preservation Commission chairman, saying that he thinks the project is too big and “out of scale for this street.” Could this saga continue even longer?? We will find out soon since the next ruling is scheduled for Oct. 15^th. You can look for the updates here. As always thanks for reading and have a great day.  

Testa family files new zoning application

http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/news/national/testa-family-files-new-zoning-application/nhH9r/