Jupiter's plan for shops on hold

The Riverwalk will now offer pedestrians fewer retail miles along its waterfront.A chunk of the mini-shopping mecca planned for visitors to the Riverwalk's south end has been turned into a commercial office plaza, surprising town officials.The tiny enclave of shops and restaurants envisioned in the Jupiter Yacht Club is on the first floor of the building. The Mariner building was intended for crowds who wandered past the Indiantown Road bridge.Instead, a stock broker, a yacht broker and the current landlord occupy the first floor of a five-and six-story residential condo high-rise.

Town officials claim a swift move by the Yacht Club's developer, WCI Communities Inc., went largely unnoticed by the town and managed to eliminate the retail shops. The development group owns five buildings on the site at 400 U.S. 1, just south of the Indiantown Road Bridge. Originally, The Mariner building was eligible for dual retail and commercial office zoning.

The initial site plan requested the town's approval only for retail use in The Mariner building. However, the final statement of use the town approved also included commercial offices for the roughly 7,000 square feet of building space. The Mariner building was completed in April 2003. Town officials now want the development group to rectify the situation by replacing the office space with retail shops when the lease expires.

Town staff and representatives for the development group are scheduled to meet to discuss the occupancy of another building in the Jupiter Yacht Club planned for retail shops.

Town officials have planned for the entire 2.5 mile Riverwalk project, the area west of U.S. 1, along the Intracoastal Waterway as an environmental and retail attraction. Still years away from completion, the latest phase of the Riverwalk will unveil an entertainment plaza under the Indiantown Road bridge by summer's end.

In anticipation of The Mariner building, the town added public restrooms for pedestrians and allowed the building to be five and six stories high. A sprawling entrance forms a circular brick-paved driveway leading into the Jupiter Yacht Club.

New owner Richard H. Cullifer, who bought the first floor of The Mariner building, thinks replacing the offices with shops and restaurants now would be a hardship on visitors. They would have to use a shared parking lot on the north side of the Yacht Club's entrance. Cullifer considers businesses such as the yacht sales office to be a better use of the retail space since it faces the waterfront where the company can dock the boat models on sale.

The lost retail space has town officials eyeing the Yacht Club's newest two-story building to ensure it will be used exclusively as retail space. Still under construction, the building is zoned on the first floor for retail shops with possible commercial offices on the second floor. Officials have requested notification of any attempt by WCI Communities Inc. to put offices in the new building.

Posted by Donald Urschalitz P.A. at July 21, 2005 05:08 PM