Landowner plans mixed-use project at Wellington SR7
Village Lake Center brings shops, apartments to land near hospital.
WELLINGTON — It’s happening again.
Plans to develop 60-plus acres of land on State Road 7 near Wellington Regional Medical Center were submitted Wednesday to village officials.
Landowner Roger Fina wants to build 420 apartments, retail shops, restaurants, an assisted-living facility and either a day care or office tower on the land, his attorney, Chip Carlson, said. It will be called Village Lake Center.
Village Manager Paul Schofield said, if approved, it would be a “mixed-use” area, which aims to attract “a more workable mix of properties” so that it can be more economically stable.
The village pitched plans for a medical arts hub in the same area in 2010. The plans fell through after an “embarrassing” error in 2013 delayed the project.
“For economic reasons and market forces, it didn’t get done,” Carlson said.
Years ago, officials were moving forward on a proposal to develop land that wasn’t actually in the village. The same problem could arise with Fina’s development if the 10 acres he bought for $1.15 million from Palm Beach County ear-
420 apartments
Assistedliving facility Retail shops A day care or office tower
Restaurants
lier this year, which are drawn into his plans, are not first annexed into Wellington.
“We didn’t really get into a lot of details in the application, but we wanted to get started on the process,” Carlson said.
He estimates just getting proper approvals — of which Wellington’s Planning, Zoning and Building Director Bob Basehart said there will be a lot — will take about nine months.
“We’ve really just gotten the applications,” Basehart said. “But I know that there are some issues with their application.” Those include an outdated letter from county traffic officials and the need for a market study.
Carlson said the project will cost upward of $100 million, though no exact figures have been nailed down. Fina plans for the area to be a campus-type setting, similar to what village officials were pushing for with the medical hub.
Basehart said he doesn’t expect there to be a public hearing on the plans until at least the end of the year.
Fina bought the property — a sand mine — in the late 1980s, his attorney said.
He added that the developers will sit down with residents to discuss the plans for the area as they move forward.