Coleman Park gets a green light from City Hall
City Hall moves on Coleman Park, plus waterfront and Woodlawn proposals, GreenMarket's last call, student theater, Dramaworks, Beetlejuice, and coming-soon food openings.
Coleman Park gets a green light from City Hall
The city's historic Black neighborhood is at a turning point. WLRN reported that West Palm Beach commissioners voted 5-0 this week to approve a land transfer that could reshape the future of Coleman Park, handing four city-owned parcels along Tamarind Avenue to Palm Beach Venture Philanthropy, a division of the Quantum Foundation. The idea is a public-private partnership built to preserve the neighborhood's character as development presses in from every direction. The plan calls for three affordable and workforce housing projects, plus one mixed-use rental building.
The nonprofit says it has already put nearly $9 million into Coleman Park — affordable housing, health programs, and building preservation — including a $500,000 contribution toward the planned African-American Museum and Research Library at the former Roosevelt High School site. The transferred land comes with protections that could return it to the city if project milestones are not met. Palm Beach Venture Philanthropy told commissioners it expects to return with a construction site plan within 18 months. Future plans include a fresh market, shared office space, a cultural yard, a community gathering space, and the Taylor Moxey Library.
The waterfront plan that would erase the Lake Pavilion
If you've ever tried to find an affordable event space downtown, this one's for you. WPTV reported that a proposal to redevelop West Palm Beach's downtown waterfront would remove the city-owned Lake Pavilion, based on mock-ups the city itself published. Records WPTV obtained show the pavilion's removal as part of a sweeping concept to turn the waterfront into a large park — pier restaurant, children's playground, sand volleyball courts, a waterfront promenade, and a sloped lawn with an integrated amphitheater. The plan would also pull Flagler Drive out of the picture from around Banyan Boulevard to Fern Street.
The catch: the Lake Pavilion is one of the few genuinely affordable event venues in the county's largest city, and nonprofits and residents have raised concerns about losing it. A city spokesperson told WPTV there's no decision or plan regarding the event center, and the city has paused the concept to gather more community feedback. That pause is the opening — if you want a say before the renderings harden into a plan, now is when your voice counts.
A second development fight, this one over a cemetery
While we're on the subject of proposals drawing pushback: WPTV reported that a plan to revitalize Woodlawn Cemetery — including a controversial event space — has drawn criticism from Palm Beach County Commissioner Gregg Weiss and from families with relatives buried there. Weiss said his office had fielded local concerns, criticized the event-space concept and the new access points listed on the project website, and called on city leaders to formally oppose the plan. Friends of Woodlawn has since said it will shift toward beautifying the cemetery and step back from the entertainment ideas after resistance at a community outreach meeting. The city says nothing official has been filed and the concept sits outside its formal review process for now. Translation: this is a community conversation, not a vote.
Last call for the GreenMarket
May 30 is the final West Palm Beach GreenMarket of the season, running 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on the Waterfront Commons. After that it goes dark for the summer and won't return until October 3. The city's pitch is a good one for a last hurrah: fresh produce, baked goods, coffees and teas, flowers, specialty foods, and the usual sprawl of local finds from hundreds of vendors, with live music and family activities on the water. If you've been meaning to go all season, this is the weekend or wait until fall.
The Dream Awards put student theater on the big stage
The Kravis Center's Dream Awards land May 31 at 7:00 p.m. in Dreyfoos Hall — a night recognizing the best of Palm Beach County high school musical theater, culminating in a showcase. Two students from that showcase will go on to be nominated for The Jimmy Awards in New York City. It's a genuine local-talent showcase, and the kind of evening that's a lot more affecting than the "high school musical" label suggests.
Vineland Place closes its run this weekend
Palm Beach Dramaworks' world premiere of Vineland Place, a new play by Steven Dietz, runs through May 31 — so this is your last weekend. The story follows young writer Henry Sanders, hired by the widow of a novelist he admired to finish the late author's long-awaited final book. Dramaworks bills it as an intimate thriller stacked with dangerous surprises right up to the final page, directed by J. Barry Lewis. Tickets are $75, $95, and $115.
Coming up
Beetlejuice takes over the Kravis Center's Dreyfoos Concert Hall June 2 through June 7, with the first performance June 2 at 7:30 p.m. The musical is built on Tim Burton's film and follows Lydia Deetz after she crosses paths with a recently deceased couple and a demon with a thing for stripes; full showtimes are on the Kravis event page. And on the food front, Naked Farmer is listing a West Palm Tanger location at 1751 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd. and marks it coming soon, with a sign-up for opening-date updates. Garden Butcher also lists West Palm Beach as coming soon, but without a posted address or opening date. Treat both as coming-soon openings for now, not dinner plans.