How Jupiter is growing: Apartments pitched as 'affordable,' but Abacoa residents disagree

JUPITER — When neighbors heard about the potential for four five-story apartment buildings to rise on downtown Abacoa’s last three empty parcels, many of them scoffed at the plans for the proposed 356-apartment complex, fearing it could snarl traffic in the community at Jupiter's southern border.

They expressed a different reservation last month when more than 100 of them met with Donaldson Hearing, the agent for the project: that developers are pitching the complex as a way to bring affordable housing to northern Palm Beach County, but that suggested rents are too high for teachers, nurses and firefighters to afford.

At the Feb. 28 meeting at Abacoa Golf Club, Hearing said project representatives would visit nearby schools, fire stations and hospitals to offer their staffs the first chances at renting apartments in the as-yet unnamed complex, which would sit on 6 acres at Main Street and Avenue A and could go before the Town Council this summer.

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“You are positioning this for the benefits for the workforce and blue collar of Jupiter,” Kathryn Morem, a Jupiter resident and former Palm Beach County school principal, said at the meeting. “Have you checked your metrics of what teachers can afford? It doesn’t align with what you proposed.”

The average Palm Beach County teacher salary is $57,800, according to the 2023-24 school district budget.

Analysts say housing costs should take up no more than 30% of household income. Under those guidelines, teachers’ households should spend no more than about $1,400 per month, an amount that would likely yield a studio or a small, one-bedroom apartment in much of the county.

There would be 15 studio, 171 one-bedroom, 150 two-bedroom and 20 three-bedroom apartments under the current plan. Rent prices would be $2,330 a month for a studio, $2,675 a month for a one-bedroom apartment, $3,450 a month for a two-bedroom apartment and $4,200 a month for a three-bedroom apartment.

“That’s what our younger people are paying when they move to Jupiter,” Hearing said.

These rates would not apply to all of the residences, however. The developer has committed to offer 71 apartments at more affordable workforce housing prices, a jump from the previously proposed 35 residences and more than double what the town requires.

The lowest monthly rent for a workforce one-bedroom apartment would be $1,028, depending on income and prior to any fees tenants must pay.

“There is a need in our area,” Hearing told Abacoa residents. “We don’t have to (include this much), but the Town Council is pushing us to deliver more.”

It’s not the only thing that council members asked for. They said they would like more commercial uses on the first floors of the buildings, where the developer first proposed two pickleball courts and a coworking space.

The developer’s team complied. Now, they are proposing some office spaces on the ground floors with professionals such as architects, sole-proprietor attorneys and others in mind to lease them.

Hearing said they do not want to compete with the existing retail businesses in Abacoa, but rather support those with the residents who would move to their buildings. There are no plans for retail space on the ground floors for now, but that could change if there is demand, Hearing said.

The partnership behind the new proposal includes the landowner Aries Land Acquisition, led by Rich Rendina, and The Richman Group, an apartment developer headquartered in West Palm Beach.

Hearing introduced the concept for the complex to the Town Council in May 2023 in a roundtable-style conversation.

Since then, the developer has gone back-and-forth with the town staff, making adjustments to the project in hopes of a favorable nod when the plan goes before council for a vote.

The developer hopes to put the site plan to a vote before the council this summer with construction to start in April 2025, if the project is approved.

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Another concern from residents involved the proposed parking plan, which amounts to one reserved parking spot per apartment. There is a chance for more parking spots if a household needs them, with the total parking spots averaging to 1.75 spaces per home, Hearing said.

It is the same amount as at the Allure apartments across Parkside Drive from the project site, and they have never had a parking problem, Hearing said.

Two buildings would each have an attached parking garage with 204 spaces each. The other two buildings are next to an existing garage with 977 spots, which was built for the 4,000-seat movie theater that was demolished in 2010.

As proposed, crews would add a structure with 196 spaces to that garage. Some of the garage area — 250 spaces — would be reserved for residents of the other two buildings.

The rest of the parking spots there would remain open for Abacoa visitors, especially baseball fans during spring-training games at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium every February and March.

While the players and fans may have enough parking, Abacoa residents say there wouldn't be enough for the apartment residents.

“You’re not making any sense in saying that there is one parking space allotted per unit,” said Bonny Renick, who lives near the proposed site. “Let’s be honest. In a home, there will be two partners with cars and then their child will grow up and need a car.”

Hearing said the buildings would give their residents more of a hotel experience than one of an apartment. The indoor amenities include coffee rooms, concierge services and cyber cafes. Outside, there would be a pool, fire pits, work spaces and courtyards. The courtyards would open up to the street and allow for public access.

Could apartments help downtown Abacoa businesses?

In 1995, Jupiter approved a plan to develop Abacoa from 2,050 acres of farmland north of Donald Ross Road and east of Interstate 95. Construction started in 1997.

Today, Abacoa extends north to Indian Creek Parkway, east to Alternate A1A and west to Heights Boulevard. It includes the Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium, a Courtyard by Marriott hotel, the UF-Scripps bioscience center, a Florida Atlantic University campus, two public schools, a golf course and more than 6,000 residences.

The Town Center has more than 30 businesses, but lacks a true anchor business and is distant from major roads. During a roundtable discussion in November, Town Council member Andy Fore said that commercial space “doesn’t want to take hold” in Abacoa.

“The commercial area there is just flat. How does a movie theater fail?" Fore asked. “It’s a strange place for some reason.”

Hearing said in February that the apartment complex is the solution to make Town Center stronger. “This is an opportunity to meet part of that need and at the same time shore up the retail in Town Center by having additional foot traffic from the people that will live here," he said.

Not everyone is sure. Debra Russell, secretary of the homeowner’s association at Charleston Court, a two-story townhome neighborhood along Parkside Drive, said she was worried that the complex would decrease her property’s value.

“The traffic concern is the main thing,” said Russell, a 55-year-old hairdresser who has lived in Jupiter since 2006. “I’d rather see more commercial here. I don’t think 356 units — whether workforce or not — is doable in Abacoa. It’s going to look like Philadelphia. It’s too much city.”

Maya Washburn covers northern Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida-Network. Reach her at mwashburn@pbpost.com. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Abacoa apartments pitched as affordable, some Jupiter residents disagree