Boynton City Hall, library, police to relocate this summer
BOYNTON BEACH — Starting this summer, residents will pay water bills, check out books and file police reports in a makeshift City Hall, library and police station.
The city will temporarily move the three for about two years while the current buildings are torn down to make space for new, up-todate ones as part of the $250 million Town Square redevelopment project.
Boynton’s police station will move from its space with City Hall at Boynton Beach and Seacrest boulevards to 3602-3606 Quantum Blvd., off Gateway Boulevard just west of I-95. City Hall will be nearby at 3301 Quantum Blvd.
The library, currently behind City Hall and the police station, will be split into two: The main area to check out books and DVDs will be at 2045 High Ridge Road, south of Gateway, in a building about one-third of the size of the current site. An annex location, about 4,000 square feet designated for student study space and programming, will be at 209 N. Seacrest Blvd., across from its current location and immediately south of the U.S. Post Office.
“We’re going to make the best of it,” said Craig Clark, the director of the library.
All spaces will be leased for about two years and will cost the city about $2.2 million, said City Manager Lori LaVerriere. Build-out work at the sites, such as creating areas for detective rooms and holding cells, will cost an additional $275,000.
The leases for the library spaces start June 1. Many of the students who go to the library after school live in the area of its current location, Clark said, prompting the city to work to find a temporary site for them nearby.
Leases for the City Halland police spaces start Aug. 1.
The citywill also tear down Fire Station 1 and the Civic, Madsen and Art centers. Fire Station 1 will be relocated to Fire Stations 4 and 5. The nonprofit Boynton Beach Playhouse practices and holds performances at the Madsen Center and is looking for a new venue.
Over the next two to three years, workers will rebuild about 16 acres off Boynton Beach Boulevard where the current buildings sit. They’ll build a City Hall, library, fire station, parking garages, a hotel, apartments, amphitheater and parks.
A police station will be built off-site near the temporary location. The historic high school is under renovation to be used as a cultural and arts center.