The new mixed use social center zoning (MXS) was approval by the Royal Palm Beach Village Council in November, paving the way for Tuttle Royale just south of Southern Blvd. and west of State Road 7.
After a change to Royal Palm Beach zoning laws, the village has approved a “mixed use social center” district to rival those in West Palm Beach, Delray Beach, Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter.
The 202-acre Tuttle Royale is being developed at the intersection of Southern Boulevard and State Road 7, with single-family homes, apartments, restaurants, shops, a charter school, a community square, a park and a hotel. The apartments are nearly complete.
Boca Raton-based developer Brian Tuttle has obtained funding and bought land along State Road 7 for a decade toward the project. The Village Council approved the zoning measure to create the district Nov. 17, with final approval expected in early 2023.
“Our goal is a combination of Atlantic (Avenue) and CityPlace put together,” Tuttle says, referring to districts in Delray Beach and West Palm Beach, respectively. He touts the Royal Palm Beach-Wellington area’s nearly six-figure average annual household income as a factor in targeting it for the development.
Other comparable mixed-use centers in Palm Beach County include Alton in Palm Beach Gardens and Abacoa and Harbourside Place in Jupiter.
Tuttle Royale’s mixed use master plan calls for 632,755 total square feet on over 41 acres. This includes 505,755 square feet of retail and a hotel, 127,000 square feet of office and 401 apartments. Other developments around the mixed use social center include more apartments, a 1,500-student charter school and a 10-acre community park.
Site of the future Tuttle Royale just south of Southern Blvd. and west of State Road 7.
While Tuttle Royale would enhance the village’s entertainment, dining, recreation and housing, the potential traffic has created concerns in the congested Royal Palm Beach-Wellington region.
A seven-lane, $3 million bridge has been erected at the development’s entrance in the hope of counteracting such concerns. Noise complaints also provide worries, even among some of the Village Council members who approved the zoning measure.
Noise ordinances and residential complaints caused the outdoor stage at CityPlace to be dismantled after years of live band performances. At Harbourside Place, live entertainment on the waterfront stage has been an on-again, off-again proposition for a decade for the same reasons.
Richie Schmidt, a veteran Broward County-based singer and multi-instrumentalist, is now a mainstay on the indoor stage at the Funky Biscuit in Boca Raton with his blues band, The Fabulous Fleetwoods.
“A unique feature of South Florida life that I’ve always loved is live music outdoors year-round,” he says. “In many cases, city commissions put their priority on development, placing no value on sustaining this unique part of our coastal culture. The formula goes like this: City sells permit to outdoor venue to have live music; city imposes impossible decibel level restriction’ and city then fines venue for exceeding level restriction.”
Royal Palm Beach Mayor Fred Pinto expressed optimism Nov. 17 about the economics of having such an entertainment center within the village, but others were more guarded about traffic and noise. Village Council member Richard Valuntas likened Tuttle Royale’s design to the densely packed commercial area at Alton.
“All developers want more density,” Tuttle says. “There’s a half-million people within 10 minutes of this location.”
Village Council member Selena Samois referenced Abacoa and Harbourside Place as examples of designs that created noise complaints by putting residences too close to their commercial areas.
Tuttle Royale is set to place entertainment, retail and office spaces on its first floor, with apartments on its second and third floors. Renters will be required to sign waivers indicating that they live close to an entertainment district.
