Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
New waterfront parkway nears finish in Deerfield
The finishing touches are in the works for a Deerfield Beach site along the Intracoastal Waterway, uniting a popular park and shopping along a new pathway.
The waterfront walkway and other amenities on the west side of Deerfield Beach’s Intracoastal — underneath traffic rattling overhead on the Hillsboro Boulevard bridge — are part of a deal struck two years ago when the city agreed to allow a nine-story hotel.
The hotel is supposed to go on the south side of the Hillsboro Boulevard bridge next to The Cove shopping center.
The city allowed a taller and larger hotel building in exchange for the developer building the waterside amenities for the public. Among the improvements residents can expect before the end of January:
A concrete walkway that extends from Sullivan Park to The Cove.
A boathouse where the public can go to rent paddleboards and canoes as well as buy ice cream and other concessions.
Floating docks for launching paddleboards and canoes within easy access of Deerfield Island Park, a public preserve of mangroves and nature trails.
“We’re also going to allow family boats, too, but not large ones that would interfere with diners’ and pedestrians’ quiet enjoyment of the area,” said Mike O’Leary, the site developer.
A hotel brand and the waterside restaurant has not yet been announced for the empty lot where the hotel will be built.
But O’Leary, a principal in the Blue Water group, a Fort-Lauderdale based development company, estimates the company already has invested $2.5 million for the new amenities.
“This is the time for us to get it done,” he said. “This all ties together — the park, the shopping, the hotel. I know it’s going to be gorgeous.”
O’Leary sees Deerfield’s western, Intracoastal section transforming from underused space into a booming hub, just as the city’s beachside has in the last 20 years. In 1998, he began efforts that ultimately resulted in a gas station becoming home of JB’s on the Beach, a popular oceanside restaurant.
Richard Maggiore, who owns The Tipperary Pub, at The Cove, said he has been among the shop owners wondering whether the hotel plan was stalled — but glad to see the steady improvements that have been happening since he first bought into The Cove 18 years ago.
“When I first bought in here, it was a derelict shopping center,” he said. “It was awful. No trees, no landscaping. It used to flood when you got a heavy rain.”
Similarly, Sullivan Park, on the north side of the bridge, was an underused park with shuffleboard. It re-opened last February with $3.4 million in improvements that include a splash park, boat slips and a jungle gym.
O’Leary foresees many more residents and tourists walking along the waterfront. “It’s open to anyone and everyone who comes along,” O’Leary said of the new attractions.