In closed door sessions developers Brian Kosoy and Lee Munder are trying to drum up support for a plan “redevelopment” of the Royal Poinciana Playhouse.
“Closed Door Sessions”
Barring the fact that this important matter to Palm Beach should not be clubby and exclusive, but fully public in light of the consequences, we have received these sketchy reports.
“Residential”
Same as the Cohen/Speigel group, the developers are proposing 30 condominiums for the site. They would teardown the Marion Simms Wyeth Building and the Celebrity Room/Poinciana Club portion of the theater to build these units.
“Destruction of the Playhouse”
The façade of the Royal Poinciana Playhouse would be all that remains. Instead they would build a 350 seat “event room” for multi purpose arts use. This would be constructed on the site of the Slat House (where McCarty’s Restaurant and various offices are located.)
This multi use function ignores the fact that the Palm Beach Theater Guild has already contracted use of the Playhouse by Palm Beach Symphony, Palm Beach Opera, Ballet Florida, Palm Beach Principal Players, Palm Beach Atlantic University, and the PlayGround Theatre – pending our restoration of the existing Playhouse.
There is no committed performance plan or sense of serving the audience of greater Palm Beach. Kosoy and Munder are just going through the motions of trying to please as many constituencies as possible at least a little bit. It is time to landmark the property and let them deal with limits.
Dates to Remember
November 7th – 4 PM - Nick & Johnnie’s Restaurant – Royal Poinciana Way and County Road
“Should the Royal Poinciana Plaza and Playhouse be land-marked?”
A panel discussion including representatives of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach, Palm Beach Theater Guild.
November 13th – Vote on Land-marking at Town Council
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