Boynton project won’t include houses

BOYNTON BEACH – Single-family homes won’t be part of a new development along Old Boynton Beach Boulevard near Congress Avenue.

Instead, Cortina of Boynton Village will have nine apartment buildings with 378 units and 11 townhome buildings with five townhouses each. The twostory townhome buildings and fourstory apartment buildings are proposed along the east side of the parcel.

City commissioners approved the change Tuesday, despite a lastditch plea from neighbors to keep houses in the plans.

Original plans called for 643 condos, 350 apartments and 115 homes.

“There’s no way you can put a home on 4,000 square feet and make it feasible,” said Mayor Steven Grant.

“This is what the market bears now,” added Commissioner Justin Katz.

As part of the change, the developers kicked in $500,000 to enlarge the city dog park, at 800 Renaissance Commons Blvd.

“It was seeing so much use, we had to do something, so we added another large dog enclosure and parking,” said JKM co-founder and principal John Markey.

The vacant lot being developed sits across a canal from Sky Lake, a singlefamily residential development to the east. Neighbors objected to new residents seeing into their backyards and traffic that would spill onto Old Boynton Beach Boulevard.

“We would rather see single-family homes developed,” said Guy Borg, president of the homeowners association.

The apartments can be converted to condos if the market changes, said landuse attorney Bonnie Miskel, representing the Boca-based developer JKM Developers.

JKM Developers also built The Residences at Latitude Delray Beach and Osprey Estates, single-family homes in western Lake Worth. In Tamarac, the company is about to start building Tamarac Village, a town center with apartments, commercial space and room for a park.