Three-Story Medical Office, Retail Building Proposed In Boynton

A Boynton Beach developer has proposed to build a modern, three-story medical office and retail building in a lot that has been vacant since 2005.

Bradley Miller, president of Miller Land Planning, presented the plan to city commissioners, asking to construct the offices on the northeast corner of Riviera Drive and Federal Highway. The empty lot used to house an IHOP restaurant until it was demolished in 2005. That same year a project was proposed to have a mixed-use building for offices, retail and eight town homes but was nixed in the midst of the real-estate collapse, according to documents.

The site will have a 32-space parking lot behind the building, 13 off-street parking spaces, new sidewalks, a covered pedestrian area and open stairwells at both ends of the building. Medical offices will take up the second and third floors while retail shops and a 900-foot art museum will take up the first floor, Miller said.

Dr. Joseph Gretzula, a local dermatologist who Miller said has been renting space in Boynton Beach “for a long period of time,” is planning to move into the site.

“He’s been wanting to have his own place and thankfully he’s staying here in the city and using this opportunity to move his business there,” Miller said. “This keeps an existing business here and it’s a nice development area for a space that’s been here for a while.”

Gretzula plans to rent out a retail space to sell “high-end lotions and creams” and is also providing all of the art for the small museum, Miller said. The museum will be in the lobby area and open not just to patients but also to the public.

“People can go inside and view the collection during office hours,” Miller said. “It will also viewable from the windows at night.”

A unique addition to the building will be a rooftop terrace with space for a meditation area and yoga. Miller stressed the terrace will only be used for medical workers and patients — not for parties and other social events.

“It was best described to me being like a patio at your home — that if you want to get out and use outside space it’s there for you.” Miller said.

The project would bring job creation, Miller said. The location also makes it easily accessible to residents in adjacent neighborhoods, such as single-family homes on Rivera Drive and Snug Harbor Gardens condominiums, who are seeking medical services.

A resident who lives next to the proposed site, Linda Morton, said she is concerned with increased traffic on Riviera Drive, which is already a tight road for residents.

“Right now our street barely accommodates two cars going down the street,” Morton said.

Miller assured Morton the proposed off-site parking spaces and future construction will not tamper with traffic and “will be within the public right of way.”

Final approval for the site will be made at the Nov. 7 meeting.

Source: Palm Beach Post