Boynton Beach Historic High School Redevelopment Project
Project Overview
The former Boynton Beach High School is an important public facility — a priority redevelopment project. Despite considerable community sentiment favoring its restoration, the High School has remained underutilized for over 10 years.
The REG/IBI consultant team has been contracted to help the City lead a community driven, community responsive planning and development process, resulting in a redevelopment of the High School that is consistent with the City of Boynton Beach Downtown Vision and Master Plan.
Four Principles:
To achieve this end goal, the REG/IBI team will utilize four principles to guide the redevelopment process. They are:
Respecting History, With an Eye Toward the Future
The redevelopment of the High School should focus on utilizing the unique architectural character of the High School as the backdrop for developing a host of new, vibrant uses and activities. While respecting the historic architecture of the building and the site, the Team will assist the City to complete a redevelopment which makes the most of the building’s interior architecture and exterior spaces to create a busy hub of new activity.
Anchor, Support and Stimulate New Development
The REG/IBI team views the redevelopment of the High School as a critical opportunity to stimulate new neighborhood development. Therefore, the redevelopment plan should focus on uses and tenancies that support and help launch a broader redevelopment, and investment in, the surrounding neighborhood.
Economic Sustainability
The redevelopment of the High School has to deliver economic value to the City, be extremely sensitive to current real estate market conditions, and economically sustainable. The REG/IBI team will work with the City and Community to structure a redevelopment which can support the operating costs of the property with minimal impact to the City’s finances.
Increase Visibility of the Boynton Beach “Brand”
The successful redevelopment of the High School will be a high visibility project. The uses, tenancies, community process, and redevelopment structure will be a success story the City can use to advance and advertise the Boynton Beach “brand identity” — the City’s attractiveness as a place to live, work, and invest. A creative approach to the reuse of the High School creates ongoing opportunities to broadcast a new sense of vibrancy regarding Boynton Beach.
Project Deliverables:
The REG/IBI will 1) final due diligence required to understand the complete costs associated with redevelopment of the school property, 2) complete a final development and business plan for the property, 3) complete a preferred ownership, funding and financing structure for the project, and 4) engage potential tenants, users, investors, and potential development partners directly in the process.
The final deliverable — the Historic High School Campus Development Business Plan — will be an investor grade business plan and preliminary offering document, the tool which will enable the City to secure funding, financing, potential development partners, users and tenants, and begin the redevelopment of the campus properties.
Project Team:
REG Architects, Inc.
REG is an Architectural, Historic Preservation and Planning firm with an award- winning reputation in architecture, historic preservation, interior design, urban redevelopment, parks, consensus building, public engagement, and grants funding assistance. REG has been involved with the redevelopment of the High School since 2001, and authored the last development concept report in December 2009. As a Hispanic MBE architectural firm located in Downtown West Palm Beach, we have been offering progressive design services since 1988. Our office has a staff of 15 talented individuals which includes five licensed architects, one interior designer, two architectural project managers, one construction administration project manager, four CADD technicians and two administrative staff.
REG has considerable experience with similar projects, including the Sara Sims Master Plan Boynton Beach, Historic Cottage Boynton Beach, Historic Lake Worth Beach Casino, Historic 1916 Palm Beach County Court House, Historic Harriett Himmel Theatre at City Place, Historic Mar-a-lago Club and the Historic Ft. Pierce Post Office.
IBI Group, Inc.
IBI Group was founded in 1974 and is a leading, international, multi-disciplinary provider of a broad range of professional services focused on the physical development of cities. IBI’s business is concentrated in four main areas of development: Urban Land, Facilities, Transportation and Systems. The professional services provided by IBI include urban design and planning, architecture, interior design, civil engineering, transportation engineering, traffic engineering, systems engineering, urban geography, real estate analysis, landscape architecture, communications engineering, software development and many other areas of expertise. The firm’s clients include national, provincial, state and local government agencies and public institutions, as well as leading companies in real estate building, land and infrastructure development, transportation and the communications industries and in other business areas. IBI provides these services in major cities across Canada, the United States and western Europe, as well as in other international cities.
IBI’s Pompano Beach and West Palm Beach offices bring extensive experience in master planning, redevelopment services, public engagement, funding & grants assistance, tax credits, public private partnerships and business plan development to the Project.
Farris Bobango Branon PLC.
Farris Bobango Branon is a multidisciplinary law firm with broad experience in economic and community development since the 1960’s. The firm has a special practice focused in the areas of public-private financing, tax credit financing (including New Markets Tax Credits), and municipal finance.
Ferrill Architects
Stephanie Ferrell’s practice focuses on historic rehabilitation, historic preservation tax credit consulting and the adaptive use of historic properties. Her clients have included non-profit organizations, such as the National Trust Community Investment Corporation, state and local governments as well as private clients — with projects ranging from redevelopment feasibility analysis to architectural design and construction documents, to grant writing and administration and adaptive use studies to development of historic properties. Her firm's practice also includes design review, historic resource surveys, National Register proposals, preservation ordinance review and consultation to developers and to other architects. She has authored numerous successful grant applications and articles, and has worked on many grant-funded preservation projects.
ONM & J Structural Engineers
O’Donnell, Naccarato, Mignogna & Jackson, Inc. (ONM&J) is one of Florida’s most experienced structural engineering firms. It is the firm’s reputation for innovative design solutions that keeps ONM&J at the top of its game and ready to serve public and private clients throughout the state of Florida and the Caribbean. Headquartered in West Palm Beach since 1985, ONM&J offers clients resources throughout the state of Florida. The firm is a capable and integral member of the project team for projects ranging from high-rise residential to single-story retail including all types of civic facilities.
TLC Engineering
A high-growth firm with talent, expertise, and experience, TLC is one of the largest MEP and structural engineering firms in the country. TLC understands its clients’ needs, listen to their concerns, and work within their budgets. With corporate headquarters in Orlando, TLC also has offices in Cocoa, Dallas, Miami, Ft. Myers, Deerfield Beach, Tampa, Tallahassee, Jacksonville, and Nashville. TLC’s 293-person staff includes 83 PE’s, 21 EI’s, 99 LEED Accredited Professionals, 25 ACG Certified Commissioning Authorities, one Certified Geothermal Designer and one Certified Indoor Air Qualified Professional. We also employ 13 Certified Plumbing Designers, eight RCDD’s, two CPTED-certified professionals, four certified technology specialists, two certified energy managers, and specialists in Direct Digital Controls and BACNET Building Energy Management. TLC has provided engineering services for buildings in 41 states including Alaska and Hawaii, plus several foreign countries.
