WELLINGTON — A developer’s vision to transform a former sand mine into a bustling commercial and residential project in Wellington is moving forward.
The development, dubbed Lotis, sits on a 64-acre parcel on the west side of State Road 7 just north of Wellington Regional Medical Center.
The proposal includes retail, two restaurants, office spaces, multifamily homes and senior living.
To make the project a reality, developer Lotis Wellington first needs approval to change the land use and zoning on one 10-acre piece of the overall project. Developers also need approval of the project’s master plan and certain uses that could be allowed there, including a bank.
Wellington’s Planning, Zoning and Adjustment Board voted unanimously Oct. 14 to recommend approval of the applications to the Village Council.
Should council members give the final OK, Lotis would be one of the biggest mixed-use projects to hit the State Road 7 corridor in years.
JKM Developers, the entity behind Lotis Wellington, paid $14.25 million for the property in January 2019, county records show.
This isn’t the first project to be pitched for the land. Other developers proposed the so-called Village Professional Park. Although a master plan and conditional uses were approved for that project, it never materialized, said Wellington senior planner Damian Newell.
If approved as proposed, Lotis would include:
- 49,000 square feet of combined restaurant and retail space
- A 2,500-square-foot bank with a drive-thru
- 40,000 square feet of medical office space
- 16,700 square feet of professional and general office space
- 191 multi-family units
- A congregate living facility with 150 independent-living units and 110 assisted-living beds
- A daycare for up to 210 children
- 28.4 acres of open space, including the existing 18-acre lake
- Cypress preserve with a boardwalk
- Dog park
- Greenway around the lake with a multi-use path, benches and fitness stations
The project would be completed in three phases. The first would include the commercial development facing State Road 7. The second would include the multi-family residential and office space, and the third could complete the greenway and the congregate living facility.
The main access to Lotis would be via a traffic signal on State Road 7, Newell said.
There are wetlands on the property. Three were previously mitigated in 2015 by the previous owner through the Loxahatchee Mitigation Bank.
The current developer is working with the South Florida Water Management District to review one other wetland area, which contains parts of two of the wetland areas that were already mitigated, Newell said.
Another wetland encompasses most of one that has already been mitigated, with plans showing that it will be set aside as the cypress preserve.
If approved, school district will need to address capacity deficiencies
The developers did a study looking at the needs of the housing and senior-living markets in Palm Beach County and found demand in Wellington and surrounding areas, Newell said. Such market studies are required by Wellington to show need, according to the staff report.
Should the project be approved by the Village Council, developers will be required to pay roughly $75,000 to the School District of Palm Beach County to address elementary and high school-level capacity deficiencies, the staff report said.
A covered bus shelter will be required at the development’s entrance on State Road 7, the report said.
Some big names are interested in Lotis should the project be approved, developers said.
For restaurants, Cooper’s Hawk Winery and Lazy Dog Cafe have signed letters of intent, said John Markey, president of JKM Developers.
TD Bank is interested in the project as well.
Wellington Regional Medical Center has given its support to Lotis.
In a letter to JKM Developers President John Markey, Wellington Regional CEO Pam Tahan said a proposed connection between the two properties and the new traffic signal on State Road 7 “are welcomed and appreciated.”
The project does face some opposition from the nearby Black Diamond neighborhood.
Opposition from nearby neighborhoods
Developers have met with representatives from two other neighborhoods: Stone Haven across State Road 7 to the east and Wellington’s Edge to the west.
Brian Terry with Insite Studios, the agent for the developer, told board members on Oct. 14 that concerns have been raised by Black Diamond’s homeowners association, and that a member of the development team is reaching out.
Six Black Diamond residents voiced opposition to the project during the meeting.
Resident Robert Hicks asked the board and staff to consider how Wellington will have the “millions of gallons of water in runoff” that could come from potentially filling in wetlands.
Joyce Miller, who sits on the Black Diamond HOA board, asked why the developers reached out to Stone Haven and Wellington’s Edge before considering Black Diamond.
The northwest corner of the Lotis property, where the 18-acre lake sits, shares its western boundary with the southeast corner of Black Diamond, where there is a roughly 10-acre wetland preserve, property records show.
The Black Diamond HOA has opposed any development on the property since 2012, Miller said.
“Do understand that you will not come through our development to put your equipment to start digging around back there,” she said.