A high-end, gated, 300-unit apartment complex is going up on the 27-acre squarish parcel across the street from Imagine School at Town Center. It is to be the first of two such apartment complexes in that area.
The Palm Coast Planning Board in a 5-0 vote recommended approval of the complex Wednesday evening. The complex is to be called The Legacy at Palm Coast Town Center, though a developer representative in his presentation to the board called it Arden at Palm Coast.
The project will be the work of Landmark Companies, a national builder of apartment complexes, including the Muse at Winter Garden and the Landmark apartments in Kissimmee, where prices range from $1,544 a month to $3,958 a month, for one, two and three-bedroom apartments sized between 655 and 1,400 square feet.
The apartment complex will be at the corner of Town Center Boulevard and Lake Avenue. Lake Avenue dead-ends a few hundred yards to the west right now, just after Hawthorne Avenue, which leads into the new Gables subdivision of Paytas homes already getting peopled with residents, though only a fraction of that development’s 208 houses have been built. But plans are afoot for Lake Avenue to connect with its twin at the western part of Town Center, along City Hall, thus creating a new throughway for the added housing.
There are almost 10 acres of wetlands on the proposed apartment complex’s land, so the development will be restricted to 18 acres.
Four of the complex’s eight buildings will be four-story high, reaching heights of 55 feet, and four will be three-story high. The buildings will total 128 one-bedroom units, 140 two-bedroom units, and 32 three-bedroom units.
The complex will include the routine amenities of apartment complexes: Clubhouse with pool at its center, a pickleball court–the complex will be marketed to seniors–gazebo, fire pit, and a kayak launch, two dog parks and a second covered picnic and gazebo area. There’ll be entrances and exits both on Town Center Boulevard and Lake Avenue.
The land is part of the Town Center Development of Regional Impact, and the Town Center Community Redevelopment Area, which means that all property tax revenue is to be spent only in that CRA. It also means that, past a certain, very low threshold, all the tax revenue goes to the CRA: the school board gets its share, but the county does not. That’s in effect until the expiration of the CRA in 2033.
The complex is required to have 527 parking spaces. The developer is asking to squeeze by with 520. The planning board had no objections.
Alliant Engineering’s Adam Oestman told the planning board that the Palm Coast apartment prices would be in the $2,000 range, but stressed that he was only guessing: he had not been briefed on the actual cost, and higher end apartments are commanding higher rent than that in Palm Coast.
Even at a lower range, the fact that Oestman referred to the apartments as higher end triggered yet another discussion among planning board members about the lack of affordable housing in the city, and the fear, among some members, that even apartments are pricing out working class tenants.
“Every time that there’s a proposal to do a lower cost apartment, people come out of the woodwork, so it’s tough to try to solve,” Clint Smith, the planning board’s chair, said, though there hasn’t been a proposed apartment development catering to the working class in years. Not in Palm Coast.
Larry Gorss, an alternate board member, didn’t think Palm Coast was “at that place’ where it could absorb 300 apartment units, but Smith reminded him that every apartment complex in town is at capacity, regardless of its rental prices, a further indication that the city and the county don’t merely have an affordable housing crisis on their hands, but simply a housing crisis. Flagler County is not unique in that regard. By one estimate, the country is 5 million housing units short of need, while, according to the Census Bureau’s latest calculation, 40 percent of renters spent more than 30 percent of their income on rent.
In Flagler County, the median rent, according to the Census Bureau, was $1,416. That was for the five-year survey period ending in 2021, after which costs rose sharply.
“It’s been my experience that these folks are not going to invest multi-millions of dollars if that’s what this project is going to cost, if they didn’t do their homework,” William Whitson, the former Flagler Beach city manager now representing the school board on the planning board, said, though developers’ “homework” has not quite been the reliable indicator Whitson or anyone else with memories of the still-recent Great Crash would make it out to be: risk and speculation are still factors in the equation. But the numbers are in developers’ favor at the moment.
“Five years ago there were several projects that came before this board just like this,” Smith said, likely referring to the other Town Center apartments along Central Avenue and Bulldog Drive, “and members of the public were there saying, who can afford to be in these things? And all of them are full. So apparently, it’s working.”
Smith’s observation however paralleled rather than dispelled the affordable housing question: the local housing shortage, and the influx of better-off retirees (as opposed to younger, less wealthy families) would naturally fill what’s available, but would not diminish or resolve the unaffordability leading to evictions that local social service agencies are witnessing. For example, the county’s rent assistance pot has run out for the year.
Before long, Smith reminded his colleagues that the discussion had taken the board far afield of the matter at hand. The board voted to approve the Legacy apartments, and the meeting adjourned. The recommendation must go before the City Council for ratification.
Marquie says
WOW!!!! PAY MORE GET LESS :(
When are we gonna make it affordable to live again. It’s sad a single person can’t even survive on their own anymore .
Shark says
It’s a Legacy alright – of Netts who was one of the creators of the town center, Another white elephant under his reign !!!!
Sparks says
Why,Why,Why!!! We have no jobs here, nothing to offer the people that live here and are moving here.We as the people need to do something. If you sit back and do nothing than Don’t Complain.We need new people on Council & a New Mayor.Vote Mike Norris for Mayor 2024.
TR says
You are correct. WE need to do something and that starts with packing the council meeting and voicing our concerns, especially having a forensic audit done on what the council is really doing with all out tax dollars. With the amount of people always complaining there is only a spit in the bucket amount of people going to these meetings. One way to get these dummies out of office is to go after their security bonds. I’m not sure how to do that but someone in this town should. Unfortunately the process will take a longer time than wait for the next election and we can vote them out. The problem I see is that if we do vote them out the next group will do exactly what the previous members did (or worse) because they got away with it. I’ve seen it happen more and more with ever city council since conception of the city back in 1999.
bill says
The president mayor and his wife are both in the reality. Do I need to say anything more?
No Political Affiliation says
What’s the solution to traffic being blocked around Imagine at arrival and dismissal? It already blocks the road twice a day with the current traffic. It’s definitely not going to get better with a ton more residents. An angry homeowner couldn’t get to his house today, because traffic was 100% stopped, he got out of his car and yelled at school staff.
Wish full thinking Tim says
That’s why the city will make the developer make town center boulevard 4 lanes all the way to Roalypalms parkway. ( wouldn’t that be wishful thinking)
Christopher says
Keep building those homes and apartment buildings. Soon Palm Coast will be jammed with traffic just like St. Augustine. Wo , someone must be getting their pockets lined in city counsel!
Mary Engle says
I heard awhile back, that the people running palm coast want to make palm coast a metropolis like Tallahassee. They are on there way.
FlaglerLive says
The original ITT plan for Palm Coast was for a city as large asNew Orleans in the late 1960s: 600,000. See: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1974/01/06/97461409.html?zoom=16.13&pageNumber=50
Laurel says
Yep, ITT’s plan is history, and long gone. It no longer pertains to Palm Coast. This area was bypassed for decades, but now it is one of the last coastal areas left that developers can get in at a reasonable price. So, we need to protect it before it’s completely lost to greed. Screw ITT.
Boogeyman says
I wonder how long it will take for these new apartments to become roach-infested, break-ins, and harbor drug sales like the apartments near the movie theater. Drug dealers have the financial capabilities to handle the rent so beware! It is just a matter of time.
Wow says
Do you have a source for these statements?
Bill Barrett says
With all these new homes and apartments going in around Town Center, when does the city plan to do anything about the gridlock that is already happening around Town Center Blvd at Royal Palm Blvd and the worse intersection at Town Center Blvd at Old Kings Road? You can’t keep building in this area with single lane roads and not have a plan to address the anticipated extra traffic!
BILL says
What a great move to promote affordable housing,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,(dummies)
JimboXYZ says
Traffic already backs up onto the Parkway there as it is when the parents or whoever show up to drop off & pick up their children anyway. They may need a round about at least, perhaps a traffic light where Royal Palms has the 3 way intersection when those apartments overpopulate.
Roger says
More more more, man im moving. I never seen so much destruction of once was a beautiful town.
Vote Alfin OUT! says
It is important that we separate the Realtors/developers from our politicians. Vote Alfin OUT! ANYONE who has ties to real estate development should not be considered for ANY elected position.
Sparks says
Agreed! Let’s ALL vote in 2024. Say Something Do something.
The Sour Kraut says
655 Sq. Ft. and “high-end” in the same story? At least Staley won’t have to travel all over the county to make all those Fentanyl arrests!
Denise says
Hmmmmm How many more apartment complexes does one city need? Has anyone looked at the Sheriff commander reports that come from the “BEAUTIFUL” BRAND NEW apartment complexes near the EPIC theater?? Is our ONCE BEAUTIFUL CITY THAT DESPERATE? Or, perhaps there’s a major connection with some city council members, and spouses/family members having their hand in real estate getting ready to take the money and run, once our city is destroyed? WOW pretty soon there’s going to be so many homes on the market for sale, these “NEEDED” apartment complexes will be all section 8 housing because they won’t be able to fill them due to the number of homes for sale. Quail Hollow area new “needed” apartments, Imagine school area new “needed” apartments, Seminole Woods new “needed” apartments REALLY????
celia pugliese says
This location I will not oppose, but what makes no sense is the lack of sufficient roads inside that Town Center CRA…how much in traffic impact fees are they paying each of the proposed complexes to build new roads needed? Before approving these hundreds/thousands of multifamily packed in small acreages, they need to build more roads across Town Center off the main road to Rte 100. Belle Terre and OKR. Also widen Old Kings road from PC Parkway to the Town Center access by the canal. Then approve all these thousands of new multifamily in T Center.
Pogo says
@FlaglerLive
Welcome to the Hotel Archie Bunker
https://www.google.com/search?q=white+flight
Aka, the waiting room for a retirement community that’s always tranquil — aka, God’s Little Storage Unit — aka a cemetery.
Only the dead have seen the end of election advertising, and other junk mail.
— Anon
Gary says
From what I understand everything south of Route 100 the S section to the U section and the Z section clear to route one will be completely gutted and be full of apartments and housing not one piece of woodlands to be left!
Laurel says
Local government leaders don’t care. “Relocate” wildlife. More impervious areas. More traffic. More studies that land in the developers favor. They claim people can do what they want with their properties, but skip over the fact that the zoning is changed for the developers. Commission = developers = realtors. Take the money as fast as they can before they are voted out.
Meanwhile, others are crying that there isn’t enough. We supposedly need more jobs. We supposedly need more apartments. Move to where the damned jobs are! Move to where the damned apartments are! To move to an area that does not have what you want is ridiculous.
Marty says
As a republican, i and all my friends are voting alfin and all the republicans that support the destruction of palm coast out of power! Dam!! I want a peaceful town not a 24-7 destruction of every single acre in town!
Laurel says
Marty: Good for you and your friends! Real Republicans need to stand up, and vote for people who want to protect what’s left of this area. Not the same old build, build, build.
Conni says
Great, yet another ridiculously overpriced apartment complex getting built, just what Palm Coast needs! Except this one is getting put in on a road that is way too small for the traffic it will bring.
Fritz B. says
So true. The apartments referred to ( Town Center apartments along Central Avenue and Bulldog Drive) are “income restricted”. Tried to get my daughter in one and she makes too much at 38k annual by herself. But there are some expensive vehicles in the parking lot.
Dennis C Rathsam says
Either fight like hell, kick em all to the curb….or bend over like sheep and let the devistation continue! Im outta here, now theres too many sheeps! With alot of sheep shit! Where have all the patriots gone? Now we have asshole in the cannals stealing chairs, fishing poles, & what ever they can steal in the middle of the night, off peoples docks…. God bless the fool that comes to mine in the middle of the night, it will be his last folly.