Monday, February 18, 2019

Vote NO on sale of 501 Lake Avenue

This is the property/building, built in 1939, that the city put on the ballot so that you would give them permission to sell it. They want to get rid of a beautiful building so that they can raise more money for a downtown parking garage--cement. Have you ever been inside this building? It is well maintained and impressive and a beautiful building on our main street in Lake Worth.

The Chamber of Commerce was given a deed to this property at 501 Lake Avenue in 2005 by Arnold Greene. In 2016, the Chamber sold the building to the City of Lake Worth when the Chamber merged with Palms West Chamber of Commerce. We bought it for $250,000. The total market value of this property is $530,641 in 2018 according to PAPA. We know their assessments are low.


Below is what the city has allowed to happen on the east wall of this historic building. The Chamber of Commerce was first established in 1912. Back then, Lake Worth had 308 residents and I would suspect that all of them had some common sense. They were making history. And now, in 2019, we would like our history preserved.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

who paid to completely remodel the building .it wasn't the chamber

Anonymous said...

what the H is wrong with this commission allowing this to happen/ Look at that horrible paint job on this beautiful building. Ass wipes. they ruin everything and then want to get rid of it.

Anonymous said...

Lake Worth: murals gone wild. Many in very poor taste. Don't do that to a historic site. Same goes for the utilities building. Garish cartoons.

Anonymous said...

That is awful. This is what happens when a bunch of silly people are told they have talent. They grab a paint brush and start destroying things. It should all come to an end. They are ruining all of these buildings with this garbage they call art.

I wonder if they've ever been to a real Art Museum! By the way, we don't have any real Art Museums in South Florida!

Anonymous said...

no art museums in south florida? you must not get out much....

this building is beautiful. the mural is not.

Anonymous said...

If you want history preserved, vote for Richard.

Anonymous said...

Been thinking about the parking garage... why don't they buy property and/or bulldoze something non historic that the CRA owns on dixie or the west side of dixie and put in surface lots for now, to help attract new development on the avenues by providing the parking spaces. This might also help build up the west side of the avenues.

The proposed parking garage I am assuming won't be free and paid parking to go to downtown LW is a huge deterrent. WPB and Delray have free parking with many more amenities than here in LW to attract people...

Would be better to use that property downtown that they bought for a mixed use partnership for a developer to put it nice condos or town homes. Bcs of the ideal location. Seems way too premature for the city to pay for their own parking garage at this stage of downtown development.

Anonymous said...

if you want the city back vote them ALL out and start over with term limits

Anonymous said...

Is wes still on the historic board? He should be ashamed of himself. Plus, look what they did to the annex building, another historic building trashed and looking like some psychedelic freak of a mess. What is wrong with all the wackos here? Are thee any truly educated people left living in this city? All we have is a bunch of hs dropouts running this place. It's no wonder no decent people want to live in this hell hole filled with illegals, addicts, renters, and losers.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry 11:44, but I can't think of one museum with any of the Great Masters; The Hudson River School; or any of the great Portraitists, i.e. Gilbert Stuart, Winslow Homer, Sargent, etc. If you can point one out to me, I'll pay the price of admission.

The Four Arts used to have some wonderful exhibitions, but the dilettantes have taken over there too.

Anonymous said...

Actually, the Historic Board approved just about all these murals. There are a few that went up by people thinking they could just do it because they occupy the building. There are procedures and agreements and approvals. If you don't like it, apply for membership to the Historic Board or any other board of interest to you. Don't just sit there and bitch about what majority of fellow citizens agree is the artsy direction we are headed.

We have all seen hideous paint jobs of buildings that no one has control over. Each of these renditions at least were given consideration by staff and board. In the case of the 'historic" former chamber building, the mural was slated to go on the front and the board denied it there but approved it for the side.

Along with our internationally renowned Street Painting Festival, people outside Lake Worth really enjoy coming here for the quirkiness. You complainers don't realize what we have here.

Lynn Anderson said...

@8:43...if the board approved all these murals perhaps it's time that they be replaced.
And no one has to accept things for which they disapprove. Our opinion is as valid as yours. We are not sheep, anonymous so take a hike.
The city owned buildings with the horrible murals look dastardly. IMHO
:) :) :)

Anonymous said...

There are much worse looking murals than what are on city owned buildings. Some did not come before the board. Most if not all were approved unanimously. Maybe you should attend the meetings to voice your disapproval if you don't want the commitment of board membership.

Keep in mind, there are members of the board who are strict historic purists. And they, sometimes grudgingly, vote for this artwork.

Anonymous said...

@ 7:50.... check out the Norton, it's right up the road, free on saturday, enjoy! and you're welcome.