Builder takes cue from his dad

Developer serves at-risk kids by renovating charity home

Developer Art Falcone remembers going to work with his father, one of the founding members of police boys clubs in New York in the 1960s.

The elder Falcone, a police officer, organized baseball, basketball, boxing and other sports events for children with troubled pasts.

“I would go with him a few days a week, and I saw the impact my father had on those kids,” Art Falcone said. “That made a big impression on my life.”

Five decades later, Falcone has found another way to serve at-risk children.

He and his wife, Marcy, are heavily involved with SOS Children’s Village, an international charity. The South Florida location houses an average of 68 foster children each day in 12 homes on its cul-de-sac campus in Coconut Creek.

The Falcones are overseeing a major renovation, which includes converting an office into a 13th home.

When the $2 million project is complete, the children will have a modernized environment in which to live, and SOS will have room to serve nearly 80 children, Executive Director Jillian Smath said.

The Falcones’ commitment to pay for and supervise the renovation kept SOS staff members from having to organize a fundraising campaign and allows them to focus on their main task of tending to the children, Smath said.

“Because we are a nonprofit, we have a small staff, and our expertise is not in the area of renovations,” she said. “If we didn’t have [the Falcones], this probably would be a five-year process instead of an 18-month process.”

Falcone, a 57-year-old Boca Raton father of three grown sons, is part of a group developing the Paramount Fort Lauderdale Beach, a 95-unit condominium on the site of the former Howard Johnson’s hotel. The first residents are expected to move in this summer, he said.

Falcone also is building the mixed-use Paramount World Center in Miami as well as Plantation Walk, a $350 million redevelopment of the former Fashion Mall in Plantation.

The 165,000-square-foot first phase of offices will be delivered this year, Falcone said. The estimated 700 rentals and 200,000 square feet of shops will follow by the end of 2018, he said.

At SOS Children’s Village, the homes are badly in need of repairs, board member Marcy Falcone said. The charity, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary next year, has never renovated the homes.

“These kids are so appreciative of any little thing,” she said. “For them, it’s going to be like Christmas.”

Art Falcone said work crews are restoring a house at a time, moving the children to temporary quarters. Some of the homes are undergoing major rebuilds, while others need paint jobs and new floors, kitchens, bathrooms and furniture, he said. The project is expected to be complete by the end of the year.

After watching his father help needy children all those years ago, Falcone said he’s glad he has the same opportunity.

“It’s funny how God works,” he said. “It’s a great feeling to help out somebody less fortunate.”