Riviera Beach chooses architects for marina area, Newcomb Hall
Architectural renderings showing possibilities for a new Newcomb Hall at Riviera Beach Marina. The three-story design by the team C3TS/Gentile, Holloway, O'Mahoney & Associates features a Caribbean theme and with an amphitheater that faces northwest into Bicentennial Park.
By Willie Howard
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Updated: 9:11 p.m. Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Posted: 9:08 p.m. Wednesday, May 11, 2011
RIVIERA BEACH — The architectural firm C3TS will design a new Newcomb Hall and a site plan for the marina property.
The city council, sitting as the Community Redevelopment Agency board, decided Wednesday to hire the firm, ending a design competition between C3TS and Song & Associates, which presented their visions for the Newcomb Hall community center and the surrounding marina property to an evaluation committee on May 2.
The CRA staff will negotiate a work order with C3TS and its design partner, Gentile, Holloway, O'Mahoney & Associates, and bring it back to the council for final approval.
Song & Associates was chosen Wednesday to design improvements to the Riviera Beach Heights, Blue Heron South and Broadway West neighborhoods.
C3TS has proposed a Bahamian-style, three-story Newcomb Hall located on the southeast corner of Bicentennial Park. The new Newcomb Hall would include an amphitheater facing northwest into Bicentennial Park and a third floor that could be rented for parties and weddings.
The C3TS concept, dubbed Marina Place at Riviera Beach, includes a public market building next to Newcomb Hall, a tiki-style restaurant and small vendor huts for waterfront businesses.
On April 27, the CRA board agreed to borrow $25.6 million to rebuild Newcomb Hall, build a parking garage, beautify Riviera Beach Heights, and make other improvements around the marina and along Broadway to stimulate redevelopment.
Also Wednesday, the CRA board approved a plan to issue a request for proposals for a nonprofit company to operate a community boating program that would provide boating education and boat access to youths and their families.
The board approved searching for a community boating program provider in a 3-1 vote, with Councilwoman Dawn Pardo dissenting.
Pardo said the boating program seemed premature because construction work to replace the marina bulkhead is set to begin in June. Proposals for the boating program must be submitted to the CRA by June 18.
Source:
GHO Being Considered for Riviera's Newcomb Hall Renovation
Architectural firms present differing plans for Riviera's Newcomb Hall renovation
By Willie Howard
Posted: 5:52 p.m. Monday, May 2, 2011
RIVIERA BEACH - — RIVIERA BEACH --- Two architecture firms competing to design a new Newcomb Hall presented different visions Monday for the community center and surrounding property at the city marina.
Song & Associates focused on history in its design for a two-story Newcomb Hall with 20-foot ceilings in the rooms and dormer windows jutting out from the roof.
The Song & Associates design takes its style from the Riviera Hotel, bought in 1901 as a winter home by city pioneer Charles Newcomb . It features covered porches on the first and second floors where visitors could look out over the water and view the amphitheater, which would be in the northwest corner of Bicentennial Park.
Song & Associates' plan includes a central Newcomb Place on 13th Street, a view of the water for those looking east along 13th Street and a north-south corridor that joins Newcomb Hall with stores, restaurants and a Newcomb museum. A circular water fountain similar to the one on Clematis Street in West Palm Beach separates the marina office from restaurants and bars.
"It's like a mini downtown, like a small village," said Young Song, president of Song & Associates.
In another vision presented by the team of C3TS/Gentile, Holloway, O'Mahoney & Associates, Newcomb Hall is a crescent-shaped, three story building at the southeast corner of Bicentennial Park that includes an amphitheater facing northwest into the park.
Newcomb Hall would include covered porches for viewing the water and a banquet hall on the third floor that could be rented for special events such as weddings. The Bahamian building style would be similar to buildings found in Key West or Nassau.
The C3TS team's design for the marina property includes an open-air green market near Newcomb Hall, a tiki-style restaurant and small vendor huts for waterfront businesses. The plan calls for bright colors and lots of trees.
"We want it to be fun, invigorating and a place that people will remember," said Emily O'Mahoney of the C3TS team.
A 12-member evaluation panel will rank the firms' proposals and submit their scores to the city council, sitting as the Community Redevelopment Agency board.
A videotape of Monday's presentations will be shown during the CRA's May 11 meeting, CRA Executive Director Tony Brown said. The board is expected to choose one of the firms and authorize the CRA staff to negotiate a contract for a final design.
The CRA board last week agreed to borrow $25.6 million from BB&T Corp. to rebuild Newcomb Hall and make other public improvements around the marina and along Broadway in hopes of stimulating redevelopment of the waterfront.
Source:
Architectural firms present differing plans for Riviera's Newcomb Hall renovation http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/1449416.html