Friday, October 23, 2015

WESTERN PALM BEACH COUNTY IS GROWING UP FAST – TOO FAST?

OK this kind of growth just cannot be ignored. For years we have seen Western Dade and Broward counties expand and produce well to do cities such as Kendall, Doral, Weston and Pembroke Pines. Finally, it seems like Palm Beach County’s time has come. What exactly are we talking about and where will it be taking place? The place is Loxahatchee and the players are Minto West and GL Homes. What we are talking about is wholesale development of this entire area which starts with Minto West. They have already been approved for the development of 4,500 homes, along with 2 million square feet of retail, office and industrial space. That in in itself is a small /medium sized city. It will be built on land that had old citrus groves on it. Now GL Homes has proposed building 4,000 homes next to this on the Indian Trails Grove tract which is almost 5,000 acres of land. They have owned the land for 10 years and almost developed it before the recession. Originally they envisioned building 12,000 homes here. Along with the homes retail, office and industrial space will be built. Here is the problem with all of this new development: there is no major roadway to connect these new residents to major highways. In Broward you have the Sawgrass Expressway and I – 75 and in Dade you have the Dolphin and the Palmetto but Palm Beach doesn’t have anything like that. The closest thing to it is State Rd. 7, AKA 441, which is not yet connected fully all the way through the county. This traffic is going to be a tremendous problem and will further deteriorate the quality of life in this once quiet place. But when change comes it is usually driven by money, and there is a lot of it to be made here. And lots of jobs created and lots of tax dollars added to the tax rolls. And so this is going to happen and then we will try to figure out how to live with it. Is it too much growth too quickly? That is exactly what we are about to find out. I sure am glad I live in South Palm Beach County because things are about to get a lot more crowded to the North and fast. As always thanks for reading and have a great day.

Thursday, October 22, 2015

ROSENFELD RESTAURANT REVIEW – THE COOK & THE CORK CORAL SPRINGS

If you are reading this one, you are in for a real treat. You see me and my cousin Craig were at it again last week, looking for quality restaurants in West Broward. I am always looking for hidden gems and am thrilled when I discover one. I read about The Cook & The Cork in the newspaper and had been wanting to try it.

The opportunity finally came on a rainy Wednesday night. The place is sort of nondescript from the outside, located on the end of a small strip center on Sample Rd. But once you enter the place is dark but inviting and cozy. The menu is very unusual and we were forced to get 4 appetizers to make sure we got a good feel for the place. We went with Pierogis, some beef tacos, duck confit and tempura shrimp. I didn’t eat the tacos given the beef but my cousin really liked them. The pierogis were delicious, served with onions and apples. Duck confit was excellent and I ate it all myself. We split the shrimp, which were tasty and had 2 different sauces on them (one sauce on 3 and another on the other 3). From there my cousin had the herb and panko bread crumb crusted chicken which came with eggplant and onions. I had the snapper special blackened with grilled broccoli. The chicken was sensational, and I would probably get it the next time I go. My fish was good, a bit bland and not real spicy but fresh. I never had grilled broccoli before and it was strange but OK, not like regular broccoli at all in terms of look and taste. When I added some of the eggplant and onions to the fish it was much improved. From there it was onto the blueberry cobbler and cinnamon bun bread pudding. Both were solid but not spectacular. The wines by the glass are worth noting as well. They had some great, hard to find sections that were really excellent and reasonably priced. When they didn’t have the desert wine I ordered, they served me something else and gave it to me on the house! And it was really good. I think this place is the best restaurant in Coral Spring and really one of the best in all of South Florida. I strongly recommend it and look forward to returning there soon. I would love to hear about your favorite place or one you have tried recently and enjoyed. As always thanks for reading and have a great day. 

Thursday, October 15, 2015

UPTOWN ATLANTIC APPROVED AND COMING SOON TO DELRAY BEACH

 The long awaited renaissance of West Delray took a huge step forward with the approval of the Uptown Atlantic project. It is 6 acres on the South side of Atlantic Avenue and when complete will feature retail space, office space and residential townhomes. It will be between Southwest 9th Ave and Southwest 6th Ave. It has been in the works since 2013 and is still not fully approved. If it does here is what will be built: 112 residential rental units ranging from studios to three bedrooms, 17,000 square feet of office space, 6,000 square feet dedicated to restaurants and 45,000 square feet for retail use. It says one of the tenants will be a grocery store. This is both interesting and amazing news. It is interesting because the project is not yet approved, so it must be a tenant who has signed a contingent lease. The amazing part is that a grocery store has been the one thing missing from downtown Delray so it would fill a huge hole there. Twenty two of the residential units will be for workforce housing, something else that is badly needed in this area. Yes Delray Beach is finally growing up and I think it will work out well. I think you will see great stores and restaurants gravitate to this area to take advantage of lower rents and before long it will be just as desirable as the space to the East of it. Smart people can invest in this area before it changes and make a small fortune. Better act quickly as things look like they are about to take off. As always thanks for reading and have a great day.