New Marriott TS in Florida

[jimf41]

Riviera Beach includes most of Singer Island where Ocean Pointe is located on the southern 15%. the northern 30% is comprised of John MacArthur Park and some very expensive private single family homes. the middle 55% is a strip of high end condos and some decent hotels on the ocean side and some very nice middle to high end housing on the intercoastal side. The property Marriott is building the timeshare on is about in the middle of those condo's at the old Crown Plaza hotel. If there are any folks out there that think anywhere on this island is a high crime area then you must live in Southampton, Beverly Hills or Martha's Vineyard. The housing in Palm Beach Shores where OP is located are mainly small 1200-1800' ranch homes. Good luck trying to get one under $600,000. Mainland Riviera Beach, west of the Blue Heron bridge, does have a lot of low income housing. I don't know if I'd label it a high crime area. I've driven through it at all times of the day and night and it doesn't display the characteristics of a high crime area. The area received some national attention when the town fathers used eminent domain to rebuild some of the waterfront areas. Marriott has no plans that I know of to build anything in this area. They bought a high end property that had seen its day and are rebuilding another high end property. They aren't building anything in an area that needs re-gentrifying.

As far as the Ocean Mall project goes, the developer that built OP bought the property and received permission from the town to build a 20 story approx. hotel, preferably a Marriott. Some folks in Riviera Beach didn't like that because it would take their beach away with only limited access. So they got a referendum together and had some restrictions associated with the development of the property. The big one is no building can be more than 5 story's. That kind of lets out any major hotel. The developer is a powerful man in Florida politics so don't count him out yet although it doesn't look too hopeful for a major hotel at this time. And that's a good thing IMHO because Singer Island just isn't that big. As far as the rundown shops at the Ocean Mall they went away with Hurricane Wilma.

Jim freeman

 

[jerseyfinn]

Barry,

If this is the land just north (approx 1/2 mile) of Ocean Point where the mall is located, . . . it is odd that in May we were all told at the Owner's meeting that the project was dead and would not be moving forward. All very confusing. Karen

Yes, we were there in April and hear the same thing. But concurrent to our visit were pending local elections in Riveria Beach. It was quite spirited. I never found out who won, and my original comment is just a surmise that some of the political landscape must have changed in the election. It's a win-win for everyone as it gives Marriott another hand in the immediate area and it will definitely provide employment ( though I don't see how they would fare any better than Ocean Pointe does finding workers ). Change is coming to Riveria Beach no matter what, but Marriott is a good partner whether it's a hotel or a timeshare.

Jim kind of echos the idea that there's a lot of money in play here and heads will continue to clash over how to develop. Marriott has fit nicely into Palm Beach Shores and I would hope that they will do the same with their new resort. I certainly see the local view that a huge high rise would take locals out of the beach picture where the Ocean Mall is. At present, it's a nice beach and lots of folks enjoy it.

All of those million dollar condos are tall buildings. We're lucky that OP is in a low rise community.

Given the complexity of politics, I would not be surprised if the character of the new Marriott project morphs into a hotel-timeshare combo or if a pure timeshare play, a combo timeshare/Allen House sort of property. Big money is in motion here. Now if only Marriott could pull off another property acquisition in Costa del Sol, I'd consider buying into one of those.

Barry