'An environmental powerhouse': Groundbreaking for Palm Beach park redo draws crowd
With white hardhats and gold-plated shovels, Town Council members were among those breaking ground Friday on the $33 million renovation of Phipps Ocean Park.
A mid-morning ceremony drew representatives from the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach, which is spearheading the project, as well as elected officials, donors, town staff and residents.
In opening remarks to guests, Preservation Foundation CEO Amanda Skier thanked a large team of contributors for bringing the foundation's vision of restoring and revitalizing the town-owned park to life.
Donated by the Phipps family in 1948, Phipps Ocean Park has not undergone a significant redesign since it opened, Skier said.
Construction will begin in June and is expected to take 15 months to complete.
The foundation hired Miami-based landscape architect Raymond Jungles to create the master plan for the redevelopment. Palm Beach-based architecture firm Fairfax, Sammons & Partners is designing the park's buildings.
"The foundation has collaborated with acclaimed architects, designers and leaders in ecological restoration to create an international model for coastal park revitalization and environmental education," Skier said. "Our efforts will make the park more accessible and gracious as a recreational facility, and benefit our community for generations to come."
The Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach has collaborated closely with the town on the Phipps Ocean Park project, which includes redevelopment of the park as well as improvements to the tennis facility and the town’s lifeguard station at the top of the dune there.
The foundation will pay for the majority of the project. The town's Recreation Department will pay for the tennis center work, and improvements to the lifeguard station will come from the town's capital improvement fund, the town said.
Redesign plans for the park, which sits just north of the Par 3 golf course in the town's South End, call for restoring and moving the Little Red Schoolhouse to a more visible spot near the base of a 22-foot beach dune.
The schoolhouse, which is home to the foundation’s living history program, will anchor the great Great Lawn and wildflower garden to the west. The Garden Club of Palm Beach will collaborate with the Preservation Foundation on the design of the garden.
A new feature to the north of the schoolhouse will be an outdoor classroom. Plans also include a Coastal Restoration Center, a nursery and propagation area for native plants that will support healthy beach dune ecosystems within the park and throughout the island.
The park’s recreational facilities will be improved with ADA accessible walking paths, spaces for the community to gather, a bespoke playground inspired by native fauna as well as new cabana bathrooms and beach pavilions.
"Phipps Ocean Park represents a beacon of environmental stewardship and cultural preservation, embodying our collective commitment to nurturing both our natural heritage and future generations," Skier said.
Friday's groundbreaking capped a four-year design and approval process for the park, and the mood was celebratory.
"What we're going to have here is an environmental powerhouse," said council member Lew Crampton, who was joined at Friday's ceremony by all four of his colleagues as well as Mayor Danielle Moore and former Council President Maggie Zeidman. "This will be a place people will come, learn and appreciate where they live and appreciate our environment. It's the most important event ever occurring in the South End since undergrounding. It's going to be a destination."
"What has been an underachieving stepchild of a park is about to be transformed into a restored native coastal ecosystem with a vital restoration education center," added Council President Bobbie Lindsay. "We are so grateful to the Preservation Foundation and its generous donors for initiating and principally funding this ambitious and much-needed project."
The Preservation Foundation has raised $29 million for the project to date, Skier said, with Citadel LLC founder and CEO Ken Griffin contributing a $7 million lead gift that was announced April 16.
Griffin, a Miami resident who owns the largest ocean-to-lake estate in Palm Beach, was unable to attend Friday's ceremony, but Citadel LLC Head of Public Affairs Cason Carter appeared in his place.
Carter called the Phipps Ocean Park renovation plans "truly iconic" in remarks to guests.
"The first point that Ken wanted me to make is that what a great community Palm Beach is," he said. "This project is a reflection of how special and giving the community is. I appreciate everyone here today, because you all care about this project and what this park will become. Secondly, I think it's important to recognize the value of community gathering places, and this will be a unique one."
Griffin and the town, which gave $2 million for the park's restoration, are among 11 “landmark donors” who have given $1 million or more, the foundation said.
Additionally, 20 “major donors” gave between $250,000 and $1 million, and 65 “community donors” gave between $5,000 and $250,000.
Skier noted that the foundation's original fundraising goal of $30 million was increased to $33 million after additional costs came in.
However, she said she was confident that the foundation would raise the remaining $4 million during the year ahead.
"There's continued interest," she said. "And now with the groundbreaking, there's even more excitement about the project."
Jodie Wagner is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at jwagner@pbdailynews.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Groundbreaking event draws crowd to Palm Beach's Phipps Ocean Park
