A 237-unit “planned life care community” is beginning construction. Sinai Residences is described as a $250M project of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County.
The groundbreaking ceremony was held yesterday and it was quite an event. There were hundreds of people under a huge tent, waited on by many workers.
Attendees include various groups related to the Federation and the construction contractors. The biggest was probably prospective residents. We were told that over 70% of the units have already been sold. Best known for the JCC, the Federation campus is arguably a compound, with two different schools, and a number of other institutions.
The piece of land set for the new project seems quite large.
While there were several speakers, the main voice seemed to be Federation head Matt Levin. Flanked by an American flag on one side and an Israeli flag on the other, he spent a substantial amount of time praising three Democratic politicians, Sen. Bill Nelson, Congressman Ted Deutch and County Commissioner Mary Lou Berger. It’s not clear if any of them actually did anything to help or if they directed any taxpayer funds for this overtly religious project.
Toward the end of the presentations Levin casually mentioned a few others including Republican Sen. Maria Sachs, who was actually present.
Once the remarks were complete several key people participated in the ceremonial moment of placing shovels in dirt.
Thanks to Melissa Perlman for providing professional photos of that, below:
Sinai Residences is described as a luxury facility and this event definitely carried that feel.
There is one financial detail we don’t quite understand. The units are priced starting around $400,000, and the average price is well below $1M. So how can 237 such units add up to $250M? Our best guess is that the operation expects to make substantial additional revenue from the residents. The press release vaguely hints at that. Another possibility is that some of the funding comes as charitable contributions or taxpayer money, but it seems odd to provide charitable or government help to people who can afford $400K condos.
We are also unsure how much traffic this will add to the already busy Glades Road, between the residents and staffing. But the odds are most such traffic will not affect rush hour much as most residents will be retired.
Sinai Residences expects to open in 2015. It looks like an impressive project and the team that put yesterday’s event together made a great impression.
