Floating Docks Coming To The Town of Palm Beach

The Town of Palm Beach Town Council reached a consensus on one of three plan options to renovate the town docks of Palm Beach. The costs are projected to be $31.8 million.

On Tuesday, Senior Engineering Consultant for Baird, Gordon Thomson, whose services were charged by the Town of Palm Beach, provided three alternative plan options to increase the size of the docks, based on the requisites of the community and the facility as a whole. According to Thomson, all three options would drastically increase the docks revenue. The overall goal is to update an otherwise outdated marina in order to adapt to the increasing number of larger-sized vessels, and to meet high parking demands.

Thomson addressed the growing trend of 200-foot yachts, and Southeast Florida’s incapacity to accommodate it. He also discussed the market rates, and the Town docks potential to charge above-market, rivaling the Rybovich marina. According to Councilwoman Bobbie Lindsay, “This is an under-performing asset in the town…It’s out of date. The power is insufficient. It’s not even close to the standards in the rest of our town.”

Floating Docks Coming To The Town of Palm Beach

While surveying the land, its facilities and community, Thomson discovered that residents, town officials and neighboring businesses alike, echoed similar sentiments; preferring floating docks to correct the limited parking space issues, while preserving the lawn of South Lake Drive.

Each of the three alternate plan options included those recommendations, as well as new building structures on its existing floor plans, new partitions, electrical and Wi-Fi upgrades, and the anchorage basin will be dredged to increase its depth to a 12-foot average.

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The third alternative, which has been chosen in accord by the council, consists of: adding another dock on the north side of the Brazilian docks with side-tie parking, replacing three fixed stations with floating docks, and adding three additional slip spaces. The town docks would increase overall by approximately 2,771 feet. Annual income is expected to land somewhere around $16.4 million dollars; four times more than 2017’s gross revenue.

Construction would be scheduled during the off-season, beginning as soon as 2020, with an estimated completion time of one year.